Seven members of Cuba’s under-23 soccer squad have defected while they played in Florida. After a surprising 1-1 tie with the U.S. on Tuesday in the qualifying tourney for the Olympics, five players sneaked out of the team’s hotel in Tampa and were joined by two more yesterday. According to one of the players that left the Cuban team:
''We're fine, calm, feeling hopeful about our new lives,'' [team captain Yenier] Bermudez told The Miami Herald by phone Wednesday night. ``Of course, we're nervous because we're young, have no family here, and we don't yet know the way of life here, but we hope the Cuban and American communities will help us get started.''
At least five of the players will try out for second division professional team Miami FC according to a spokesman for the club and they could also seek political asylum.
The Cuban U-23s are scheduled to play Honduras this afternoon though the team may have to drop out of the competition since only eleven players will be eligible to play. (Aside from the seven defectors, Roberto Linares will serve a suspension after being red-carded in the game on Tuesday.)
Image- New York Times (Yendry Diaz (in the blue uniform) was one of the seven Cuban players to defect this week)
Sources- Canadian Press, Bloomberg, miamiherald.com, Reuters UK, USA TODAY, Guardian UK, Who Ate All the Pies
No comments:
Post a Comment