Cuban team start with 10 men after defections

By Simon Evans

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Cuba's Olympic football team took to the field with only 10 men on Thursday after up to seven of their players defected.

Five members of the communist state's under-23 team defected after their Olympic qualifying game against the United States, a 1-1 draw, in Tampa on Tuesday.

A further two players, both reported to have defected, were absent from the line-up against Honduras on Thursday.

With one player already suspended following a red card, Cuba coach Raul Gonzalez had only ten players available to him and his team began the match with a one-man disadvantage and no substitutes.

The five players who defected after Tuesday's game were captain Yenier Bermudez, goalkeeper Jose Manuel Miranda, defenders Erlys Garcia Baro and Loanni Prieto and midfielder Yordany Alvarez.

Media reports on Thursday said that defender Yendry Diaz and midfielder Eder Roldan had defected on Wednesday and neither of those players were present at Thursday's game.

The Cuban Football Association in Havana slammed the players as cowards.

"This was a very irresponsible act of cowardice by these five players," Antonio Garces, a Cuban Football Association official, told Reuters in Havana.