Soccer-Four Colombia players ruled out of friendly due to COVID-19

Jan 18 (Reuters) - Four players from the Colombia women's team have been ruled out of a friendly scheduled to be played later on Monday in Orlando against the United States due to COVID-19 protocols.

U.S. Soccer said in a news release a staff member in the Colombia delegation tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in Orlando on Saturday and had contact classified as "low risk" with three players.

The three players were isolated and took additional tests that came back negative but were being held out of the match out of an abundance of caution.

A fourth player who received inconclusive test results since arriving in Orlando will also not play in the match.

If the four players test negative over the coming days, they could be cleared to play in the second meeting between the two teams on Jan. 22 at Orlando's Exploria Stadium. (Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Pritha Sarkar)