United States men’s national team manager Gregg Berhalter apologized for controversial U.S. Soccer Federation social media posts that removed the emblem of the Islamic Republic from Iran’s flag, saying that he and his players had no involvement or knowledge of the decision to do so.
“The players and the staff knew nothing about what was being posted,” Berhalter said during a press conference Monday, per ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle. “Sometimes things are out of our control. We believe that it’s going to be a match that 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. All we can do on our behalf is apologize on behalf of the players and the staff, but it’s not something that we are part of.”
The United States Soccer Federation said it made the decision to edit the official flag’s appearance to show “support for the women in Iran fighting for basic human rights” amid widespread protests in the country that broke out following the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested by Iran’s morality police. Since the protests began, at least 450 people have been killed and over 18,000 have been arrested, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, an organization that has been tracking the demonstrations.
The Iranian government accused the U.S. of “removing the name of God” from its national flag, and the nation’s soccer team filed a complaint with FIFA’s ethics committee following the posts. An Iranian media outlet went so far as to call for the expulsion of the USMNT from the tournament.
“By posting a distorted image of the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran on its official account, the U.S. football team breached the FIFA charter, for which a 10-game suspension is the appropriate penalty,” the state-affiliated Tasnim News Agency in Iran tweeted on Sunday. “Team USA should be kicked out of World Cup 2022.”
The posts eventually were taken down by the USSF.
Berhalter continued Monday, explaining that while his thoughts remain with the Iranian people, he and the team’s focus has been on the upcoming match against Iran, where a win would seal a trip to the round of 16 for the U.S. squad.
“We had no idea about what US Soccer put out—the staff, the players had no idea. And for us, our focus is on this match. I don’t want to sound aloof or not caring by saying that, but the guys that worked really hard for the last four years, we have 72 hours between England and Iran, and we really are just focused on how to get past Iran and [how] we can go to this knockout stage of the tournament.
“Of course, our thoughts are with the Iranian people … the whole country, the whole team, everyone, but our focus is on this match.”
The USMNT will face Iran in its final Group B match on Tuesday afternoon. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET on Fox.
