Reinier Alcantara tried very, very hard to make Cuba's soccer roster, because World Cup qualifying was being played in Washington, D.C.(The Week)(Brief article)

Reinier Alcantara tried very, very hard to make Cuba's soccer roster, because World Cup qualifying was being played in Washington, D.C. He made it. And he had a plan to defect. It wasn't easy, but he found a crease, and he ran like hell. He ran for blocks and blocks, until he flagged down a taxi. "Drive me far," he said. "Go far, far, far." They drove for nearly half an hour. Unbeknownst to Alcantara, another Cuban soccer player, Pedro Faife, was escaping too. (These details come from an excellent report in the Boston Herald.) The ...