Juventus star breaks ranks and speaks out on awkward Donald Trump visit
Juventus players were invited to the Oval Office for a meeting with Donald Trump on Wednesday, with the US president proceeding to discuss the Civil War and the escalating crisis in the Middle East
Juventus star Timothy Weah admitted the team's meeting with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday was ' weird '. It is not clear exactly why Juve were invited to the Oval Office to meet the 79-year-old.
The Serie A giants are currently competing in the Club World Cup and kicked off their campaign with a dominant 5-0 win over Al-Ain in Washingon DC on Wednesday night. Before that game, they were called for an audience with Trump.
But rather than discuss Juve's hopes of winning the tournament, the president instead decided to speak about a potential attack on Iran, whether the U.S. Civil War could have been avoided, his administration's travel bans and transgender athletes.
It made for an uncomfortable atmosphere in the White House meeting, which lasted 16 minutes. The Juventus delegation included owner John Elkann, chief executive Maurizio Scanavino, general manager Damien Comolli and director of football strategy Giorgio Chiellini.
American players McKennie and Weah, as well as Dusan Vlahovic, Manuel Locatelli, Teun Koopmeiners, Federico Gatti and the team's head coach Igor Tudor were also in attendance. And Weah was less than complimentary about the meeting.
'It was all a surprise to me, honestly — they told us that we have to go and I had no choice but to go,' Weah said. 'I was caught by surprise, honestly. It was a bit weird. When he started talking about the politics with Iran and everything, it's kind of like, I just want to play football man.
'I guess it was a cool experience, obviously, being in the White House… as the first time, it's always wonderful, but I'm not one for the politics, so it wasn't that exciting."
FIFA president Gianni Infantino also attended the meeting, which Trump kicked off by making introductions. He told journalists that there was going to be a game in D.C. on Wednesday evening. 'It's totally sold out,' Trump said.
'Of course,' Infantino replied. Despite those claims, only 18,161 people attended the game out of capacity of 20,000. Trump then turned to the two American players in Juve's team, McKennie and Weah.
'We have two great American players. Where are you, my American players? Fantastic, so good luck,' he said, shaking their hands. 'I hope you're going to be the best two players on the field.'
Trump then asked the Juventus players: 'Could a woman make your team, fellas?' When he did not receive a response, the president turned to general manager Comolli.
The Frenchman said Juventus have a very good women's team. Trump continued: 'But they should be playing with women.' Comolli did not answer. Trump interjected: 'They're being very diplomatic."
The conversation then moved on to the situation in the Middle East. Trump said: 'I hate to see so much destruction and death." He then said that the U.S. Civil War could have been solved without losing 600,000 people.
The president also invited questions, encouraging journalists to ask about the World Cup, though instead almost all were about the escalating crisis between Israel and Iran. After being questioned about evacuations, he was then quizzed on his plans for a regime change.
He said he had a plan for everything and that he would see what happens. He then admonished the Iranians for not making a deal with the United States. Throughout all of this, the Juventus players were stood behind him.
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