Ahead of the CONCACAF Champions Cup round of 16 match against Los Angeles Galaxy, ten players from Jamaican runners-up Mount Pleasant have been denied visas for the US. The case is likely to raise concerns about the World Cup in the summer.
The World Cup in Mexico, Canada, and the US next summer is casting its shadow. There are ongoing concerns, particularly regarding the restrictive visa policy of the US administration under President Donald Trump. How this could affect soccer is currently being demonstrated in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the Champions League of North and Central America.
Jamaican runners-up Mount Pleasant are set to face Marco Reus’ Los Angeles Galaxy in the first leg of the round of 16 on Wednesday (local time; Thursday, 2:30 a.m. CET). However, it has been announced that ten players from the club will not receive visas for the US. Among them are seven Haitian citizens.
An interesting twist for the upcoming World Cup: Haiti, which is on a list of 19 countries whose citizens are currently subject to a general entry ban into the US, has qualified for the World Cup in the summer and is scheduled to play its three preliminary round matches in the US. Although World Cup participants are officially exempt from the entry restrictions, the rules for the Champions Cup have been unclear until now.
Will CONCACAF find a solution?
Paul Christie, sporting director of Mount Pleasant Club, sharply criticized the actions of the US authorities. “We don’t just want to be there for the game, we want to fight for the win. But we’re not being given the opportunity to field our best team,” he told the Jamaica Observer newspaper. Although media reports suggest that CONCACAF is working on a quick solution, the North and Central American continental association has not yet issued a statement. The Jamaican runners-up therefore traveled to California with an improvised team. Only 18 players are in coach Theodore Whitmore’s squad, including five players from the club’s own youth team and several players from Jamaica’s U-20 national team.
