Doha, Qatar – Saeid Ezatolahi cry.
He gave it all away, and this time, it wasn’t enough. When the final whistle at Al Thumama Stadium signaled a USA won 1-0there’s nothing left for Iran defensive midfielder to do. So he sat on the grass, sunk deep into the Qatari night, burying his head in his hands and letting the tears fall.
Seconds later, he felt a large arm wrap around his shoulder. It’s a Josh Sargentstriker of the United States, who dueled him in the first half, in which the Americans tried to chase a goal until a goal came after 38 minutes. Christian Pulisic.
Sargent knelt beside Ezatolahi, hugged him and said kind and sympathetic words. Soon after, the United States replaced Brenden Aaronson noticed the scene, saw the anguish on the Iranian player’s face, and ran over too.
Tim Weah join them. As he approached, Weah’s face changed from radiant joy to a more solemn one. As Ezatolahi struggled to regain his composure, Weah grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet, before hugging and whispering in his ear.
“I think it’s not just football,” Weah told me as he left the stadium to return to the team’s Doha headquarters. “I think the US and Iran have had a lot of political problems and I just wanted to show that we’re all human and we all love each other.
“I just wanted to spread peace and love and show him that we come from different backgrounds, we grew up differently. He’s still my family, he’s still the same. my brother and I love him just like the people I grew up with.”
Unless you’ve been camping, hibernating, or doing a tech detox in the past week, chances are you’ve noticed the ferocious depth of the political subplot surrounding the clash with Iran that ultimately determined its location. placed second in Group B and sent Gregg Berhalter’s team into the group stage. 16 meets the Netherlands.
But regardless of the week’s discussions, regardless of the many questions players had to answer that had nothing to do with the sport of football, the Americans recognized the pain of defeat. They’ve felt it, more times than they’d like to remember.
Just not on a stage like this, at least not yet.
Aaronson said: “I could feel his emotions on the ground. “It was tough, it was a difficult time for a lot of things. You put your heart and soul and I think he also had a great game, and a great tournament against Iran. It’s hard to see that from a player all you want is to go and comfort them and tell them everything is going to be okay it’s just a human thing. “
Aaronson, Weah and Sargent are all 22 years old. None of them had ever met Ezatolahi before. The United States should be proud of its men’s soccer team, for what they did in a huge victory on Tuesday night. And, perhaps more so, for what it did then.
They weren’t the only three to offer solace. There were team handshakes before the team entered the dressing room, as well as some pats on the back. Ezatolahi received more attention from the Americans because he was clearly devastated. He had a club career that took him to Russia and Denmark and the Qatari league. He feels, quite reasonably, that the current generation of the Iranian team has a unique opportunity to achieve something special.
For Sargent, seeing Ezatolahi’s tears choked his throat, and his emotions welled up. Even talking about it later, his voice breaks a little, and he’ll remember that time of the night as much as anything that happened in the frantic 90 minutes.
“I just really feel for any team,” Sargent told me. “Obviously it’s a big tournament, whoever it is, seeing people so upset touches me in a different way. It was on the way to the team place anyway, so I thought I should say something nice and encouraging.
“All people are human, obviously. We’ve all gone to great lengths to achieve this important moment in our lives. This is the pinnacle of everyone’s career. I know that. It’s not an easy situation where you lose.”
And so ended this whirlwind chapter of the World Cup for the Americans, with the knockouts offering a new opportunity. In many ways, this is a whole new tournament, both in terms of format and tempo.
They continue to display resilience and determination, qualities worthy of any athlete in the biggest competition of their careers.
And another aspect of compassion, which may not win the games – but nonetheless deserves our acclaim.
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Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. You can subscribe to the daily newsletter here.
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