World Cup: USA and Iran stars go viral for emotional embrace after game | OneFootball

The United States of America are through to the Round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup.

After back-to-back draws against Wales and England, Gregg Berhalter’s side rallied to pick up a potentially campaign-defining 1-0 win over Iran.

A first half goal from Chelsea star Christian Pulisic was enough to secure three of the most precious points in the history of American football (or should we say, soccer).

The USA will take on Group A winners Holland in the Round of 16, a match which kicks off at 3pm GMT on Saturday.

Berhalter’s side and their fans will forever remember the night of November 29th, 2022, and the joy was there for all to see.

But while he was ecstatic about the outcome of the match, Fulham full-back Antonee Robinson still took the time to comfort a member of the opposition – who have been eliminated from the tournament.

Robinson and Iran’s Ramin Rezaeian shared a very emotional embrace on the pitch, a demonstration of sportsmanship which has rightly gone viral on social media.

Check out the footage…

Video: Robinson and Rezaeian’s embrace after USA 1-0 Iran

Moments like that at the World Cup just hit differently, don’t they?

Iran and Rezaeian can be immensely proud of their efforts on the biggest sporting stage of all, particularly with the widely-publicised political unrest at home hanging over their heads.

What did Berhalter say after his side reached the 2022 World Cup knockout stage?

After the nerve-wracking win over Iran, the USA manager joked about how agonising the prolonged period of stoppage-time was.

“I have less hair on my head now!” Berhalter said in a post-match interview. “With this new injury time, I was counting every second. It’s stressful. But we’ll take it and battle Holland.

“I feel proud. Proud. I think that the first half we showed what we can do, soccer-wise. We played a good first half.

“Second half we showed what we can do determination-wise. The guys grinded, we’re undefeated going into the next round.”

Will Pulisic be fit for the match against Holland?

On the fitness of his star man, who suffered an injury while scoring the game’s only goal, Berhalter added: “No update on the status. But I’ve been saying all along, it is a wonderful thing when one of your best players is one of the hardest working.

“I can’t say enough positive things about Christian.”