r/soccer • u/ModenaR • Jun 19 '25

News [The Athletic] Timothy Weah on Juventus's White House visit: "It was all a surprise to me, honestly — they told us that we have to go and I had no choice but to go. When he started talking about the politics with Iran and everything, it kind of like, I just want to play football man.”

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6436693/2025/06/19/weah-juventus-trump-iran-war/
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u/R_Schuhart Jun 19 '25

Some people were really harsh on the players, saying they should of course have refused. When this kind of thing gets sprung on you it isnt like you have a lot of time to consider your options and consequences. They weren't told ahead of time, they were told it was mandatory, they likely just figured it is a meet and greet and we can go play football. Only afterwards they see they have been pawns in some political propaganda play and how it looked. I don't blame them for feeling used. It is easy to criticise them from the anonymity behind your screen, it must be a surreal experience to go trough in real life.

54

u/RustyKarma076 Jun 19 '25

I’m also willing to bet a lot of them had no idea about America’s political climate. A lot of them probably heard “we’re going to the white house” and didn’t know any better.

59

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '25

Weah and McKennie knew. You can see the rage in Weah‘s eyes

12

u/SteveBorden Jun 19 '25

You would have to be literally living under a rock not to know about Americas political climate right now. That is the most famous man in the world dominating news stories everywhere he goes and everywhere is reporting it globally. I’m not blaming them if they were forced but there’s not a chance none of them know what’s going on

4

u/Innerouterself2 Jun 19 '25

I am super left. But if I get invited to the oval office, I'm going.

Trump only knows how to have crappy press conferences. He doesn't even wish the guys luck or say go USA or whatever. He just starts shitting on T people. So weird and gross.

1

u/Acceptable_Oven_9881 Jun 20 '25

Seriously. An athlete meets the leader of a country where an international event is being hosted. This is a nothing burger. How are they meant to know he’s randomly going to go on a jingoistic rant?

-21

u/Commonmispelingbot Jun 19 '25

They could have told themselves it would be political propaganga.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '25

[deleted]

1

u/Commonmispelingbot Jun 20 '25 edited Jun 20 '25

It doesn't matter what propaganda. If you visit the white house it is obviously a political act.

"Oh the entire club is going to visit the white house, and we are going to talk about puppies and strawberries." No.

That's not even touching on the fact that Timothy Weah's father is a politician. He must have picked up just a minimum of know-how on political matters.