US coach Berhalter calls for focus on soccer before Iran decider

AL RAYYAN, Qatar: United States coach Gregg Berhalter insisted his team is focused only on Tuesday's Group B showdown with Iran as he sidestepped the political fracas around the game caused by decades of enmity between the nations.

In a tense and unusual news conference on Monday, Berhalter was questioned about US immigration and naval policy while US captain Tyler Adams was asked about discrimination in the States and chided by an Iranian reporter for mispronouncing the country's name.

Washington and Tehran severed all formal diplomatic ties in 1980 after the Islamic Revolution and bilateral relations were hostile when their soccer teams clashed in the 1998 World Cup group stage.

Ties have been strained in recent years after then-President Donald Trump pulled the US out of an Iran nuclear deal. The US killed a top Iranian general in 2020 and Tehran responded with missile strikes at US forces based in Iraq.

Iran earned a famous 2-1 victory in the 1998 tournament, a game widely viewed as the mostly politically charged in World Cup history and dubbed at the time as the "mother of all football matches".

"That game just sticks in my mind and burns in my mind," Berhalter told reporters before the Group B showdown.

"I was doing commentary on Dutch television for that game. What I saw from the opening whistle is one team that really wanted to win the game and one team that didn't. Iran were really committed, really focused. And for us to have a chance tomorrow, that's going to have to be the mindset."

The US could secure a place in the knockout round with a win while Iran only need a point.

"We know exactly what Iran are going to bring, and we don't want to make the same mistakes as we did in the past," Berhalter said. "We want to