"When Cuba is left on the World Cup sidelines for so many years it is the result of many accumulated mistakes over decades. Our football is suffering from the syndrome of (people) forgetting" about it," Juventud Rebelde newspaper quoted Hernandez as saying.

"The country gives priority to sports in which we are strong, but football remains in the shadows," Hernandez said in the interview Sunday.

In an article entitled "Why are we not at the World Cup?" Juventud Rebelde looked into his allegations.

"We are living the emotion of the 2006 World Cup in Germany but Cuba is not there," the paper said, noting the poor quality of the Cuban league in a country which traditionally prefers baseball.

The paper also complained at what it termed "insufficient institutional aid which keeps us on the outside looking in at such events."

Juventud Rebelde noted that Cuba was the first Caribbean country to participate at a World Cup - in France in 1938 "where the team reached the quarter-finals after overcoming the strong Romanian team to shock the football world."

In their next - and thus far last - World Cup match the Cubans went down 8-0 to Sweden.