You have to wonder about the USMT 2008 schedule. First we play Spain, and now we play Cuba. I don’t know about you, but I think the Spanish-American War trifecta is in play. The USSF needs to schedule a game against the Philippines as soon as possible. Sunil Gulati, make it so!

            We’re all aware that the United States and Cuba have a bit of a, er, history. This history probably explains why the last US squad to play a game in Cuba played them in 1949, before the revolution, back when men were men, women were women, and everyone was oppressed. When most Americans think of Cuba that long ago, they tend to think of the Cuba portrayed in The Godfather: Part II. Rampant corruption, organized crime everywhere…aaah, those were the days. Of course, Cubans also remember that Cuba, which might explain why they decided to revolt in the first place. And, to be fair, judging from the Cubans forced out of power who emigrated to the U.S. it was the right decision. I mean, I wouldn’t want them running my country either. 

            Of course, the revolution took place in 1959, and since then nothing of interest has happened between the U.S. and Cuba, right? Well, okay, we did sort of try to assassinate Castro once or twice. Okay, okay, A few times. But what’s attempted assassination between friends? It’s not like they were successful, or anything, right. Oh, and the Bay of Pigs? Yeah, that happened too. Soviet IRBMs? Almost forgot about that one. But at least it’s gotten better. Despite the embargo (which has done a wonderful job of destabilizing Castro), there’s quite a lot of trade between the U.S. and Cuba. They send us pitchers and in exchange we send them (alleged) terrorists. 

            But the USMNT isn’t in Havana for tourism or trade (which is good, because those are both illegal under U.S. law). They’re there to play a game of soccer. Well, hopefully it’s soccer. Our last opponent, Guatemala didn’t get the memo about playing Association football instead of Rugby football, and the match was correspondingly ugly. Specifically, this match is the 2nd in our semifinal qualification group (the other teams in our group are Guatemala and Trinidad).

            This is one of those games that the U.S. should win, i.e. a CONCACAF game outside of Estadio Azteca. Cuba’s squad is not terribly impressive. To be fair, twelve of their players have defected in the past 6 years, but really, this team is awful. Their twenty-man squad has scored a grand total of 17 goals in international play (less than half of Landon Donovan’s tally), and not a single Cuban player is on a team outside of Cuba. This has all the makings of a typical CONCACAF cakewalk for the USMNT. 

            With that in mind, look for Bradley to give Brad Guzan at least a half in goal and there might even be a Marvell Wynne sighting in defense (but only if we’re up by at least 2…he’s quite awful at defense). As usual, the biggest questions are up front. It’s not that the MNT will have trouble scoring against Cuba, but of the four strikers the manager has on the roster, two of them, Deuce and Landon Donovan can’t seem to play well together. Hell, they really can’t even play striker all that well, being more suited for deeper play. The other two strikers on the squad are Brian Ching and Eddie Johnson, both known quantities. Ching is decent and Eddie Johnson blows hot and cold. It won’t be a problem here, but the MNT needs someone to step up and play forward. The Confederations Cup is coming up next year, and while playing Donovan and Dempsey out of position can work against Trinidad, it won’t against Brazil, Italy or Spain.