2024-03-04 08:21:18
Photo: Hansel Leyva
Text: Editorial Cuba Noticias 360
The appearance of Covid-19 in the Cuban soccer team has further complicated the already critical situation of its preparation two months before the World Cup qualifiers.
The detection of a case of the dangerous disease and other irregularities with the national team were exposed this Thursday by journalist Alexander Ramírez Tápanes on his social networks.
Ramírez Tápanes reveals that the preselection concentrated in Havana has not started training due to the appearance of a case of Covid-19 in the group.
As a consequence of the above, a warm-up competition between Cuban senior and youth teams that had been conceived as an alternative to the absence of international friendly matches has not started.
Contrary to what was reported last month, the new report ensures that the coach of the Cuban first team, Pablo Elier Sánchez, is still stranded in his Pinar del Río province due to health restrictions and has not been able to join the team’s management. Ramírez Tápanes mentions, however, that in the face of similar situations in the National Baseball Series, solutions have been found even in teams that have faced Covid cases.
The players and coaching staff of the Pinar del Río baseball team were able to leave the province to play in the National Series and successfully managed to qualify for the playoffs, “which seems to me to be a wise decision, but contradictory to the fact that only one man (with a responsibility at the national team level) cannot do it” writes the journalist.
The expert, after remembering that Inder has approved the “bubble” format for the finals of the National Series, regrets the “silence” on the part of Inder and the Cuban Football Association in the face of this situation and just a few weeks before the start of the qualifying rounds. Concacaf for the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Cuba is located in a group with Curacao, Guatemala, Antigua and Barbuda and the British Virgin Islands.
“Football does not ask for prioritized treatment, it asks for equal treatment,” suggests the expert who highlights his understanding of the seriousness of the pandemic.
Due to the severe outbreaks of the disease throughout the island, and especially in Havana, in recent weeks, Inder announced the cessation of all sporting activities until March with the exception of the national baseball series.
Ramírez Tápanes’ ads on his Facebook immediately uncovered numerous comments from Cuban soccer fans.