Members of the Italian soccer crew Juventus visited with President Trump within the Oval Workplace on Wednesday afternoon.
Precisely why the gathering passed off stays largely a thriller.
Six of the crew’s gamers (Weston McKennie, Timothy Weah, Manuel Locatelli, Federico Gatti, Teun Koopmeiners and Dusan Vlahovic), their coach Igor Tudor, a handful of crew executives and FIFA president Gianni Infantino stopped by hours earlier than Juventus’ FIFA Membership World Cup recreation in opposition to United Arab Emirates’ Al Ain that evening at Audi Discipline.
Trump was offered with a Juventus jersey and one for subsequent yr’s World Cup, which the US will probably be co-host with Canada and Mexico. However as Trump took questions from the media for about quarter-hour through the occasion, little or no soccer was mentioned.
As a substitute, the gamers stood behind him patiently — fidgeting every now and then, their faces primarily expressionless — as Trump answered questions that largely associated to the potential of U.S. involvement in Israel’s battle in opposition to Iran.
Later that evening, chatting with a distinct group of reporters after his crew’s 5-0 victory over Al Ain, Weah referred to as the White Home expertise “a bit weird” and implied he and the opposite gamers weren’t given the choice of declining the go to.
“They told us that we have to go and I had no choice but to go,” mentioned Weah, a U.S. males’s nationwide crew member whose father George is a previous winner of the distinguished France Soccer Ballon d’Or award and was the president of Liberia from 2018-2024. “So [I] showed up.”
FIFA declined to remark. The White Home and Juventus didn’t reply to requests for remark from The Occasions.
Whereas Weah mentioned he thought his first White Home go to “was a cool experience,” he added that “I’m not one for the politics, so it wasn’t that exciting.”
“When [Trump] started talking about all the politics with Iran and everything, it’s kind of like, I just want to play football, man,” Weah mentioned.
Fellow USMNT participant McKennie had made vital feedback about Trump through the Black Lives Matter motion in June 2020.
Juventus gamers Weston McKennie, left, and Tim Weah take a selfie outdoors the White Home after they and different crew members met with President Trump within the Oval Workplace on Wednesday.
(Alex Brandon / Related Press)
“I don’t think that Trump is the right one for the job as the president,” McKennie mentioned on the time. “I think he’s ignorant. I don’t support him a bit. I don’t think he’s a man to stand by his word. In my eyes, you can call him racist.”
Nonetheless, throughout his introductory feedback, Trump briefly singled out Weah and McKennie as “my American players” when he talked about that evening’s recreation.
“Good luck,” he mentioned whereas shaking each of their arms in what had the potential to be a clumsy second. “I hope you guys are the two best players on the field.”
That’s to not say, nonetheless, that there weren’t any awkward moments. As a result of there have been — none extra so than when Trump introduced up “men playing in women’s sports,” then seemed over his proper shoulder and requested: “Could a woman make your team, fellas? Tell me. You think?”
When no gamers answered, Trump mentioned, “You’re being nice,” then turned to face the opposite path and requested the identical query.
“We have a very good women’s team,” Juventus common supervisor Damien Comolli replied.
Trump requested, “But they should be playing with women, right?”
When he obtained no response, Trump smiled and turned again towards the reporters.
“See, they’re very diplomatic,” he mentioned.
Trump made a few different makes an attempt to contain the soccer contingent within the dialogue. At one level, the president used the phrase “stealth” when discussing U.S. army planes, then rotated and remarked, “You guys want to be stealthy tonight. You can be stealthy — you’ll never lose, right?”
The gamers didn’t appear to reply.
For the ultimate query of the session, a reporter favorably in contrast Trump’s border coverage to that of former President Biden and requested, “What do you attribute that success to?”
Trump seemed behind him and said, “See, that’s what I call a good question, fellas.”
As soon as once more, the gamers didn’t seem to reply.
