I finally had the interview with Maykel Galindo, the interview about Cuba and his decision to leave everything behind. Wow. Amazing really what he went through and his ordeal. I don't know that i could just leave everything behind like he did, no matter how things were. He calls home about every 10 days, he said, and his only wish in life is to see his grandmother again.
Well, I've got to save some stuff for my stories. Check The Press-Enterprise on Saturday as I'll have a feature on him there. But a couple of things that I wanted to put on here now:
- He's aware of his two countrymen who defected, Lester More and Osvaldo Alonso. He said he knows More well and knew of Alonso but Alonso is apparently a younger guy and Maykel only played with him in scrimmages and stuff. Maykel said that he found out when everybody else found out: while watching the game. He said he has no way of contacting them.
- He watched the Cuba-Mexico game with Claudio Suarez and Panchito Mendoza. Man, to have been a fly on the wall for that.
- He doesn't like to talk politics, so don't bother.
- About four months before he defected, Cuba was on a European tour and he nearly left then but decided to leave during the Gold Cup. He left the hotel in the middle of the night with the clothes on his back and some money.... but you'll have to wait to read more about this later... or find one of the other stories that has been written about him... but mine will be good too!
2 comments:
Wow. All that to play here in the states. Can he be naturalized and play for the USMNT? I wish more CUSA fans appreciated his scoring ability more. They seem to be waiting for a "Mexican Superstar" to justify their attendance. All you here are yells as oppose to the screams that Palencia and "Loquito" garnered.
Just my opinion.
Amazing story. Takes a lot of guts to do what he did. I wish the two young men who defected last night the best of luck. I hope MLS, USL, etc teams are able to give them an opportunity.
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