Two Cuban Players Go Missing In Washington

The night before their World Cup qualifier with the United States, Cuba sees two players disappear from the team hotel, according to head coach Reinhold Fanz, in presumably another case of a Cuban athlete defecting to the US.

Oct 11, 2008 4:08:26 PM

Eddie Gaven USA Cuba CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying

Cuban coach Reinhold Fanz told the media that two of his players, Pedro Faife and Reynier Alcantara, disappeared from the team hotel sometime on Friday afternoon. They were both missing from the team’s training session at RFK Stadium on Friday night, and it is presumed they have defected.

"It is always a problem for the Cuba team," Fanz said. "We have security, but you can't handcuff them to their rooms."

Cuba, in Washington to face the United States in a World Cup qualifier on Saturday night at RFK, now have just 16 players available for the match.

However, Cuban Soccer Federation President Luis Hernandez told the press that the two players hadn't actually traveled to the United States and were still in Cuba.

If they have indeed defected, Faife, 24, and Alcantara, 26, would become the latest in a long list of Cuban athletes who have left their country for good. Usually, it is baseball players, but since 2002, a dozen Cuban soccer players, including Chivas USA striker Maykel Galindo, have defected. Last spring, seven players from the Cuban under-23 team defected while in Tampa for the Olympic qualifying tournament.

Ernestine Fobbs, a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, told the Washington Post that the ICE had not heard from the players.

-- Goal.com

United States

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