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USMNT Players Wear Jackets With Messages During Anthem for Social Justice, Unity

Players for the U.S. men's national team stood during the national anthem ahead of Thursday's friendly vs. Wales, but they still took the moment to acknowledge what plenty of anthem protests have been about.

Walking out to the field to line up, the U.S. players each donned jackets over their jerseys that read "Be the Change" on the front and had varying messages of the players' choice across the back of them (a full list of messages can be seen here). The starting players then locked arms during the anthem, standing throughout.

U.S. midfielder Tyler Adams had indicated the team would be doing something earlier in the week, saying on Monday that, "We just want to continue to educate the people about what's going on and continuing to happen.