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Five Cuban soccer players appear to have defected
Posted on Wed, Mar. 12, 2008
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By MICHELLE KAUFMAN
mkaufman@miamiherald.com
Five members of the Cuban Under-23 national soccer team left a Tampa hotel Tuesday night following their 1-1 tie with the United States and remain unaccounted for. They were believed to be on their way to Miami to seek political asylum.
"Jose Manuel Miranda, Erlys Garcia Baro, Yenier Bermudez, Yordany Alvarez and Loanni Prieto left the hotel'', Raul Gonzalez, coach of the Cuban national team, told ESPN Deportes. Bermudez, 22, is the team captain. Miranda, 21, is the starting goalkeeper. The Cuban team is in Tampa competing in the 2008 Olympic qualifying tournament and has its second game Thursday against Honduras. If the five players do not return, the Cuban team will be left with only 13 players and one, Roberto Linares, is ineligible to play Thursday because he got a red card in the USA game.
The Cuban delegation was meeting with officials of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football to decide whether they would remain in the tournament with a limited roster, or be forced to withdraw.
"Cuba has plans to keep playing in this tournament, and we don't want to forfeit our next two matches," Gonzalez said. The top two teams in the eight-team tournament earn berths to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Five Cuban soccer players defected from U.S. tournaments in recent years. Rey Angel Martinez and Alberto Delgado defected during the 2002 Gold Cup in Los Angeles. Maykel Galindo bolted from the team's Seattle hotel during the 2005 Gold Cup, and last year, Lester More and Osvaldo Alonso defected during the Gold Cup in Houston.
Posted on Wed, Mar. 12, 2008
Diggdel.icio.usAIMreprintprintemail
By MICHELLE KAUFMAN
mkaufman@miamiherald.com
Five members of the Cuban Under-23 national soccer team left a Tampa hotel Tuesday night following their 1-1 tie with the United States and remain unaccounted for. They were believed to be on their way to Miami to seek political asylum.
"Jose Manuel Miranda, Erlys Garcia Baro, Yenier Bermudez, Yordany Alvarez and Loanni Prieto left the hotel'', Raul Gonzalez, coach of the Cuban national team, told ESPN Deportes. Bermudez, 22, is the team captain. Miranda, 21, is the starting goalkeeper. The Cuban team is in Tampa competing in the 2008 Olympic qualifying tournament and has its second game Thursday against Honduras. If the five players do not return, the Cuban team will be left with only 13 players and one, Roberto Linares, is ineligible to play Thursday because he got a red card in the USA game.
The Cuban delegation was meeting with officials of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football to decide whether they would remain in the tournament with a limited roster, or be forced to withdraw.
"Cuba has plans to keep playing in this tournament, and we don't want to forfeit our next two matches," Gonzalez said. The top two teams in the eight-team tournament earn berths to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Five Cuban soccer players defected from U.S. tournaments in recent years. Rey Angel Martinez and Alberto Delgado defected during the 2002 Gold Cup in Los Angeles. Maykel Galindo bolted from the team's Seattle hotel during the 2005 Gold Cup, and last year, Lester More and Osvaldo Alonso defected during the Gold Cup in Houston.
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