Bruce Arena: United States' Immigration Policy Inspires USA's Opposition

Bruce Arena, the head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, said he believes the country's immigration policy is providing motivation to CONCACAF opponents as the U.S. attempts to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. 

On Tuesday, Jeff Carlisle of ESPN FC passed along comments Arena made about the impact of the policy on people from other countries in the region, including Honduras, Tuesday night's counterpart.

"Our immigration policies are impacting people in Central America, right?" he said. "And there's probably a little bit of anger over that. Then your national sport gets a chance to play the U.S.; I'm sure that becomes very meaningful."

The New York Times noted in February that President Donald Trump "significantly hardened" America's regulations on illegal immigration, which included ending "catch and release" and increasing "expedited removal."

In addition, CNN reported Monday Trump will announce an end to DACA—the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy put into place under President Barack Obama—on Tuesday.

Arena said he thinks the USMNT generally shares similar political views to each other but noted it isn't something that's discussed, per ESPN FC.

"Everyone is pretty supportive of free speech and not being restrictive of people coming to this country," he said. "We'd be almost unanimous on that. But I'm not around these guys all the time and listening to them talk politics. I don't think politics influences our national team program at all."

When asked whether he thought U.S. success in the World Cup next year could have a positive influence on the country, Arena jokingly replied: "So you want us to win a World Cup, bring the country together, walk on water? What else do you want us to do?"

The Americans must qualify first. They currently sit third in the six-team group, which is the last guaranteed spot in the World Cup. The fourth-place finisher will face an Asian opponent in the inter-confederation playoffs, while the bottom two are eliminated.

Their chances took a hit after suffering a 2-0 loss to Costa Rica in New Jersey last week. Now they are staring down a crucial road match against Honduras, which has also earned eight points through the first seven games of the final qualifying round, at Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano on Tuesday.

Another loss and the United States could find itself in serious danger of not making it to Russia heading into October's final qualifiers against Panama and Trinidad and Tobago.