Champions Cup bow overshadowed?

When Mount Pleasant Football Academy takes on LA Galaxy in the Concacaf Champions Cup today, the main narrative will not be on the St Ann-based club making their debut, but rather, the lack of several key players due to visa complications.

Mt Pleasant will take on LA Galaxy in the first leg of the round of 16 in the Champions Cup at the Dignity Health Sports Park in California, United States, with kick-off set for 8:30 p.m. Jamaica time.

It will be the first meeting between the two teams and Mt Pleasant’s first-ever appearance in the Champions Cup.

They qualified for the tournament by virtue of winning the Concacaf Caribbean Cup and received a bye to the round of 16.

Mount Pleasant join an elite group of Jamaican clubs to have qualified for the tournament and are only the fourth Jamaican club to compete in the round of 16, following Arnett, Portmore United, and Cavalier.

They are going up against the 2024 Major League Soccer (MLS) Cup champions LA Galaxy, already expected to be an uphill fight.

Mt Pleasant’s reality became much harder when it was reported that up to 10 of their players were unable to secure US visas to make the trip for their first game.

Of the players rejected, seven are Haitian nationals, with Haiti being one of the countries targeted in US President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

Haitian nationals’ entry to the US was suspended following a presidential order issued by Trump last year.

Mt Pleasant travelled for the fixture with an 18-man squad that included several players from the team’s youth ranks.

They will still be hopeful of a positive result before the return leg at the National Stadium on March 19.

The team will be able to field their full complement of players in the second leg at home.

Mt Pleasant enters the fixture in inconsistent form as they drew their last two games against Tivoli Gardens and Portmore United and won just two of their last five.

LA Galaxy are also entering the game following an inconsistent run of the games as they have only won one of their last five.

Their last outing saw them falling 4-1 at the hands of Colorado Rapids in the MLS, and they booked their spot in the round of 16 on away goals after a 1-1 aggregate draw against Panama club San Miguelito.

The winner of the two-legged tie will advance to the quarterfinal, where they will face the winner of the tie between MLS club, San Diego FC, and Mexican outfit Toluca.

gregory.bryce@gleanerjm.com