The NY Times had an article on the Cuban defectors which had some interesting details. First of all, it verifies what the three players on trial with the Galaxy told me - that the trio had planned for months to defect. Apparently, though, the two final members of the group that left that day, Loanni Cartaya Prieto and Erlys García Baró, were more recent additions.
The other issue the Times raised was the fact that Miami FC, the USL club based there, announced it would offer the players trials with the organization, then reneged on the offer.
Technically, the club didn't renege. It didn't make the offer. The players only heard about it through the media.
"We heard they were interested, but they never approached us," said Jose Manuel Miranda.
Instead, the players sifted through offers from other teams. When the Galaxy's came in, that's the one they jumped on. Recently, though, their representative finally heard from Miami FC. The club was offering a trial after all.
"But now we’re here," said Yenier Bermudez. "We are happy here. We’re hoping to get the chance to prove that we can play good soccer. We’ll train as best as we can."
So all that stuff Miami FC said about not wanting to encourage players to leave during a tournament apparently went by the wayside when they realized it didn't bother other teams at all.
1 comment:
You were right to say, in an earlier post, that they pulled their offer for purely political reasons. Since Miami FC is owned by a company that operates soccer tournaments across the hemisphere they had an interest in not compromising relations with any potential participant (i.e. Cuba). Either way it was a dumb decision. Miami FC is only getting 3500 a game in attendance, and they sure could have used all the press and community interest over better relations with a country that has a near zero soccer presence. Hopefully the two other players can take up the offer and get back on the pitch where they'll feel more at home.
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