Reporter From Iran Goes After American Soccer Player At Press Conference

Sure, relations between the US and Iran might be frosty, but now the head coach of the US men's soccer team is apologizing for a controversial social media post…that the team itself had nothing to do with.

The US Soccer Federation posted a picture of the Iranian flag over the weekend without the emblem of the Islamic Republic in a move to show "support for the women in Iran fighting for basic human rights." It was later replaced with the ‘proper’ flag, but not before Iranian officials called for the US team to be "kicked out" of the World Cup. More on that in a second.

With that as a backdrop, when Team USA greeted reporters in advance of today’s USA/Iran match, US team Captain Tyler Adams was trying to compliment the team’s adversaries, but an Iranian reporter took serious issue with both his pronunciation of ‘Iran’ and asked Adams – who is Black – how he felt about representing a country where there is “so much discrimination against Black people in his own borders.” Adams apologized – and took a direct, though politically correct direction with his reply.

• As for the Iranian flag post, Iran’s team filed a complaint with FIFA's ethics committee. Coach Gregg Berhalter apologized as well, but maintained that no one on the team or team's staff knew about the federation's actions. “The players and the staff knew nothing about what was being posted,” Berhalter said. “Sometimes things are out of our control. We believe that it's going to be a match [where] the result will depend on who puts more effort in, who executes better on the field, and 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.”
• The United States is hoping to advance to the round of 16 at the World Cup today. After ending each of its first two games in a draw, the US needs to beat Iran in order to get out of the group stage. The US is third in Group B with two points after playing Wales to a one-one draw and England to a scoreless draw. Timothy Weah [[ way-uh ]] leads the team with one goal. Iran is coming off a two-nil win over Wales and has three points.