President Biden joined the World Cup fun Saturday, tweeting his support for the US men’s national soccer team ahead of their match against the Netherlands in the Round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup today.
In the tweeted video clip, USMNT team captain Tyler Adams kicks a ball, pretending to send it to the White House, which is nearly 7,000 miles from Qatar.
Donning a red-white-and-blue team scarf, Biden catches the ball, looks into the camera, and playfully says, “It’s called soccer. Go USA! You guys are gonna do it!”
The post was captioned, “Good kick, @tyler_adams14. Let’s go @USMNT!”
“It’s called soccer!” has become a playful rallying cry for the US, poking fun at the rest of the world, where the sport is known as football.
This is not the first time Biden has shown support for the team.
On Nov. 20, he called US national team manager Gregg Berhalter prior to their World Cup opener.
During the pep talk, he said, “I know you’re the underdog but I tell you what, man, you’ve got some of the best players in the world on your team and you’re representing this country and I know you’re gonna play your hearts out. So let’s go shock ’em all.”
On Tuesday, after the team’s win, he quickly made his way back to the podium in Michigan, where he had just spoken on the economy, to announce the victory.
“US 1, Iran 0, the game is over!” the president shouted, amid chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A!”
After joining in the chants, he gushed, “That’s a big game, man.”