{"id":200807,"date":"2019-06-17T16:37:18","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T20:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=200807"},"modified":"2019-06-17T16:37:18","modified_gmt":"2019-06-17T20:37:18","slug":"cuban-soccer-raul-mederos-hands-are-tied","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/sports\/soccer\/cuban-soccer-raul-mederos-hands-are-tied\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuban soccer: Ra\u00fal Mederos\u2019 hands are tied"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Three? Four? Five? Who gives more?” This is how the bets stood on how many goals Mexico would score in its game against Cuba in the 2019 Gold Cup, which opened this Saturday at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.<\/span><\/p>\n

Without a visa<\/span><\/a> for captain Yordan Santa Cruz, without any of the legionnaires who play in diverse professional leagues, and after a terrible preparation that included defeats against lower category teams, the island\u2019s squad couldn\u2019t have a worse outlook.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coach Ra\u00fal Mederos is aware of this. He knows that he has an inexperienced team, with thousands of tactical gaps and inaccessible talent, and he also knows that he can\u2019t do much to change it: his hands are tied.<\/span><\/p>\n

The team: do what I say and not what I do<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mederos was given the team as a hot potato some time ago, when mentions about it had to do almost exclusively with defeats and massive flight of players in international tournaments.<\/span><\/p>\n

The coach <\/span>somehow changed<\/span><\/a> that. The victories in the League of Nations, the classification at the highest level of that tournament for the Gold Cup, and there was also the debate on the possible convocation of Cubans established in other countries, something that fans demanded, but that no one close to the Cuban sports leadership dared to mention.<\/span><\/p>\n