Before Juventus’ Club World Cup opening, the American president had a meeting with the team’s players.
A strange remark Donald Trump made to the Juventus team before their Club World Cup opener has drawn a lot of criticism.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, Juventus will play Al Ain at Audi Field in Washington, DC, capping an entertaining first round of Club World Cup matches.
Some members of the Serie A team traveled to the White House before of the game to meet with US President Trump in the renowned oval office.
Among the players who visited Trump in Washington were American internationals Weston McKennie and Timothy Weah.
However, the trip might not have gone as planned because Trump is currently receiving a lot of negative online feedback following an extremely contentious remark he made to the Juventus players.
Trump has frequently voiced his support for transgender athletes throughout his second term as president, which prompted him to sign an administrative order in February prohibiting transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports.
And he chose to ask the Juventus players for their thoughts during their White House encounter, suggesting that he hoped they would share his views.
Trump turned to the guys and clumsily questioned, “Could a woman make your team, fellas?”
The entire group, obviously taken aback by Trump’s question, awkwardly stands in silence and smiles at him.
The American president, however, was unwilling to let it rest and shifted his focus to Damien Comolli, general manager of Juventus, who sidestepped the remark by saying, “We have a very good women’s team.”
“But they should be playing with women,” Trump retorted, doubling back once more. He is acting extremely tactfully.
Trump’s remarks have, predictably, received negative feedback on social media. One X user wrote: “What a horrible, awkward moment.”
“He’s so awful, but the players and coaches handled it well,” said another.
And yet another said: “Crazy when a soccer team is more diplomatic than the President of the United States.”
Shortly after Juventus women became one of the world’s top women’s teams by winning the Serie A Femminile championship for the sixth time since 2017–18, the awkward moment occurred.
xz
