2023-06-29 11:51:40
Four soccer players left the Cuban soccer team that is competing in the Concacaf Gold Cup in the United States, according to various US media reports.
“The soccer players Roberney Caballero, Denilson Morales, Neisser Sandó and Jassael Herrera left the delegation,” said a local television sports commentator briefly, without giving details of the escape. The specialized Cuban journalist Francys Romero also announced the news on social networks. “Cuban soccer player Roberney Caballero (28) and three other players left the Cuban team that is playing the Gold Cup in the United States. The departures occurred in Miami before the team traveled to Houston, according to sources close to them. There are already 33 dropouts of Cuban athletes in 2023,” he posted on his Twitter profile.
The defection occurred on Tuesday, after the Cuban team fell 1-0 in its debut against Guatemala, at the Inter Miami stadium in Fort Lauderdale (Florida), and before traveling to Houston to play its next two games: on Saturday against Guadeloupe and on July 4 against Canada. The Gold Cup, which is held in the United States, has traditionally been a sporting event conducive to these leaks. From 2002 to date, more than 20 soccer figures left the island’s delegations, including star players such as Léster Moré and Osvaldo Alonso, the latter a US national and the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the tournaments of that country in 2010 and 2011.
33 leaks so far this year
With the desertion of the four soccer players, the number of Cuban athletes who abandoned official delegations in the first six months of 2023 rises to more than 30. One of the latest cases was the escape of the discus thrower Denia Caballero during a competition in Spain .
In 2022, a total of 63 Cuban athletes abandoned delegations or contracts abroad, according to data from the Cubalite digital site. The figure – which did not account for both legal and illegal migratory departures – includes athletes from 18 disciplines.
Historically, defections have been linked to baseball, but in recent months the same phenomenon has been registered in other disciplines. For example, in March of last year, long jumper Lester Lescay Gay, the 2018 youth Olympic champion, left the athletics delegation during a tour of Europe. At the end of June 2022, the Cuban Boxing Federation reported that Olympic and world champion Andy Cruz was surprised in a frustrated attempt to leave the country. As punishment, Cruz was expelled from Cuban sports for his “repeated indiscipline,” according to the National Boxing Commission.
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