Cuba’s Surprise Leaves El Salvador Out of Finals

It’s a photograph that’s likely to be displayed in many a Havana den or study or bar and pointed to with pride in years to come.

It shows the players in their bright red uniforms, breaking their celebration for a minute to pose for the picture. It shows the historic peristyle of the Los Angeles Coliseum, caught by the setting sun. Most of all, it shows the scoreboard:

Cuba 3, El Salvador 1.

In a stunning upset Sunday afternoon, the unheralded Cubans scored a remarkable soccer victory, defeating the favored Salvadorans and denying them a place in February’s Gold Cup.

Cuba had come into the four-nation qualifying tournament as the supposed lightweight. But it tied Canada, 0-0; lost to Haiti, 1-0, and then left El Salvador’s hopes in ruins.

Although that was not enough for Cuba to reach the 12-nation finals next year, it did provide the path for its Caribbean neighbor, Haiti, which earlier Sunday had been beaten by Canada, 2-1.

Canada’s victory, on the strength of two goals by Carlo Corazzin, left it atop the group and earned its passage to the finals after an earlier 2-1 victory over El Salvador and the scoreless tie with Cuba.

Most of the Haitian fans in the crowd of 3,605 left after the loss, thinking their team had been eliminated. Not so the Haitian players. They stayed and cheered Cuba loudly from the stands.

El Salvador needed a two-goal victory to advance, but made its task triply difficult by allowing Manuel Bobadilla to score for Cuba just before halftime, when he hammered a cross from the right wing into the net from close range.

That left El Salvador needing an improbable three goals in the second 45 minutes. Improbable, because El Salvador is not playing well these days.

Raul Diaz Arce provided one of them in the 63rd minute on a penalty kick, but that was all the Central Americans could manage. Their need to attack left them vulnerable on defense and Cuba took advantage.

After missing at least three easy chances to score, the Cubans finally regained the lead in the 75th minute on a volleyed goal by Serguey Prado. They added to El Salvador fans’ misery with a third goal in the 90th minute when Andres Roldan scored.

In the stands were Galaxy midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos, who had been red-carded in the loss to Canada, and Coach Mario Peres Marinho, who also had been tossed from the game for protesting the call on Cienfuegos.

They were powerless to do anything but watch, however, as El Salvador’s soccer reputation suffered.

Cuba, meanwhile, is on its way up.

The Gold Cup, the biennial championship for the 38 North and Central American and Caribbean nations that make up the Football Confederation (formerly CONCACAF), will be played Feb. 10-27 in Los Angeles, Miami and San Diego.

The qualified teams are Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago and the United States, as well as guests Colombia, Peru and South Korea.

The draw for the tournament will be held Wednesday in New York.