Cuban Gold Cup team stranded, game canceled
The Cuban national soccer team, scheduled to play a Gold Cup preliminary round match against French Guiana on Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, got stuck in Nicaragua with visa issues and the game was canceled.
The Cuban national soccer team, which was scheduled to play a Gold Cup preliminary match against French Guiana Saturday night in Fort Lauderdale, got stranded in Nicaragua with visa complications so the game was canceled.
Cuba’s team spent the week in Nicaragua training and was expected to arrive in South Florida on Thursday, but was unable to make the trip. International travel has been more difficult due to COVID-19 protocols, slowing the visa process.
“CONCACAF has been in regular communication with the Cuban Football Association regarding their travel to the 2021 Gold
Cup Preliminary Round. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 related travel and visa challenges, and the required COVID-19 testing regime, their match against French Guiana will not take place,” a CONCACAF statement said.
“Given the current public health situation and the ongoing need for protocols to be adhered to, the health and safety of the participating teams cannot be compromised.”
French Guiana will advance to the second round of the prelims and will face Trinidad and Tobago on July 6.
Canal Caribe, a Cuban TV station, aired an interview Friday with Oliet Rodriguez, the commissioner of the Cuban soccer federation, who had remained hopeful: “The visa situation of the Cuban national team remains the same. Even if it is necessary to arrive and go directly to the field, we will still have the conviction that we can have a good result. We hope the situation can be resolved and we can satisfy the Cuban people who love football and who expect so much from this team that has been growing.”
Cuba’s participation in this Gold Cup was highly anticipated because the roster includes 18 players who play professionally abroad, including forward Onel Hernandez, a Cuban-German dual national who plays for Norwich City in England. Last year, Hernandez became the first Cuban to play in the English Premier League.
Hernandez, 28, was called to the national team in March and scored two goals in World Cup qualifying matches.
Only five players on the roster are based in Cuba, a major shift in Cuba’s national team selection process. In the past, the entire roster was domestic. Players who made a living elsewhere were not considered for national team duty. Over the years, several players defected during the Gold Cup tournament and other international trips.
In recent months, Cuba chose to invite players who left the island with their parents as children and players who were given permission to go abroad, such as Tulsa FC defender Jorge Corrales, who is back on the national team for the first time in six years.
Corrales was giving permission to visit his father in Miami after the 2015 Gold Cup and was granted a five-year visa. He went on to play in Major League Soccer for the Chicago Fire and Montreal Impact before joining Tulsa.
Corrales is one of four Cuban players based in the United States. The others are 17-year-old forward Dairon Reyes and defender Modesto Mendez, who play for Inter Miami’s USL Fort Lauderdale team, and goalkeeper Raiko Arozarena of the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
The Cuban roster also includes four players from the Guatemalan league, two from Brazil, and one each from leagues in Spain, Italy, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, San Marino, Norway and England.
Watching it all with great interest is Miami FC midfielder Ariel Martinez, a former Cuban national team player who defected in Charlotte, North Carolina, during the 2015 Gold Cup after Cuba defeated Guatemala to reach the quarterfinals. He was one of four Cuban players to leave the team during that tournament.
Martinez spent 11 years on the national team and scored 34 goals in 58 starts. He had tremendous pride in his team and loved his teammates like brothers. But he had a burning desire to pursue professional soccer and have economic freedom, so he made the painful decision to leave his country, his mother and his three older brothers.
He remembers crying as he left the team bus and hailed a taxi. He said he is happy to see the Cuban soccer system evolving and remains an ardent supporter of the team.
“Soccer is definitely changing in Cuba,” Martinez said on Friday. “For the first time, they decided to invite players from abroad who had not been part of the system, had not played for Cuba in U15, U17, U20. In the past, the only players eligible for selection were ones who had been part of the system for many years. But this is good for the development of the sport in Cuba.”
Martinez roots for Cuba every time they play.
“Even those of us who left Cuba will support this team because we are Cuban, first and foremost, and we are proud of being Cuban,” Martinez said. “I view those players as colleagues and we want the best for the national team. The fact that I, or other Cuban players, chose to make a decision to leave the team at those moments, those were personal decisions. We are Cuban, whether they like that or not. We will continue to support and root for the Cuban team.”
The other two matches at DRV PNK Stadium on Saturday stayed as scheduled: Bahamas vs. Guadeloupe (4:30) and Guatemala vs. Guyana (9:30 p.m.). The winners of the six matches move on to a three-game slate on Tuesday July 9 and the winners of those games earn the final three spots in the CONCACAF Gold Cup group stage.
On Friday night, Haiti beat St. Vincent and the Grenadines 6-1, Trinidad and Tobago beat Montserrat 6-1 and Bermuda beat Barbados 8-1.