Cuba Lost Two More Footballers Last Week

Whatever your politics, you have to feel some sympathy for the Cuban national football team. This weekend’s World Cup qualifier against the USA in Washington, DC was already an uphill battle, but that became a vertical climb against double gravity when two of their more experienced players - midfielder Pedro Faife and forward Reynier Alcantara (pictured) - escaped from the team hotel and defected to the US two days before the game.

From United Press International:

Talking to the newspaper about his defection, Alcantara said he bolted from the Crystal City Doubletree Hotel and “started running like crazy and didn’t look behind.” He hailed a cab, drove aimlessly for awhile and got out at a McDonald’s restaurant.

After finding a cheap motel, a mutual friend called an Atlanta contact, and after the three had met for lunch at a diner, Alcantara was driven to Georgia, housed and given money for clothes and other necessities, the newspaper said.

Reinhold Fanz’s team did their best on Saturday, but the result was a pretty convincing 6-1 defeat to the US (though Jenzy Munoz’s lone strike for Cuba was arguably the best of the night.)

This apparently brings the total number of Cuban players lost to defection since 2002 to 12, enough for a full XI plus a sub. And - based on my limited understanding - more or less any Cuban who sets foot on US soil can remain in the US and then legally claim residency a year later. Easily the most successful has been Maykel Galindo who’s having a nice career with Chivas USA. Galindo defected in 2005 and obviously hasn’t played for Cuba since.

Cuban reaction to losing yet another two players was understandably unhappy. “They betrayed the unity of their select team and gave in to the temptations of the empire’s money,” was the verdict on Cuban TV (who possibly hasn’t been watching US economic news for the last couple of weeks).