In Ireland, Aaron Rodgers talks Guinness and NFL international growth

MAYNOOTH, Ireland (AP) — Aaron Rodgers was dressed in black, appropriately, to field questions about Guinness.

The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback spoke to the international media Friday at a resort hotel where the team is staying ahead of Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings.

Can't avoid the Guinness questions in Ireland, it seems.

“I don’t really drink beer, but if I do, I drink Guinness. I’ve heard it tastes different off the tap in Ireland," he said hours after the team's flight landed.

The four-time NFL MVP said he's tried Guinness across the border in Northern Ireland.

“It was great, but I’m excited to see what it tastes like here,” he said.

It would certainly taste better with a victory at Croke Park on Sunday, when Ireland joins the NFL's growing list of host countries. The league is staging seven international games this season.

“When I first got in the league, there was an occasional game in Canada. But now we see games in so many different countries,” Rodgers said. “It’s fun to be able to be part of a game here on this island.”

In a nod to local culture, the Steelers switched up the language for players' names on their practice jerseys Friday.

The names were written in Irish. “Mac Ruairi" was the spelling for Rodgers' shirt.

“I have a family history going back to Ireland and Scotland. I’ve always wanted to get over here,” added the quarterback, who wore a black T-shirt at the news conference before changing into his white No. 8 jersey for practice.

The Rooney family traces its roots to Newry in County Down and late Steelers chairman Daniel M. Rooney was U.S. ambassador to Ireland from 2009-12.

“I know how much this means to them and how much a win here would mean to the family,” Rodgers said.

Defensive tackle Cam Heyward called the Irish names on the jerseys “a nice touch.” The veteran was also impressed by team president Art Rooney II's address to the players this week.

“It meant a lot. I got to see Art get excited,” Heyward said. "He was carrying his hurling stick around. I was one of the only ones who knew what a hurling stick was, so I didn't feel like a fish out of water.

“He just explained the importance of this game, the incidents that have happened at Croke Park before, and how it's just a sacred field.”

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, a member of the league’s competition committee, said the new kickoff rule is doing “exactly what we intended it to do.”

“It’s putting some excitement back in the game. It’s adding some quality plays to the game,” he said.

There's still plenty to learn, he added.

“We’re all learning and growing regarding best practices schematically, how to strategize, things to do, how to position players. Some of the size of the players in certain positions has changed," Tomlin said. “We’re all absorbing a lot of tape and we’re all learning and growing as we go.”

The team has been practicing receiving tricky bounces.

“That’s certainty a component of it for us and has been," he said.

There's already been a big blunder — two weeks ago kick returner Kaleb Johnson turned his back on a live football. Seattle's George Holani recovered the ball at the back of the end zone for a touchdown in the Seahawks' 31-17 victory over Pittsburgh.

Tomlin said the team won't be visiting Croke Park before the game.

“As long as the field is 100 yards and all that stuff and the conditions are the same for both teams, we care very little about that," he said.

The Steelers are staying at the five-star Carton House Hotel in County Kildare. It’s a 1,100-acre walled estate that features two 18-hole golf courses. It was the site of the Women’s Irish Open in July. It’s also where the Irish men’s national rugby team meets for training ahead of their games.

Irish rugby star Bundee Aki was on hand Friday as Steelers players made their way to the practice field.

The hotel, located about 15 miles (25 kilometers) west of Croke Park, can arrange horse riding and private fly fishing if the players want.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) and guard Mason McCormick (66) take part in NFL football practice, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025, ahead of their game against Minnesota Vikings in Dublin. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin speaks at a press conference before a training session ahead of their match against Minnesota Vikings in Dublin, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin speaks at a press conference before a training session ahead of their match against Minnesota Vikings in Dublin, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers speaks during a press conference prior to a training session ahead of their match against Minnesota Vikings in Dublin, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers speaks during a press conference prior to a training session ahead of their match against Minnesota Vikings in Dublin, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado comes to the White House on Thursday to discuss her country's future with President Donald Trump even after he publicly dismissed her credibility to take over after an audacious U.S. military raid captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.

Trump has raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela. His administration has signaled its willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and, along with others in the deposed leader’s inner circle, remains in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.

In endorsing Rodríguez so far, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela and sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government.

The White House says Machado sought the face-to-face meeting with Trump without setting expectations for what would occur. Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. Machado previously offered to share with Trump the Nobel Peace Prize she won last year, an honor he has coveted.

Machado plans to have a meeting at the Senate following her lunch with Trump, who has called her “a nice woman” while indicating they might not touch on major issues in their talks Thursday.

Her Washington swing began after U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela. It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.

The White House says Venezuela has been fully cooperating with the Trump administration since Maduro’s ouster.

Rodríguez, the acting president, herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move thought to have been made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.

Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.

“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during an Oval Office bill signing. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”

Even before indicating the willingness to work with Venezuela's interim government, Trump was quick to snub Machado. Just hours after Maduro's capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.”

Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump wanted to win himself. She has since thanked Trump. Her offer to share the peace prize with him was rejected by the Nobel Institute.

Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.

The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.

A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.

Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.

Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela, and Janetsky from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)