On the eve of the decisive match, the U.S. coach apologized to Iranians
A press conference with Gregg Berhalter, the head coach of the U.S. national soccer team, and Tyler Adams, the team’s captain, was held on the eve of the important Iran-U.S. match with the presence of select Iranian journalists. The questions from the Iranian journalists, which were sometimes intensely political and entirely non-sporting, surprised and annoyed other journalists.
In response to pressure from journalists and their political questions, the U.S. coach was forced to react and apologize regarding images of the Iranian flag used on social media by the official U.S. national team account.
Despite the fact that maximum care should have been taken in using images and the Iranian flag, this minor issue perhaps should not have been exaggerated to such an extent in a sports press conference.