Jason Kreis speaks on Atlanta United’s decision to withhold players from Olympic Qualifying

This past Monday, 31 players were named to the U-23 USMNT training camp roster as Olympic Qualifying we head closer and closer to Olympic Qualifying. Three Atlanta United players – Miles Robinson, George Bello and Brooks Lennon – were named to that list.

However, none of them will participate in the camp after Atlanta United declined to release the players due to Atlanta’s upcoming CONCACAF Champions League campaign and pandemic related travel restrictions (i.e. quarantine).

Jason Kreis, head coach of the U.S. U-23’s, sounded frustrated when speaking about the decision and his inability to use those players, particularly Robinson, in the camp and tournament.

“We thought we had moved to a solution that was going to work, and over the weekend we found out that Atlanta ultimately has decided to not make those players available to us,” Kreis said. “Unfortunate situation for us, unfortunate situation for the players, but ultimately ... as a former MLS coach, I think we have to respect their decision.”

Despite only working with Robinson in a training camp once before in 2019, Kreis spoke on how detrimental Robinson’s absence will be for his squad going forward.

“I was super, super excited to hopefully have him in this qualification process,” Kreis said. “To not have him, I think, is a pretty big blow to us.”

You can listen to Kreis’ comments in full below.