(Sports Network) - New York Red Bulls attacking midfielder Jorge Rojas missed Sunday's Major League Soccer match vs. the Houston Dynamo because of passport and P-1 visa issues. Rojas traveled to his native Venezuela to play for his national team this week for a friendly vs. Syria and couldn't get back into the United States, apparently because his passport was damaged and needed to be replaced before he could get his P-1 Visa to return.

"We first noticed the problem on Thursday," New York Sporting Director Jeff Agoos said. "Jorge went down to Venezuela for a friendly against Syria on Wednesday. We knew Jorge would have to leave the United States at some point, whether it was the game on Wednesday or the upcoming [World Cup] qualifiers [for Venezuela] in Peru and Paraguay on Sept. 6 and then the ninth.

"Our belief is that him being in Venezuela and being a known quantity in Venezuela he would have had a much better chance of getting his P-1 in Venezuela then in two countries he would have been qualifying against. That was why we made the decision to send him down on Wednesday and play against Syria rather than wait and chance it in Peru or Paraguay."

To the Red Bulls' dismay, Rojas couldn't get his P-1 at the U.S. consulate building in Venezuela because at least one official suspected something was wrong with the passport.

"The U.S. consulate believed that [the passport] could be doctored and was not willing to issue a passport because of that," Agoos said.

"Because of the time it took to get the passport, he wasn't able to get the P-1 visa in time to be back."

Rojas has the passport issue resolved, according to Agoos, and is expected to be back with the team early next week, in plenty of time for New York's pivotal match vs. D.C. United on Saturday.



Copyright 2008 The Sports Network
All rights reserved