US Soccer Captain Deftly Shuts Down Iranian Reporter Whining About Criticism of Regime

United States soccer captain Tyler Adams shut down an Iranian reporter who confronted him on human rights at a press conference ahead of the highly anticipated World Cup match between Team USA and Iran on Tuesday.

While the controversy of Qatar hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup has received most of the headlines, another one has brewed between geo-political rivals Iran and the United States, who find themselves in the same group this tournament.

Iran demanded that the United States should be kicked out of the World Cup after the Twitter account for the United States Men’s National Team posted the standings for group B and left out the Islamic Republic emblem in the Iranian flag.

The US soccer officials removed the emblem in support of protests over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was killed after being arrested by Iran’s morality police for wearing “inappropriate” clothing.

“We wanted to show our support for the women in Iran with our graphic for 24 hours,” the American team said in a statement to Ben Jacobs of CBS Sports.

The United States men’s soccer team will play Iran Tuesday afternoon, a game the US needs to win in order to advance to the knockout round of the World Cup.

At a press conference with reporters on Monday, Adams and United States head coach Gregg Berhalter faced tense questions from Iranian reporters.

One reporter first berated Adams for pronouncing the country as “Eye-ran” and not “Ee-ran.”

“You say you support the Iranian people, but you’re pronouncing our country’s name wrong,” the reporter told Adams. “Please, once in for all, let’s get this clear.”

The reporter then asked Adams his question, but it was not about the match on Tuesday.

“Are you okay to be representing a country that has so much discrimination against Black people in its own borders?” the reporter asked. “And we saw the Black Lives Matter movement over the past few years.”

Adams, who is half black, quickly apologized for how he pronounced Iran before delivering an incredibly thoughtful response to the reporter’s question.

“My apologies on the mispronunciation of your country,” Adams 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 different cultures, is that in the US, we’re continuing to make progress every single day,” he added.

Adams grew up in New York and played for Red Bull Leipzig in Germany before joining Leeds United in England.

“I grew up in a White family, with obviously an African-American heritage and background as well,” Adams continued. “I had a little bit of a different cultures, and I was very easily able to assimilate in different cultures, so not everyone has that ease and the ability to do that.

Adams explained how important education was and pointed out that the Iranian reporter helped him through education.

“Obviously, it takes longest to understand and through education, I think, is super important,” Adams said. “Like, you just educated me now on the pronunciation of your country. It’s a process. I think as long as you see progress, that’s the important thing.”

Berhalter also faced tense questions from an Iranian journalist, who asked about inflation hurting supporters of the United States. Inflation in the United States hit a high of 8.20 percent in October, 4.93 percent higher than the average of 3.27 percent.

Berhalter pivoted towards the fact Americans are not allowed to travel to Iran.

“You are welcome in our country, but we are not [in yours],” Berhalter told the reporter.

The reporter also asked Berhalter why he has not asked the US government to remove a Naval war ship stationed in the Gulf.

“I don’t know enough about politics; I’m a soccer coach,” Berhalter responded.

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