(Fr) Cuba 1v4 New York Cosmos

Tuesday 2nd June 2015

Estadio Pedro Marrero, Havana, Cuba   Attendance 

Cosmos won a historic friendly against the Cuban National Side thanks to 4 first half goals in Havana. Cosmos became the first US sports team to compete in Cuba in decades following the thawing of diplomatic relations between the 2 countries.

The match took place on a bumpy pitch, but that did not prevent the Cosmos from displaying some devastating attacking play to effectively win the match in the first half.

The Cosmos took the lead after just 9mins after capitalising on poor defensive play from the home side. Fernandes intercepted a poor pass and Raul cleverly set up Mkosana who made no mistake with a pinpoint effort into the corner of the goal.

But Cosmos did not have it all their own way as Cuba gave the visiting side some difficult moments in the game with their pacy forwards. A speedy breakaway gave Cuba a great chance to equalise on 19mins, but with just Maurer to beat he got his lob wrong and allowed Maurer to make a save.

It was against the run of play when Cosmos doubled their lead, and again Raul was involved. A Danny Szetela cross was nodded back intelligently by the Spanish superstar and Guenzatti was left alone to rifle the ball into the net. Cosmos were suddenly going through at will and Raul almost got on the scoresheet himself seconds later, but was denied by the Keeper.

But it was only a temporary reprieve as it was 3v0 moments later. It was a carbon copy of the 2nd goal as a Hunter Freeman cross was nodded back by David Diosa to Hagop Chirishian, who was left with a simple tap in. Lucky made it 4v0 before half time as he used the pace on a Guenzatti cross to divert the ball into the net, giving the scoreline an embarrassingly easy look.

But any fears of a thrashing were wiped away as Cuba had the better of a 2nd half that saw many changes to the Cosmos side. Cuba should have reduced the scoreline in the early stages of the 2nd half but with the goal gaping the Cuban player lashed the ball horribly wide.

But Cuba did give their fans a goal to cheer after taking advantage of a defensive mistake by the Cosmos. After Ayoze lost the ball deep in their own half the Cosmos failed to clear the ball and Vaquero took advantage to fire into the net. Cosmos almost responded straight away as Freeman had a well struck shot tipped over.

Cuba continued to push forward and almost connected with a flying header from a cross and in the same attack a shot went wide of the Cosmos goal.

There had been little of the Cosmos as an attacking force in the second half, but as the game wore on they finally created some chances. Freeman had a free kick tipped over the bar and Mulligan wasted a great chance as he fired a poor effort into the side netting after he found himself in acres of space after getting behind the Cuba defence.

In the latter stages of the game Cuba went close to scoring on a few occasions. On 79mins Cuba almost capitalised on a short headed backpass by Freeman and a minute later substitute Keeper Holt made a double save to keep the score at 4v1.

In the last minute Cosmos survived a goalmouth scramble, but prevented the hosts from getting a second in this historic match.