For the US Men’s National Team yesterday, the potential on-field outcomes were incredibly simple: win, and you advance; tie or lose, and you go home. But that was about the only simple aspect of this game.
Over the weekend, the US Soccer Federation posted altered images of the Iranian flag on its social media accounts, scrubbing the Islamic Republic emblem from the center. They said it was in an effort to show support for the nationwide protests going on in Iran for women’s rights.
Needless to say, the Iranian regime wasn’t happy. They accused the US federation of racism, called for FIFA to disqualify or suspend them from the Cup, and have since had their own journalists pushing US players and coaches with difficult political questions, despite them not being involved. At a press conference, an Iranian reporter asked 23-year-old US player Tyler Adams this question:
Reporter: First of all, you say you support the Iranian people, but you’re pronouncing our country’s name wrong. Our country is named Iran, not Iran. Please, once and for all, let’s get this clear. Second of all, are you okay to be representing a country that has so much discrimination against black people in its own borders?
Tyler Adams: My apologies on the mispronunciation of your country. Yeah. That being said, you know, there’s discrimination everywhere you go. You know, one thing that I’ve learned, especially from living abroad in the past years and having to fit in in different cultures and kind of assimilate into different cultures, is that in the U.S., where we’re continuing to make progress every single day, like you just educated me now on the pronunciation of your country. So, yeah, it’s a it’s a process I think is as long as you see progress. That’s the most important thing.
Even though Adams responded thoughtfully, head coach Gregg Berhalter made it clear in his press conference that the US coaches and players had no part in the social media post.
Gregg Berhalter: The players in the staff knew nothing about what was being posted. And, you know, sometimes things were out of our control. We believe that it’s going to be a match, that the result will depend on, you know, who puts more effort in, who executes better on the field. And, you know, we’re not focused on those outside things. And all we can do on our behalf is apologize on behalf of the players and the staff. But it’s not something that, you know, that that we are part of.
The posts have since been deleted, but Iran wasn’t happy, accusing US Soccer of removing the name of God from their national flag.
When it comes to soccer, the United States and Iran have… a bit of a history. The countries faced off back in the 1998 World Cup in a game that’s been described as the most politically charged in the tournament’s history. This had to do with tensions originating from the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979, as well as the US’s support of Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Iran came out on top in that 1998 game, defeating the US 2-1 and knocking them out of the World Cup.
Yesterday’s game served as the sequel to that historic matchup. The faceoff was further amplified by the fresh political tensions stemming from this social media fiasco.
This time, the U.S. came out on top on the field, but it’s unclear how things will play out off the field.