U.S. national team makes a rare trip to Cuba to win 1-0

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Sixty-one years have slipped by since the one and only time the United States played Cuba in a soccer match on Cuban soil, reports Grahame L. Jones.

Saturday night the two countries squared off again, at crumbling Estadio Pedro Marrero in Havana in a regional qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The Americans, who were favored to win by a comfortable margin — and who hoped to make up for the 5-2 defeat in 1947 — arrived by charter aircraft Thursday amid considerable interest from local media and fans.

Cuba is more about baseball than soccer, but the presence of an American team in a country that Americans by law are restricted from visiting is a novelty, and a capacity crowd was expected.

And the results?

Clint Dempsey scored in the first half and the United States held on to beat Cuba, 1-0, in a sloppy and low-energy World Cup qualifier at Havana, reported the Associated Press.

Half of the lights at rain-soaked Pedro Marrero Stadium went out in the 86th minute, causing a brief delay before the final minutes, when Cuba nearly tied it after a free kick.