Players (3) Quit the Cuban Soccer Team

HAVANA TIMES — Three Cuban national soccer team players resigned according to the blog “Visor Cubano,” authored by Mario Herrera, the soccer commentator on the Cuban radio station COCO.

“I’m full of sadness writing these lines,” wrote Herrera, commenting on the departures of Yenier Marquez, Alain Cervantes and Aliannis Urguelles. He added that Alain Cervantes “is simply the heart of the team,” while central defender Yenier Marquez acted as the team captain up until now.

“According to coach Chande Alexander Gonzalez, Aliannis resigned due to personal problems, but Cervantes and Yenier are another story,” said the commentator. “When they returned from Panama they had personal problems. A sanction was also imposed on them when they returned to training, and they didn’t respond as expected,” he explained.

Their positions will be filled by Jaine Colome, Maikel Chan, Yaudel Lahera and Dayan Blanco.

The Cuban team will leave for Argentina on August 16, where they will spend some time preparing and later play five or six games against first division clubs in that South American country.