U.S. men's national team coach Gregg Berhalter confirmed Saturday that forward Tim Weah did not travel with the team to Canada for Sunday's World Cup qualifying match because the country does not consider Weah to be fully vaccinated.
Weah received his first shot before testing positive for COVID-19, which delayed him from receiving his second shot, Berhalter said. In France, where Weah plays professionally for Ligue 1's Lille, getting the vaccination and having protection from getting COVID-19 is considered full vaccination status. However, according to Berhalter, the fully vaccinated status in France is not the same as in Canada, something U.S. Soccer learned about only two days prior.
"This was a nuanced technicality that we were hoping would get pushed through and unfortunately it didn't," Berhalter said on Saturday.
Instead of getting ready to play Sunday, Weah traveled to Minnesota early to prepare for the USMNT's following match against Honduras on Feb. 2 at Allianz Field.
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Weah made his qualifying debut in October as a late addition to the starting lineup in a home game against Costa Rica. He created the own goal that lifted the United States to a come-from-behind 2–1 win against Costa Rica.
A few days after his qualifying debut, the 21-year-old scored in a 1–1 draw at Jamaica. Weah started and had a role in the U.S.'s goal in a 1–0 win vs. El Salvador Thursday night. It was his shot that was blocked, yielding the rebound that Jesús Ferreira headed across to Antonee Robinson for the eventual game-winner.
Brenden Aaronson and Paul Arriola are the likely options to replace Weah in the lineup against Canada in a match between the top two teams in Concacaf's standings.
The decision robs Weah of a chance to face off against Lille teammate and good friend Jonathan David, the star Canadian striker whom Weah had said he was looking forward to playing against on Thursday night.
“That’s my guy,” Weah said. “We always go at it. Most importantly, I love watching him succeed. Great guy, one of my best friends on the team. I wish nothing but success for him. Seeing what he’s been doing has really been great, and it’s pushed me to work even harder. Having that brotherhood, we really like to compete a lot. We’ve been waiting for this game the whole year, we’ve been talking about it, we’ve been joking about who’s going to win, who’s going to score.”
Due to the circumstances, Weah won't have that chance now.
