Andrew Giuliani, who leads the White House World Cup task force, says the DR Congo national soccer team must maintain a 21-day isolation bubble or risk being unable to enter the United States for the World Cup, according to the supplied ESPN report. The warning comes as Congo deals with an Ebola outbreak.

The report says Giuliani made the warning directly to ESPN and that the US has communicated the same position to FIFA, the Congolese team and the Congolese government. The team is currently training in Belgium, where it is scheduled to play warm-up games, and the key requirement is that the bubble remain intact before travel to Houston.

Health measures are driving tournament logistics here. The team is trying to prepare for the World Cup, but the report says some staff based in Congo left the country this week and that any new arrivals could complicate the isolation setup. Giuliani’s message is that travel permission depends on maintaining the integrity of the bubble for 21 days.

The public-health context is serious. Congo has confirmed an outbreak of a rare type of Ebola, Bundibugyo, which the report says has caused more than 130 deaths and nearly 600 suspected cases. The World Health Organization has declared it a public health emergency of international concern, and the CDC has already said the US would bar entry of foreign nationals who had been in Congo, Uganda and South Sudan within the prior three weeks.

That means the World Cup task force is not dealing with a hypothetical issue. It is trying to apply broad health screening logic to an actual tournament team whose players are largely based outside Congo and whose coach is in France. The source says most of the players are based abroad, which shows why the bubble approach is being treated as a workable compromise rather than a blanket travel ban.

The packet also notes that the CDC has staff in Europe monitoring two American doctors who are in quarantine after Ebola exposure, and officials are discussing whether to send staff to Belgium to check in on the team. That detail suggests the response is active and hands-on, not just bureaucratic.

The evidence does not say what FIFA will ultimately decide, whether Congo will have to alter its travel plan, or whether any exemptions will be granted. But it does show that the World Cup is already intersecting with disease-control policy months before the tournament opens. For now, the key fact is simple: the team’s ability to travel is being tied to a strict isolation standard.