Siena men’s soccer player Antonio Linge is home in Germany, where life is slowly returning to some semblance of normalcy in a coronavirus world.
Shops are open in his hometown of Cottbus, about an hour from Berlin, though social distancing and masks are still necessary. His mother, an architect, and father, a consultant, are going back to the office. His 12-year-old sister is returning to her local school. Linge keeps in shape by practicing with a local club team.
But Linge is nervous because of what he’s seeing from afar in the United States. With COVID-19 cases spiking here, and many European nations restricted from traveling to the U.S., Linge is uncertain whether he’ll be able to get back to Siena for the start of classes on Aug. 24 and soccer season on Sept. 11.
“Yes, I am worried because as of right now, my flight would depart Aug. 2, but I can’t right now,’’ he said. “I can’t get in the country, so I look in the news every day to see if there’s some change and they’ll open the border at least for students again, but nothing yet. So I’m very worried about that because it’s a good alternative to do online studying, but it’s not the reason I came to America. The reason I came to America is to combine soccer and studying.”
He’s got plenty of company among Siena’s 30 international student-athletes, who are affected by President Donald Trump’s proclamations restricting foreign nationals who have been in more than 30 countries in the past 14 days from entering the U.S. indefinitely. While there are specific exceptions, students aren’t among them.
“It’s very much a wait-and-see situation,’’ said Lindsay King, Siena’s assistant director of international admissions. “Our international students provide such diversity and wonderful conversation to our classroom and to our teams so we really hope to get them back on campus.”
Even when they do return, they’ll have to self-quarantine for two weeks.
One athlete not affected is Siena men’s basketball player Denzel Tchougang, a Geneva, Switzerland, native who has remained in the U.S. during the pandemic.
On the other hand, Siena men’s soccer has nine returning players from last year’s roster who represent five foreign countries: Germany, Iceland, Norway, Slovenia and Spain. All are affected by the ban.
Adding to their frustration is the European Union’s policy that bars most travelers from the United States, but makes an exception for students.
“I wish we were under the same restrictions,” King said. “It’s unfortunate. These students, obviously, they want to come and they want to play their sport. Some of these students are two, three years into their degree and now they’re being told that they can’t come in.”
The University at Albany had 50 international athletes on last season’s rosters. A dozen members of the men’s soccer team came from foreign countries.
“I think everything is still up in the air,” UAlbany men’s soccer coach Trevor Gorman said. “We’re just doing our best to monitor the different guidelines that are out there, the federal guidelines and wait to see what guidance comes back our way. Whatever’s deemed the course of action, we’ll take it at that time.”
Gorman said all his foreign players returned home during the onset of the pandemic in March.
Siena soccer player Antonio Linge hopes to return to campus from his native Germany on Aug. 2. But those plans are on hold because of the coronavirus travel restrictions.
Siena athletic communications“It just felt safer, being around family, understandable,” Gorman said. “They were all grateful to be around those folks, especially back in March, when so much was unknown and happening so quickly.”
Linge, a redshirt freshman back, was home in Germany on spring break when COVID-19 struck the United States.
He’s been there ever since. Linge is looking forward to returning to Siena, and not just on the soccer pitch. He spent a semester at Campbell University in North Carolina, then transferred to Siena to play for head coach Cesar Markovic, who recently retired. Siena has yet to name a replacement.
“I miss all my friends,” said Linge, who majors in international business. “I even miss classes. When you’re on campus, you can say, aw, I have to go to class. Right now, there’s nothing you want to do more than go to classes, go to practice at 6 a.m. and play with your friends. I miss it a lot.”
msingelais@timesunion.com • 518-454-5509 • @MarkSingelais
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Siena's Linge one of many international athletes in limbo - Times Union
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