U.S. has two choices: beat Iran or go home

The task is clear for the United States: beat Iran in a politically charged World Cup match or go home.

“We have to get out of our group by all means,” U.S. captain Tyler Adams said Monday. “It would feel like a success.”

A draw or loss Tuesday would eliminate the Americans, who tied Wales 1-1 and England 0-0. England leads Group B with four points, followed by Iran with three, the U.S. with two and Wales with one.

During unusual pre-match news conferences, Adams was asked to defend American treatment of Black people and chastised for pronouncing the opponent’s name “Eye-ran” instead of “E-ran.” U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter was questioned about immigration and naval policy, and apologized for the U.S. Soccer Federation’s decision to strip the emblem of the Islamic Republic from Iran’s flag on social media. The U.S. federation’s flag decision was meant as a show of support for women protesting rights violations in Iran.

“We had no idea about what U.S. Soccer put out,” Berhalter said. “All we can do on our behalf is apologize on behalf of the players and the staff.”

Iran coach Carlos Queiroz was queried about Sunday’s flag flap, which prompted the governing body of Iranian soccer to demand FIFA expel the U.S. from the tournament. He said he did not intend to use the controversy as motivation.

“If after 42 years in this game as a coach I still believe that I could win games with those mental games, I think I did not learn nothing about the game,” he said.

“We have solidarity with the humanitarian causes all over the world, whatever they are or who they are. If you talk about human rights, racism, kids that die in schools with shootings, we have solidarity to all those causes, but here our mission is: bring the smiles for the people, at least for 90 minutes.”

Adams, who is Black and grew up in a white family, was told by a reporter from Iran’s Press TV about the pronunciation of Iran, then asked: “Are you OK to be representing a country that has so much discrimination against Black people?”

“My apologies on the mispronunciation of your country,” Adams responded. “That being said, there’s discrimination everywhere you go. One thing that I’ve learned, especially from living abroad in the past years and having to fit in in different cultures, and kind of assimilating to different cultures, is that in the U.S. we’re continuing to make progress every single day.”

Iran famously beat the U.S. 2-1 in a 1998 World Cup match in France that eliminated the Americans.

“That game just sticks in my mind; it burns in my mind,” Berhalter said.