Futsal: Cuba lost 1-4 against Nicaragua in CONCACAF pre-World Cup debut

HAVANA, Cuba, May 4 (ACN) The Cuban national futsal team lost on Monday 1-4 against Nicaragua, complicating its situation in the North, Central American and Caribbean Football Confederation (Concacaf) tournament in Guatemala until May 9, which awards four tickets to the Lithuania 2021 World Cup.

The tournament is held at the Domo Polideportivo and the Teodoro Palacios Flores Gymnasium in the Guatemalan capital, with the participation of 13 teams divided into four groups. The Cuban team under the command of seasoned coach Clemente Reinoso is placed in key D and arrived in Guatemala in search of a place for its sixth World Cup participation.

But according to what was seen on Concacaf's Youtube channel, the Nicaraguans took advantage of all the defensive lapses of the Cuban team, which hardly created any goal opportunities, and scored their first goal in the 16th minute of the first half. And with that score of 1-0 they went to the break.

In the second half, the Nicaraguans stepped up their attack and with well-prepared plays, scored the remaining three goals in the ninth, 12th and 14th minutes. The Cuban goal was scored by Havana forward Jorge Moratón in the 11th minute when his team was trailing 0-3.

Thus, Nicaragua took revenge for the 9-2 drubbing by Cuba in the only existing game between the two, in the 2000 pre-Olympic tournament.

With this adverse result, Reinoso's team will face tomorrow El Salvador, which today drew 1-1 against the United States.

Cuban futsal players have participated in the World Cup editions of Spain-1996, Guatemala-2000, Taipei China-2004, Brazil-2008 and Colombia 2016.