Mexican national soccer team changes hotels in Los Angeles because of safety concerns

Article content

The Mexican national soccer team will change hotels in Los Angeles ahead of their Gold Cup match on Saturday because of safety concerns amid the protests against immigration raids in the city, a team spokesman said Tuesday.

Mexico will play its opening match in the regional tournament against the Dominican Republic at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

The team had a hotel reserved in downtown Los Angeles but governing body CONCACAF has allowed for a change to an undetermined hotel, Mexican team spokesman Fernando Schwartz told The Associated Press.

CONCACAF, which runs soccer in North America, Central America and the Caribbean, has not made an official announcement.

The protests began Friday in downtown Los Angeles after federal immigration authorities arrested more than 40 people across the city. On Sunday, crowds blocked a major freeway and set self-driving cars on fire as police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades.

On Monday, President Donald Trump ordered another 2,000 National Guard troops along with 700 Marines to be sent to Los Angeles.

Mexico coach Javier Aguirre was reluctant to talk about the protests at a news conference on Monday in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where the team is scheduled to play in a friendly match against Turkey on Tuesday.

“I’m not going to talk about Los Angeles, I told you no, we are talking about sports here.” Aguirre said. “I can’t express myself right now. We have a match against Turkey, and I don’t have any information. I know what we see on television. We’re thousands of miles away, and I can’t express myself.”

After the match against the Dominican Republic, Mexico will fly to Arlington, Texas, to play Suriname and then close out the first round of the tournament against Costa Rica in Las Vegas.