It looks like Gregg Berhalter will have to look to other alternatives for the United States men’s national team’s World Cup qualifier on October 10 against Panama as a COVID-19 travel ban by the British government could see several UK-based players miss the game.
The game will fall between their two other qualifiers at home against Jamaica (October 7) and Costa Rica (October 13). Should any of the players head to Panama, then they would be required quarantine on their return to the UK for 10 days as the Central American country is on its red list.
The travel ban would see players such as Christian Pulisic (Chelsea), Zack Steffen (Manchester City), Josh Sargent (Norwich City), Ethan Horvath (Nottingham Forest), Antonee Robinson, and Tim Ream (Fulham) remain stateside while their teams make the journey to Panama.
Opting to take any of the players to the game would prove a hindrance to their club teams, especially for Pulisic as he would be quarantined for Chelsea’s Premier League game against Brentford and the Champions League group game against Malmo.
The British government, which has been using a system to identify low, medium, and high-risk countries during the pandemic, will make the switch to a new system next month that will identify safe and red-flagged countries. At present, Panama has not been removed from the red list.
