President Joe Biden on Tuesday appeared to have finished speaking at the SK Siltron CSS microchip factory in Bay City, Michigan when he returned to the lectern to celebrate a bit of good news.
Picking up the handheld microphone he’d set down roughly 20 minutes before, he told the crowd who’d gathered to hear him of the US men’s soccer team’s 1-0 victory over Iran.
“The US one, Iran zero! The game’s over!” he said.
As chants of “USA! USA!” broke out in celebration of the win, Mr Biden added: “That's a big game, man”.
He recounted how players and national team coach Gregg Berhalter had exhibited a lackluster response when he’d spoken to them earlier this week before the US opened group play at the World Cup in Qatar.
“When I spoke to the coach and the players, I said, 'You can do this.' They went 'eh,’” he said.
Speaking of their minutes-old victory, the president added: “They did it, God love 'em”.
The US side needed a win to garner the three points needed to break into the round of 16 from their place in the Group B standings behind England. They took the lead after US captain Christian Pulisic scored the lone goal of the match, though he left the pitch soon after with an injury from a collision with the Iranian goaltender.
The must-win match between US and Iran followed a number of rows between the sides, with Iranian state media reporters questioning Mr Berhalter about US military posture in the Middle East at a pre-match press conference, and his counterpart Carlos Queiroz taking his own shot at the US by speaking of “human rights, racism and kids dying in schools with shootings” at his own press conference.
The US soccer federation also drew calls for the American team to be excluded from the tournament after removing the Islamic Republic emblem from the Iranian flag in a social media post to “show support for the women in Iran fighting for basic human rights”.
Tuesday’s result was a reversal of the last time Iran and US met in a World Cup, a 1998 match that saw Iran beat the Americans 2-1.
Sports editor Ben Burrows contributed reporting from Al Thumama Stadium in Qatar
