After Cuban Soccer Defections, ESPN Writer Is Criticized for Criticizing the Defectors
Filed under: Soccer, ESPN, Soccer Posts
When Cuba’s under-23 national soccer team traveled to Florida two weeks ago, seven players defected.
In the United States, media coverage of athletes who defect is almost always favorable: We Americans view Cuban athletes who come here as heroes seeking freedom. But Andrew Hush wrote a column for ESPNsoccernet that took a decidedly different approach. Hush wrote:
The events of the past few days have raised a number of questions. The most obvious one concerns security around the Cuban team. Of course, 24-hour surveillance is neither possible nor preferred - these are free men after all - but their escape seems to have been accomplished with minimum effort. The team bus was given a police escort to and from the stadium for the match against the USA, but it is believed that little extra security was in place at the hotel.
Furthermore, the decision to place Cuba in Florida for its qualifying group matches is also, in hindsight, questionable. Although the examples of Martinez, Delgado and Galindo suggest that defection is possible wherever you may be in the USA, these are a young group of men that may have had second thoughts about the choice they made had they been in a less familiar environment. It is no surprise that their rumoured destination while they seek to establish themselves is Miami, a city whose population is one third Cuban.
Consideration must also be given to the players and coaches left behind. The fact is that Cuba’s draw with the USA was a result that greatly enhanced the nation’s chance of qualifying for the Beijing Olympics. Though the defectors have their reasons for doing what they did, the fact is that they have betrayed the players with whom they boarded the plane to America.