Like most Americans, Michael Bradley was glued to the television watching election results deep into Wednesday morning.
But unlike most Americans, Bradley is captain of the U.S. national soccer team that begins the final round of World Cup qualifying Friday. It’s the first major competition for any national team since the election of Donald Trump as president — and thanks more to chance than fate the opponent will be Mexico, the team’s fiercest rival and a country Trump roundly criticized during his campaign.
The importance of the moment wasn’t lost on Bradley, who worries the rancor of the campaign could spill over into tiny Mapfre Stadium here, where 22,000 U.