While the Cuban Football Association was announcing the appointment of Yunielys Castillo, the “most outstanding graduate” of the Concacaf category C course, to lead the national team, midfielder Arichel Hernández gave the federations a setback by exposing his ” disagreement” and announce that he would no longer defend the Cuban flag.
The bronze medalist at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz (Mexico), accurate a On CubaNews that it differed from “the ideas of the federation to appoint a coach with whom I do not share my presence there.” Without giving names, he stressed that in Cuban soccer there were glories, “former soccer players prepared to take the position, as well as other coaches who have gone through the national team and who could also assume that responsibility.”
Arichel Hernández mentioned that his plan was to stay in the national team until 2027, but with the dismissal of Pablo Elier Sánchez after the Gold Cup, things changed. “I missed this World Cup qualifier, which I wanted to reach one hundred percent, because it is the opportunity to go to a World Cup with the national team,” he told the same outlet.
Without giving names, Arichel Hernández stressed that there were glories in Cuban soccer, “former soccer players prepared to take the position, as well as other coaches who have gone through the national team and who could also assume that responsibility.”
The numbers of the new national coach Yunielys Castillo, who recently obtained the UEFA A license in Italy, are unfavorable. As coach of the U-20, the team was eliminated from the possibility of going to the youth world cup, qualifying for the Central American Games and the Pan American Games.
The arrival of Castillo to the national team, according to journalist Mario Lara from The Cuban Soccer Blogwas decided before the Island participated in the Gold Cup. He is “the coach designated by the Cuban soccer bosses to be the person who takes the baton,” he commented in a video Uploaded to YouTube on July 17.
The sports authorities, Lara said, favored Castillo over Raúl González Triana, who already directed the national team and commanded the group that attended the U-20 World Cup in Turkey (2013). Other options were Jaine Colomé Valencia, but she is not well regarded in the Cuban Football Association. “They see it as a thorn in their shoe,” said the communicator. Dariem Díaz and Lorenzo Mambrini were also ruled out.
Added to the annoyance of Arichel Hernández is a precarious local League, without a budget. On the Island, “in addition to playing soccer, you have to start inventing businesses to have money and be able to eat when you go on tour and support yourself,” he claimed a Play-Off Magazine the player from Artemisa, Yasnay Rivero. “The Cuban soccer player plays for the love of art.”
Rivero said that in Artemisa the conditions for the soccer player are terrible: “The bathroom is in bad condition, the food is very bad. To train we have only had malanga and juice for breakfast, so everything is very difficult.”
Soccer players cannot keep their uniform, even “in a tournament I play with one number and in another tournament with a different one,” said the soccer player. “If I want to give away or have a relative buy a pullover of mine, that possibility does not exist”, in addition there have been games in which they have had to pay for their transfers.
Coach Colomé confirms that in the middle of 2023 “there are players for the love of the jersey, of the 35 athletes I have on the team, 26 still do not receive a salary for this.”
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