USA coach jokes how 'agonizing' nine minutes of stoppage time against Iran left him 'bald'

The USA men's football team held on to a slender 1-0 win over Iran to keep their World Cup dreams alive. Christian Pulisic scored the winning goal for USA but the team had to face some anxious moments in the added minutes of the second half. USA coach Gregg Berhalter not only praised his players for their efforts but also spoke about his feelings during the tense final moments of the match.

Berhalter cracks hilarious joke about enduring tense final moments of USA vs Iran

The USA vs Iran match is considered one of the most politically-charged matches in soccer history. The last time both teams faced each other was during the 1998 edition in France, where Iran won the match 2-1 in Lyon, but was considered as a low point for the US men’s football team. Recently, the political tensions between the two nations was triggered once again after the United States men's soccer team's official Twitter handle displayed Iran's national flag without the emblem of the Islamic Republic.

Coming to Tuesday's USA vs Iran match at the FIFA World Cup, Pulisic scored the match-winning goal in the 38th minute but was taken to hospital after a brutal collision with Iran goalkeeper. As the match entered the nine minutes of stoppage time, Iran staged a strong comeback in search of an equaliser but was unable to go past the US defence. Speaking about the nail-biting victory, Berhalter said, "I have less hair on my head now!' 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," he added.

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Speaking of the match-winning goal, Weston McKennie started the play for the goal when he lofted the ball to Sergino Dest at the edge of the six-yard box. Dest headed the ball in front of the net on a bounce with Pulisic charging up the center of the field past Ramin Rezaeian and Majid Hosseini.

Twisting his body, Pulisic redirected the ball with his right foot for his 22nd international goal and first in World Cup play. Weah nearly doubled the lead in the seventh minute of first-half stoppage time but was ruled offside. Sharing an update on Pulisic's injury the US Soccer Federation said, "Christian Pulisic has been diagnosed with a pelvic contusion and his status is day-to-day."