RAYYAN, Qatar — Throughout a information convention Friday forward of the U.S. males’s nationwide crew’s World Cup round-of-16 match towards the Netherlands, a reporter requested Coach Gregg Berhalter whether or not he could be prepared to take a query in Dutch with out using an earbud offered by FIFA for deciphering functions.
“Give it a strive,” Berhalter stated, eagerly.
He understood all the things, however to keep away from a misstep that would maybe end in a tabloid headline in Amsterdam or Eindhoven, selected to reply in English.
The U.S. and Dutch nationwide groups, who meet Saturday in Qatar, don’t sq. off frequently and neither crew encompasses a participant competing within the different nation’s professional league. The American delegation, nonetheless, has sturdy Dutch connections, together with Berhalter, who, after attending the College of North Carolina, spent six seasons within the Netherlands.