Portland Thorns and Venezuela women’s national team forward Deyna Castellanos said she does not know when it will be safe for her to travel outside of the United States due to uncertainty around potential travel bans to the United States for dozens of countries, including Venezuela.
“The uncertainty of like, yeah, I can go home but not knowing if I can come back is something that is very scary, not just for me but players across the league,” Castellanos told reporters on Wednesday.
ESPN first reported last week that Castellanos did not travel to Venezuela for a recent pair of national team games against Panama due to a lack of clarity around the United States’ new potential travel bans.
“It was very sad I couldn’t go with the national team, but I think it was the right decision for me to stay and just keep training and growing here — but mainly to be able to stay and keep playing here in the U.S.,” she said on Wednesday.
Venezuela was reportedly listed on the highest level of potential travel bans proposed from the Trump administrator, but the plan, along with a potential list of countries, is not yet finalized.
Several of the NWSL’s international players stayed with their clubs during the recently concluded FIFA window due to the proposed…
