In a very literal sense, Andrés Cubas has been through the wringer. More precisely, the Paraguay midfielder’s trousers have been through the wringer – passport and all.
Andrés Cubas Misses Paraguay Internationals After Washing His Passport
It is not often a laundry mishap has international repercussions, but such was the case for Cubas, who was unable to line up for his country in friendlies against the US and Mexico after leaving his passport in a pair of trousers that went into the wash.
The 29-year-old Vancouver Whitecaps player moved quickly to rectify the problem once it came to light, but was unable to complete the necessary paperwork in time to join up with Gustavo Alfaro’s side in Florida, where a fractious encounter ended in a 2-1 victory for Mauricio Pochettino’s US side, and Texas, where Paraguay defeated Mexico 2-1.
“He messed up, he forgot it in his trousers,” Cubas’s father, Francisco, explained in a television interview. “The lady who works there didn’t notice either, and they put them in the washing machine. He’s really annoyed.”
Footballers and passports: a tale of misadventure and ineptitude
Be that as it may, Cubas should not be too harsh on himself. The midfielder is merely the latest in a long line of footballers whose travel arrangements have been scuppered as a result of misadventure, absent-mindedness or just plain ineptitude.
Lamine Yamal’s enjoyment of Spain’s thumping 6-0 victory over Turkey in September, a game in which he contributed two assists, was marred when he was unable to find his travel documents on departing the Konya Metropolitan Municipality Stadium. Forced to disembark from the team bus and rifle through his luggage, the Barcelona winger cut a frustrated figure as he returned to the locker room, where he continued the search to no avail.
Yamal was eventually assisted by the Spanish Football Federation, who smoothed things over with the authorities, enabling the 18-year-old to return home. Former Wales manager Chris Coleman, who missed his team’s preparations for a World Cup qualifier in Macedonia in 2013 after losing his passport, would no doubt sympathise.
The passport palaver that landed Ronaldinho in prison
Yamal, however, should count himself fortunate. There was no such reprieve for his Camp Nou predecessor Ronaldinho, who was imprisoned for 32 days and spent a further four months under house arrest in 2020 after he was accused, along with his brother and business manager Roberto de Assis, of attempting to enter Paraguay with falsified documents.
True to form, the Brazil legend made the most of the experience, scoring half a dozen goals in a prison futsal tournament to make an unlikely addition to his honours list in the form of a 16kg suckling pig. The biggest irony? As the holder of a Brazilian national identity card, he didn’t require a passport to enter Paraguay in the first place.
A common problem among players, in an era when so many qualify for national teams beyond the country in which they were born, is simply grabbing the wrong passport.
That was the fate that befell former West Ham striker Michail Antonio last year when he paid a visit to the Samba Stars Academy in Ghana. Antonio had intended to fly back to the UK before joining up with his Jamaica team-mates in the United States. Unable to find his British passport, however, he travelled on his Jamaican documents, unaware that he would need a visa to get back. In the event, he had to arrange an emergency passport just to get home and, unable to arrange a visa to the US with his Jamaica passport, missed the trip to the US.
‘It was a terrible fine: £300,000. Van Gaal was so angry!’
If that seems disorganised, it is nothing compared with the mess former Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo got himself into after failing to renew his passport in timely fashion before a tour to the US in 2015. The resulting delay meant he was unable to obtain the appropriate visa and incurred the wrath of Louis van Gaal, the United manager at the time, who slapped him with a whopping fine.
“It took too long with my passport and my visa, and I couldn’t go,” Rojo later told FourFourTwo. “It was a terrible fine: £300,000. Van Gaal was so angry.”
Even Rojo could not outdo former midfielder-turned-pundit Robbie Savage, however, who turned up for a flight to the Brazil World Cup the previous summer with his wife’s passport. It was the second time he had done it.
