A member of Cuba's squad has left the team, hoping to seek political asylum. Can't find any news articles on it but it was mentioned by the commentators during the ES-Cuba broadcast.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...n-charlotte-nc/2011/06/12/AGQxZJSH_story.html Gotta love these Cubanos!
I'm guessing that some Cubans have no problem with the fact that the US is regularly chosen to host the Gold Cup every 2 years.
why doesn't the team get blackmailed, say If u leave the squad, your family pays the consequences. I bet that will stop it.
ya, It's stupid. let them just ditch their team and leave them hanging. why do they even get Invited? hopefully super antonio doesn't ban me for this post, dude Is estevo2.0
Umm, I imagine Mesa wanted to live in freedom...that's just me talking though. If we're talking about leaving the team... well, after two 5 - 0 losses, wtf was Mesa going to do for them?
teams (from the Caribbean zone and the Central American zone) are not "invited" to the Gold Cup. all teams qualify (via an earlier competition/tournament) -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_CONCACAF_Gold_Cup#Participating_nations (note, those teams in the North American zone -- Canada, Mexico, USA -- apparently receive automatic qualification to the Gold Cup, so that does look like a standing invitation, perhaps due to the fact that this zone has produced every previous GC winner.)
I keep seeing Canadian fans saying that on this site but that isn't true Canada has had automatic qualification since the gold cup started in 1991. If a team from the Caribbean or Central America won they would still have to qualify.
after some research you are correct. thanks! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CONCACAF_Gold_Cup#Qualification Personally - I'd like Canada to have to qualify through Central or Caribbean. We need the games.
Yeah I think it hurts you guys to face these teams almost exclusively in qualifiers or gold cup games. I think Canada would do a lot better if they scheduled some friendlies and got more familiar with these teams in non due or die situations.
I couldn't agree more. For some reason all of our friendlies are with mid-range European and South American countries, when they aren't the guys we need to beat. CONCACAF countries should be taking more advantage of eachothers' availability.
the Canada "B" squad needs to be brought back for regular friendlies. Keep it strictly north american-based players, and ideally have it be our "up and comers". They should be playing as many Concacaf-based nations and club teams as possible to gain experience. I realize it costs money but.....look at where Josh Simpson and Adrian Serioux got to based on the Canada "B" concept.
Ermm i got a question for those knowlgable in these politics, can that cuban apply for asylum? or green card or w/e... couse it happens so many times and mostly with cubans im wondering do they have especial privileges for USA citenzship or something?
Yes, they can claim asylum based on political reasons (i.e. claim that they are escaping a dictator and that they would suffer if they go back), allowing them to stay. Then after a few years they can apply for a green card or citizenship.