CARSON, Calif. (AP) — Mount Pleasant, a team from the Jamaican Premier League, is bracing to be without as many as 10 players on Wednesday when it takes on the LA Galaxy of Major League Soccer in a CONCACAF Champions Cup matchup.
The reason: Those players, including six from Haiti, were unable to get visas to enter the U.S. for the match, Jamaican officials said.
Officials said Monday the match is still set to be played as scheduled, even while the Jamaican club — which plans to add younger players from the academy level if necessary — and CONCACAF seek a solution. The U.S. has travel restrictions on citizens from some nations, including Haiti, though there are mechanisms that can assist athletes in some cases.
The Jamaican club has been dealing with the issue since at least last week, apparently to no avail.
The match is the first of a two-leg Round of 16 matchup in the tournament, with the second leg set to be played in Kingston, Jamaica on March 19.
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FILE - LA Galaxy midfielder Marco Reus (18) runs during an MLS soccer match against New York City FC, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Carson, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong, File)
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — Western Kentucky coach Greg Collins is staying despite a second losing record in three seasons, and athletic director Todd Stewart made clear Monday it's because both the coach and donors opened their wallets to boost the Lady Toppers' name, image and likeness pool.
Stewart said donors made “significant” financial commitments along with Collins giving part of his salary to the program's NIL fund. Keeping Collins also is what major boosters of the program wanted.
“I am confident our new resources will result in significant and notable improvement immediately,” Stewart said in a statement. “This program has a history of 20-win seasons, competing for conference championships and reaching postseason tournaments and these goals are the expectation of our program.”
Stewart said the new investment means Western Kentucky will have “substantially more” resources to build a roster next season than the Lady Toppers had available this season, which they finished 8-21. Eight of the losses came by five points or less.
Collins is 132-111 since taking over as Western Kentucky's coach in 2018, and the Lady Toppers went 23-9 last season. The coach apologized for this season, saying the program didn't meet the new challenges as college athletics “changed dramatically.”
“We do have a detailed plan for significant improvement, and I appreciate the new NIL commitments by our donors that will immediately impact our program,” Collins said.
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FILE - Western Kentucky coach Greg Collins shouts instructions from the sideline during the team's NCAA college basketball game against Louisiana Tech in Bowling Green, Ky., Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. (Grace Ramey/Daily News via AP, File)
