Visa issues bar 10 Mount Pleasant players from Los Angeles trip to face Galaxy | OneFootball

Mount Pleasant FA will face LA Galaxy in the Concacaf Champions Cup last 16 first leg on Wednesday with a reduced 18-man squad after 10 players, including seven Haitians, were denied visas and will remain in Jamaica.

According to L'Équipe, five youngsters have been drafted in and the cut follows Donald Trump’s government freezing visa processing in January for 75 countries, including Haiti.

Sporting director Paul Christie said they want to be competitive rather than simply turn up, but feel they are being prevented from showing their best. He cited difficulties booking appointments with the United States Embassy in Kingston and said all avenues of appeal, including with Concacaf, had been exhausted.

The visa row comes three months before the World Cup, scheduled for 11 June to 19 July across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Four qualified teams are on the list, Haiti, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and Iran, and for now their participation is not in doubt, despite a war the United States and Israel launched in late February against the Islamic Republic.

Source: L'Équipe