The Cuban national team’s visit to Washington D.C. for Saturday’s World Cup qualifier yielded two player defections, one of them described in dramatic detail by forward Reinier Alcantara, 26, to Steven Goff.
Alcantara had received permission Thursday evening to hang out in the lobby of the Doubletree Hotel in Crystal City, Arlington, where the Cuban team was staying. When he saw the team coaches enter the hotel’s gift shop, he rode the escalator down to street level and “started running like crazy and didn’t look behind.” He sprinted eight blocks, flagged down a taxi, and told him, “Go, go go!”
After a half-hour ride he paid the driver with dollars he’d put aside, stepped out at a McDonald’s, then called a friend who lives several hours north of Washington. While waiting for the friend to arrive, he booked into a cheap hotel and tried to sleep. The friend and an Atlanta-based contact met Alcantara for lunch the next day, and then he was driven to Georgia and given a place to stay and some money for basics. He also watched his former teammates lose 6-1 to the U.S. on television, which made him “very sad.”
But, he said, “I needed to be free for myself, for my life, to choose my future.” He also cited poor treatment of soccer players in Cuba, including rationed, low-quality food, terrible field conditions, and a lack of equipment, cleats and uniforms. His playing time on the national team had also diminished of late, and there were “internal issues” with coach Reinhold Fanz and the program.
Midfielder Pedro Faife, 24, also went missing from the team’s hotel. He reportedly met with relatives in Washington D.C. who drove him to Orlando, Florida.