Wet & Dry footy

Tampa, Florida - Hours after holding the USMNT to a one-goal draw, in the CONCACAF pre-Olympic tournament, five members of the Cuban national team abandoned the team’s hotel.

José Manuel Miranda, Erlys Garcia Baró, Yenier Bermúdez (Capitan),Yordany Alvarez, and Loanni Cartaya Prieto are all unaccounted for, raising the possibility they may be trying to defect. CONCACAF officials will meet with the Cuban delegation to discuss the situation and they could ask Cuba to forfeit the tournament.

Player defection from the Cuban national team seems to have become the norm ever since the squad begun to regulalry qualify to CONCACAF tourneys. Two players defected in the 2002 Gold Cup. The most famous, however, has been Maykel Galindo. The Chivas USA striker sought asylum in the United States and successfully defected after representing his country in the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Two more players left the Cuban national team during the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Lester More, a 28-year-old forward, and Osvaldo Alonso, a 21-year-old midfielder, soon after arrived at Chivas-USA, however, neither player made the team.