MADRID, Spain.- The Cuban futsal team was eliminated of the World Cup after falling 10-5 to Thailand in a match played in Uzbekistan on Tuesday, September 17. Despite opening the scoring with an early goal, Cuba could not maintain the lead and suffered a Thai comeback that defined the match. This was the second consecutive defeat for the Cuban team, which had lost 10-0 in its debut against Brazil.
The team had difficult expectations due to the competitive level of its rivals in the group. The defeat against Brazil and the subsequent setback against Thailand demonstrated the gaps that exist in Cuban futsal compared to other national teams.
With these results, Cuba no longer has a chance of advancing in the competition, but it must comply with the schedule. Its last match in the group stage will be this Friday against Croatia, another team that starts as a favorite.
A few days before the start of the World Cup, the Cuban team lost two of its main members: the goalkeeper Leonardo Hierrezuelo and Harold Aguilera, one of the most prominent figures of the national team. Both escaped from the delegation during the preparation phase.
https://www.cubanet.org/vivir-en-cuba-es-muy-dificil-guardameta-cubano-da-detalles-de-su-fuga/
At the end of August, Aguilera escaped during the team’s training camp in Viseu, Portugal. The 22-year-old from Camagüey left the team after a friendly match against Ukraine. Meanwhile, Hierrezuelo, at the team’s next stop (in Huelva, Spain), during the early hours of August 26-27, escaped from the hotel where they were staying and took a train to meet up with a friend living in Spain, who helped him escape.
