Cuban Soccer Players Seem To Defect
Maybe the health care wasn’t so great…
Sports Illustrated:
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Five Cuban soccer players went missing Tuesday night after the under-23 team played a key match against the United States, a team official said Wednesday.
The missing men had not yet reported to authorities.
Zachary Mann, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, said it’s unlikely the agency will learn the men’s whereabouts until they come forward.
Under the United States’ “wet foot, dry foot” policy, Cubans who reach U.S. soil are allowed to remain in the country and apply for U.S. residency after one year.
The Cuban team is in Tampa to play in qualifying games for the Beijing Olympics this August, sponsored by the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, or CONCACAF.
A CONCACAF spokesman declined comment, saying only that the situation is under review.
The five men, including a goalie and team captain who helped Cuba tie the United States 1-1 Tuesday, are expected to be in Miami by this weekend, said Marcos Ommati, a spokesman with professional soccer team Miami FC.
He said he had not spoken with the players and did not know their whereabouts, but said he had spoken with someone who told him to expect the players.
CONCACAF and team officials did not identify the five missing players. But looking at players’ jerseys Wednesday’s practice revealed those who were absent: Jose Manuel Miranda, 21; Erlys Garcia Baro, Yenier Bermudez, Yordany Alvarez and Loanni Prieto, all listed as 22-year-olds.
Tampa police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said the agency had not received any missing persons reports from the team, and officers were not called to the team’s hotel to investigate the disappearances.
A Cuban team leader would not discuss details and said he was most concerned about Thursday’s match against Honduras.
“Tomorrow we have a very important game … and we are concentrating on that,” said Luis Hernandez, president of the Soccer Association of Cuba and the only team official to address the media.
When asked what the team planned to do without the players, Hernandez said, “Win — with the five, without the five — win.”
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They’re probably taking part in a Fiesta down on Calle Ocho.
Maybe they didn’t see Michael Moores film…somebody should tell them they’re leaving Utopia for this place….poor bastards—Where’s Jimmy Carter when you need him?
March 13th, 2008 at 10:23 amI don’t get it. They had free health care. Why would they want to leave?
March 13th, 2008 at 11:32 amSomewhere near a donut shop Michael Moore is reading this and spitting donut bits from his mouth as he declares, “Those stupid idiots!”
March 13th, 2008 at 12:12 pm