Cuba to face St. Vincent and the Grenadines in World Cup qualifiers

HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 8 (ACN) The Cuban national soccer team will play this Tuesday against St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in what will be its last match in Group D of the CONCACAF (North, Central American and Caribbean Confederation) qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

Given the current epidemiological situation, the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder) closed all national and international sports activities scheduled to take place on the island until July 31, which is why this match will be held at the Kirani James stadium in Grenada.

In their last match on July 2, the team coached by Pinar del Río's technical director Pablo Elier Sanchez scored a scandalous 5-0 against the British Virgin Islands at the Doroteo Flores stadium in Guatemala City, which was their first victory in these qualifiers. In the previous FIFA matchday, they had suffered two successive defeats against Guatemala (0-1) and Curaçao (1-2).

Today, the farewell could be in style against the weak Grenadian team, who in their last match lost 10-0 to Guatemala. For this, Pablo Elier will have the same team with which he beat the British Virgin Islands, including the four strikers that play in foreign leagues: William Pozo (Norwegian club Strommen), Dayron Reyes (Fort Lauderdale, USA), Onel Hernández (Norwich City, England) and Joel Apezteguía (Tre Fiori, San Marino).

The most important aspect of this match for the Cuban senior national team will be to maintain the goal-scoring capacity that has given many positive comments in the international press, as well as to make the necessary adjustments to evaluate variants, consolidate the unity and cohesion of the group in search of a good result in the upcoming Gold Cup, which will be hosted by the United States in July.

Cuba will participate in the preliminary phase of the Gold Cup starting on July 3, when it will face French Guiana at the Inter Miami Stadium, located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. If they win on that day, they will face Trinidad and Tobago on July 6, in a match that will define one of the three tickets to the group stage.