Gregg Berhalter, asked Monday about the stakes of the United States’ final group-stage match against Iran, responded with annoyance and acceptance.
“I think that the work we’ve put in through the last four years, there’s been so many ups and downs in the journey and it feels like recently in the past year, we’ve finally started to find some consistency,” captain Tyler Adams told reporters in Doha. “Especially having to go through that World Cup qualifying process for a lot of us, our first experience in that cycle.
For that particular offense, Iranian state media on Monday called for the U.S. to be kicked out of the World Cup entirely and suspended for 10 games. Berhalter apologized, saying the gesture was done without player or staff knowledge. But it was Adams, told he was mispronouncing Iran’s name and asked by an Iranian reporter about representing a country with a history of discrimination as a black man, who gave a response to remember.
“Growing up for me, I grew up in a white family with obviously an African-American heritage and background as well,” he said. “So I had a little bit of different cultures, I was very easily able to assimilate in different cultures. Not everyone has that ease and the ability to do that and obviously it takes longer to understand. Through education, I think it’s super-important. Like you just educated me now on the pronunciation of your country. It’s a process.
Amid a cynical World Cup, there was proof positive that the 23-year-old Adams represents the best of his country off the field.
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