United States players have taken part in a “Be The Change” campaign for the past 18 months ahead of the Qatar World Cup.
They have been given weekly updates, had talks from experts on human rights, discrimination and players have worn pride-inspired numbers on their shirts as well as inviting workers to their training base in Doha. US boss Gregg Berhalter has praised his players for the way they have approached it but also made it clear that Qatar was chosen under FIFA’s previous regime.
Berhalter said: “Here’s how I will frame it. Any soccer player’s dream will be to participate in the World Cup. We didn’t put the World Cup in Qatar. Players and coaches didn’t vote and say: ‘we want the World Cup to be in Qatar.’ FIFA did that.
