Pedro Adriani Faife Fernández (born January 1, 1984, in Zulueta) is a

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who once played for

Miami FC Miami FC is an American professional association football, soccer team based in Miami, Florida that competes in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club began play in the North American Soccer League (201 ...

in the

USL First Division The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second ...

Club career

Faife began his soccer career with his hometown team, Villa Clara, and played with the team until his defection to the United States in 2008, helping the team win the

Campeonato Nacional de Fútbol de Cuba The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Fútbol de Cuba is the top football division in Cuba. Currently, it is contested by 16 clubs and is divided into two tournaments – "Apertura" and "Clausura", with the last being the championship tournament. Th ...

in 2004. Faife defected from Cuba to the United States in 2008 in the hope of a securing professional career. Following his defection he trialed with several

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

clubs, including

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conf ...

, but was not offered an MLS contract, and instead joined

of the

for the 2009 season.

International career

Faife was a member of Cuba's under 17 and 23 teams and in 2003 made his debut for the senior Cuba national team in a June 2003

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. Faife subsequently made 35 appearances for the team over the next six years, but is not expected to make any more appearances for the national team since his defection to the United States. He was part of the Cuban squad at the

2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the seventh edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). For the first time since 1993, the tournament was held in more than one country, with ga ...

, the

2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the eighth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). It was contested in the United States in July 2005. The United States emerged victorious i ...

, and the

2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the ninth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), and was won by the United States over Mexico. It was contested in the United States from J ...

and represented his country in 6 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches. His final international was a September 2008

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

match against

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Cuba's goal tally first.''

Personal life

Defection to the United States

Faife

defected In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, changing sides in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, defection involves abandoning a person, ca ...

to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

when he disappeared from his hotel outside of

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

before a CONCACAF 3rd round

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

against the

on 11 October 2008.Cuban soccer stars Pedro Faife and Reynier Alcantara defect to America
/ref>

References

External links

Miami FC bio
* 1984 births Living people People from Remedios, Cuba Sportspeople from Villa Clara Province Men's association football midfielders Defecting Cuban footballers Cuba men's international footballers Villa Clara (football club) players Fort Lauderdale Strikers (2006–2016) players 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Cuban expatriate men's footballers Cuban expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Cuban men's footballers {{Cuba-footy-bio-stub