FC Dallas' Cannon calls out fans who booed kneeling: 'Absolutely disgusting'

FC Dallas right-back Reggie Cannon said he was outraged by fans who booed him and his teammates while they took a knee during the U.S. national anthem Wednesday night.

"I think it was disgusting. I think it was absolutely disgusting," the 22-year-old American international told reporters, including Angel Madison Franco of the Dallas Morning News, postgame.

"You got fans booing for people taking a stand for what they believe in when millions of other people support this cause. We discussed with every other team and the league what we're going to do, and we got fans booing us in our own stadium. How disgraceful is that? For a lack of a better word, it pissed me off."

Cannon said Dallas and Nashville SC agreed to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement before the start of their match and asked that "The Star-Spangled Banner" not be played. That request was ignored.

"We had someone chanting 'USA' but they don't understand what kneeling means. They don't understand why we're kneeling. They can't see the reason. They just think we're the ignorant ones, and it's incredibly frustrating. I'm sorry to have this tone, but you have to call it for what it is."

Dallas and Nashville withdrew from the MLS is Back Tournament because several members of both clubs tested positive for the coronavirus. While they returned home, Major League Soccer's Black players protested racial injustice in the U.S., with representatives from each team raising fists in silence before the first game of the tournament in July.

Wednesday's match was the first with fans in attendance since MLS suspended its season in March. Nearly 3,000 spectators showed up.

"When we decided to kneel, I knew it was going to happen," Cannon added. "That should tell you guys something. I knew we were going to have some negative pushback from having a unified response over what's going on. That's the problem. That's a problem."