TAMPA —
An understaffed Cuban team held on gamely for as long as it could but lost 2-0 to full-strength Honduras Thursday in a first-round Group A CONCACAF Olympic qualifying match before a sparse gathering at Raymond James Stadium.
Marvin Sanchez scored for Honduras in the 69th minute and Hendry Thomas scored in the 77th minute.
Cuba's Under-23 team put out a lineup with 10 players after the defection of seven of its players following Tuesday's 1-1 draw with the United States.
Honduras defeated Panama 1-0 on a 90th-minute goal on Tuesday.
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Five players left the Cuban team soon after the game on Tuesday and two more left on Wednesday.
That left Cuba with 11 players but one of them, striker Roberto Linares, who scored the goal against the United States, was suspended from Thursday's game because of a red card picked up late in that match.
Missing from Cuba's lineup against Honduras were goalkeeper Jose Manuel Miranda, defenders Erlys Garcia Baro, Yenier Bermudez, Yendry Diaz and Loanni Cartaya Prieto and midfielders Yordany Alvarez and Eder Roldan.
After the game, Cuban coach Raul Gonzalez said he would answer only questions about the game and none involving "politics."
"It's hard to play with 10 players, it's asking a lot, especially when you only have that many players (with no substitutions)," Gonzalez said. "But the team played well, played hard and it is something we have to accept."
It has been reported and some of the players have been quoted as being interested in playing in Major League Soccer or the United Soccer Leagues.
Diaz and Roldan left the team hotel on Wednesday and joined friends in Tampa. They plan to join the other players in Lake Worth, Fla., according to the Miami Herald.
Apparently not even the players' families in Cuba were aware of the plan to leave the team.
Team captain Bermudez, Miranda, Garcia Baro, Alvarez and Prieto left their Tampa hotel and got into a waiting car of a friend, according to reports. They bought a cell phone and contacted a lawyer.
"We're fine, calm, feeling hopeful about our new lives,"' Bermudez told the Herald in a telephone interview. "Of course, we're nervous because we're young, have no family here, and we don't yet know the way of life here, but we hope the Cuban and American communities will help us get started."
The players plan to seek political asylum and then look to play professional soccer.
"Of course, my heart will be in Cuba with my family, but I want to have the freedom to better my life, to play professional soccer, to be the best I can be, and for that we had to make this sacrifice," Bermudez told the Herald. "The key now is to get the legal paperwork out of the way as quickly as possible so we can get on with our plans."
The game was goalless after the first half although Honduras had a 15-2 advantage in shots at the goal and an 8-2 advantage in shots on the goal. Late in the first half, a Cuban defender cleared a ball off the line after a dangerous header and goalkeeper Arael Arguelles made seven saves in the first half.
It was more of the same in the second half with the Cubans making only the occasional foray into the Honduras end.
Group B continues Friday night in Carson, Calif., with Canada playing Haiti after drawing with Mexico 1-1 on Wednesday. Mexico plays Guatemala.
In the second game, the United States defeated Panama 1-0 before an announced crowd of 3,855.
Freddy Adu scored on a penalty in the 42nd minute after Panama's sprawling goalkeeper Jose Calderon tripped up Jozy Altidore who broke in alone.
Toronto FC players Maurice Edu and Marvell Wynne played well on the back line for the U.S. team. Edu played midfield on Tuesday and Wynne did not play. Wynne picked up a yellow card in the first half.
