Next Thursday (March 12th). Ex-national player Marco Reus with LA Galaxy in the Concacaf Champions Cup against the Jamaican runner-up Mount Pleasant FA. In advance, the game takes on a political depth.

Ten players from the Caribbean soccer club have not received visas for the USA. Six Haitian citizens on the team are particularly affected.

USA does not allow players from World Cup participant Haiti into the country

This once again raises questions about the World Cup in the summer. Haiti has qualified for the major tournament and is scheduled to play all group games against Brazil, Scotland and Morocco in the US cities of Foxborough, Philadelphia and Atlanta.

At the World Cup, the affected participants should be exempt from the ban; at the Champions Cup, the rules have so far remained unclear. According to media reports, the continental association Concacaf is trying to find a solution.

“Serious concerns” about the World Cup

David J. Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, sees the case as raising “serious concerns about the government’s willingness to abide by its own agreements and declarations on visa issuance for the World Cup,” he told the Los Angeles Times.

And further: “The President’s Proclamation clearly provides an exception for athletes and essential support personnel at ‘major sporting events’. However, it appears that this exception is not applied in all cases.”

Previously, eight members of the Cuban delegation to the World Baseball Classic – including association president Juan Reinaldo Pérez Pardo – had their visa applications denied. Cuban citizens are subject to the same travel restrictions as Haitians under the Trump administration. At the Gold Cup soccer tournament last summer, the teams from both countries were able to enter the USA without any problems.

Reus and Galaxy will play Mount Pleasant in the round of 16

Meanwhile, Mount Pleasant can only travel to Los Angeles with a reduced squad of 18 players. The club has to rely on five youth players.

Paul Christie, Mount Pleasant’s sporting director, raged to the Jamaica Observer: “We don’t just want to be at the game, we want to fight for the win. But we don’t get the opportunity to field our best eleven.”

The Concacaf Champions Cup is the North and Central American counterpart to the European Champions League. Reus’ Galaxy will face the runners-up from Jamaica in the round of 16.

As winners of last year’s Concacaf Caribbean Cup, Mount Pleasant qualified directly for the round of 16 of the Champions Cup for the first time in the club’s history.