China News Service, November 29 (Xinhua) According to Agence France-Presse, a few days ago, the American Football Association released a picture of tampering with the Iranian flag on social media, which triggered strong protests from the Iranian side.
U.S. men's soccer coach Gregg Berhalter (Gregg Berhalter) apologized on behalf of the players and staff for the incident on the 28th local time, but insisted that the U.S. team staff and players "were not involved."
On November 28, 2022, U.S. men's soccer head coach Greg Burhardt attended a press conference.
According to previous reports, when the U.S. Football Association released the World Cup Group B standings on social media, it arbitrarily changed the Iranian flag to a green, white and red tricolor flag, and stated that the move was to "support Iranian women's struggle for human rights."
The Iranian media Tasnim News Agency responded that the US Football Association's move "does not conform to the World Cup regulations", and the US team should be immediately expelled from the game and suspended for 10 games.
Iranian Football Federation officials said they had lodged a complaint with FIFA on the matter.
At present, the relevant posts of the American Football Association have been deleted.
The U.S. Soccer Association said the action was "one-off" and that the Iranian flag had been changed back.
"The players and staff were ignorant of what was released. Sometimes things are out of our control," Burhardt said at a news conference on the 28th.
He said the team's focus is on the upcoming games.
This incident happened on the eve of the World Cup group match between the US team and the Iranian team. The two teams will face each other at 3:00 a.m. Beijing time on the 30th. This game will determine who can advance.