US football team to play in Cuba in historic showdown

A U.S. football team will take on the Cuban national team in June in Havana, in the latest sign of thawing relations between the long-time foes, the New York Times reported Sunday. The New York Cosmos will be the first American professional team to play on the island since an exhibition game in Havana in March 1999, the daily said. News of the football match, which will be played on June 2, follows a recent decision by the Cuban and American governments to begin to normalize relations. The Cuban national team will use the game as preparation for July's Concacaf Gold Cup, which determines the regional champion of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. The New York team, which competes in the second-tier North American Soccer League, boasts a high-profile squad featuring two veteran Spanish nationals, Raul Gonzales and Marcos Senna. A formal announcement of the match is expected as early as this week, the New York Times said.