Football commentators like to talk of players 'going missing' in big games. This criticism has marred the career of Eric Cantona, hung over that of Cristiano Ronaldo until Manchester United won the Champions League in 2008, and it has been used to describe Thierry Henry's fortunes in cup finals over the years too. In short, it describes a player who doesn't like the big occasion, and lacks the mental makeup to meet big challenges. He can perform well in meaningless games against inferior teams, but in the big pressure environment, he falters.
The United States won 6-1 on Saturday evening in a World Cup qualifier. Their opponents, one could certainly infer from the scoreline, had a number of players go missing. Only, in this case, the Cuban national team quite literally had a number of players go missing. They defected.
Alcantara said he was in the lobby, wearing a casual shirt, shorts and tennis shoes, when he saw the coaches wander into the gift shop. He rode the escalator down to street level and "started running like crazy and didn't look behind," he said through an interpreter who arranged the interview and requested anonymity for political reasons.
After sprinting for about eight blocks, Alcantara said he flagged down a taxi and, with the few words of English he knew, told the driver, "Go, go, go!"
Reiner Alcantara later added that he felt that he had 'let the team down' by defecting before their crunch game with the United States. Can we again point out that they lost 6-1? Although perhaps in such circumstances the game itself was not exactly relevant. Still, it might only be common courtesy to wait until after the game before defecting. As it was, he went missing, literally and metaphorically.
As an aside, I feel that this might be the only possible reasonable excuse that I will accept from Stephen Ireland for his self imposed exile from the Irish international setup. Unfortunately, the Republic of Ireland's membership in the European Union, and their generally friendly diplomatic terms with just about every nation on the globe precludes such a defection. However, the mental image of (Stephen) Ireland lurking about with the squad, wearing his customary bling (see the gold-plated cap he was spotted with on MOTD2 a few weeks back) waiting until Steve Staunton and Kevin McDonald had wandered into the pub in Bratislava, then commandeering a taxi (with pink alloys) and demanding that the driver just 'go' until they had safely arrived in Manchester is one that is much more comforting than the actual scenario as it played out last year.
The United States won 6-1 on Saturday evening in a World Cup qualifier. Their opponents, one could certainly infer from the scoreline, had a number of players go missing. Only, in this case, the Cuban national team quite literally had a number of players go missing. They defected.
Alcantara said he was in the lobby, wearing a casual shirt, shorts and tennis shoes, when he saw the coaches wander into the gift shop. He rode the escalator down to street level and "started running like crazy and didn't look behind," he said through an interpreter who arranged the interview and requested anonymity for political reasons.
After sprinting for about eight blocks, Alcantara said he flagged down a taxi and, with the few words of English he knew, told the driver, "Go, go, go!"
Reiner Alcantara later added that he felt that he had 'let the team down' by defecting before their crunch game with the United States. Can we again point out that they lost 6-1? Although perhaps in such circumstances the game itself was not exactly relevant. Still, it might only be common courtesy to wait until after the game before defecting. As it was, he went missing, literally and metaphorically.
As an aside, I feel that this might be the only possible reasonable excuse that I will accept from Stephen Ireland for his self imposed exile from the Irish international setup. Unfortunately, the Republic of Ireland's membership in the European Union, and their generally friendly diplomatic terms with just about every nation on the globe precludes such a defection. However, the mental image of (Stephen) Ireland lurking about with the squad, wearing his customary bling (see the gold-plated cap he was spotted with on MOTD2 a few weeks back) waiting until Steve Staunton and Kevin McDonald had wandered into the pub in Bratislava, then commandeering a taxi (with pink alloys) and demanding that the driver just 'go' until they had safely arrived in Manchester is one that is much more comforting than the actual scenario as it played out last year.
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