Half a continent away, Seattle Sounders midfielder Marco Pappa is standing in solidarity with his Guatemalan teammates.
On Monday, Carlos Ruiz, the longtime MLS player who currently plays professionally in his native Guatemala for Municipal, took part in a press conference on behalf of the Guatemalan Players Association.
Ruiz, who is the president of the players' group, told reporters that in an effort to gain recognition of their group from the National Football Federation of Guatemala, players on Municipal and Comunicaciones, the two biggest clubs in Guatemala, would refuse selection to the national team for Guatemala's remaining fixtures for 2014 in protest. The issues stem at least in part from another club in the Guatemalan first division, Coatepeque, failing to pay players for nearly three months.
Though Pappa is not currently playing in Guatemala, he took to Twitter on Thursday to explain he will also turn down a selection to the national team for the rest of the year, saying he was "supporting my teammates...footballers have to be respected."
Pappa is coming off arguably the best performance of his career for Guatemala, winning the Golden Boot and Golden Ball awards at the 2014 Copa Centroamericana, held in the US for the first time earlier this month. Guatemala finished second in the tournament, their best showing since 2003.
