This week, 2 Cuban soccer players defected from their national team while on world cup qualifying duty in Washington DC. Cuba has now lost 12 players to defection since 2002. Nearly all of the stories are the same: the players talk to family or friends in the US before they come, flea the team hotel before or after the game, and start looking for a place to play in the States. By law, if a Cuban national steps foot in the United States can claim asylum and after a year can legally claim residency. Cuban TV accused the players of betraying their unity and “giving into the temptations of the empires money.” In recent history we have seen Cuban’s from many different sporting fields (most notably baseball) defecting to the United States in the hopes of making it big. But in the soccer world this is a new and growing situation.
Every time Cuba visits the United States either for a tournament or a qualifying game they expect defectors. The team hotel has security, but as the German born Cuban coach put it, “but you can’t handcuff them to their rooms.” Over the past few years, Cuban soccer has improved immensely, with the team reaching the quarter finals of the 2006 Gold Cup. But since these players can only play in Cuba, defection to the United States is a necessary option for them to take their career to the next level. If the 12 players that defected since 2002 were still playing in Cuba today, the national team would be much more of a force in Central and North America. Earlier this year, the Cuban U23 team traveled to the United States to attempt to qualify for the Olympics. After the first game was over, 7 players had defected, meaning that Cuba had only 10 remaining players and had to play a man short in their next game. Cuba will never qualify for a major tournament again if they barely have enough players to field a team after defections.
As for the players themselves, they all feel that they can come to the United States and start playing professional soccer. But as with any job, it isn’t that easy. The professional soccer team in Miami, Miami FC, holds tryouts for the defected players and if they are good enough they may get signed. Some players may never sign professional deals and will have to look for other jobs while other players can spend months trying out with teams all over the country before someone decides to sign them. Defection in an attempt to get a professional contract is very risky but if you have the talent, it can be very rewarding. The best example of this is Cuban defector Maykel Galindo. He defected in 2005 knowing that he would never play for the national team again and is now playing for Chivas USA, one of best teams in the MLS. He finished as the team’s top goal scorer last season and continues to play well this season.
But not every story of Cuban defection is a success like Gilindo’s. Not every defector will sign a professional contract. The players know that by defecting they have given up their chance to ever play for their national team again, a thing that all players hope one day to do. They player’s defection hurts the national team as a whole but if a player wants to defect, it is very difficult to stop them. Cuba will not stop producing talented athletes any time soon, it is a natural occurrence. In the future we can hope that we see the day when Cubans national team comprises of players playing professionally all over the world and not just in their home country. If this happens, we could be watching Cuba play in a World Cup for the first time since 1938.