Iranian fan shows her flag during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Sipa Press

USMNT wrapped up in Iran social media debacle

By Chelena Goldman | Last updated 11/28/22

The United States men's soccer team should be focused on the upcoming match against Iran on Tuesday seeing as it will have a major impact on the team's 2022 World Cup future. Instead, the focus over the last two days has been on whether the USMNT played a part in controversial social media posts involving Tuesday's opponent.

USMNT was grilled after the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) displayed the Iranian flag on social media without the Islamic Republic emblem on it. USSF claimed that the posts, which have since been taken down, were supposed to show solidarity with the Iranian people as massive protests continue in the country.

The posts led to Iranian heads of state complaining to FIFA and asking that the USMNT be punished and banned from future World Cup matches.

USMNT manager Gregg Berhalter insisted on Monday that he and his team were not aware of USSF's decision to post what it did.

USSF now says they'll be taking down posts in question. Players and tech staff did not know about decision beforehand. Haven't heard from FIFA.

"Clearly the decision we made was to show support for the women in Iran. That stands."

Probably didn't think this through enough. https://t.co/JD2yVwYNqV
— Sam Stejskal (@samstejskal) November 27, 2022

"The players and the staff knew nothing about what was being posted," Berhalter said, via ESPN. "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.

"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."

Iran's political turmoil has been a focal point in the first week of World Cup matches, with the Iran men's national team refusing to sing along with the country's national anthem when the tournament opened up.

The U.S. needs a win against Iran on Tuesday to have a chance at staying in the World Cup 2022.

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