While United States Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati has declined to comment on U.S. Soccer’s stance towards Donald Trump’s executive order to ban the entry of citizens from seven different Muslim countries, USMNT captain Michael Bradley criticized Trump with a heartfelt message on Instagram.
Bradley has captained the US since 2015, and the 29-year-old has already accumulated 127 caps for the national team.
Gulati also refused to be drawn into a discussion on how this might affect the United States’ 2026 World Cup bid. “Sports obviously involves international movement and free movement of players, of ideas,” said Gulati. “How this plays out in terms of international events, I think that’s frankly a secondary issue right now. The issue involving the executive order and its implications are far broader than that.”
Of the countries Trump has banned, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Libya are all still in contention for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.