Fútbol

Havana, Jul 23 (JIT) - The Cubans suffered their first defeat in their second outing at the CONCACAF U-20 Championship Mexico 2024, losing 4-0 to the United States.

The unquestionable superiority of the North Americans, evident on the field, justified the result without further ado.

At the end of the first half, they were already leading 2-0: after 15 minutes, Ethan Kohler scored from a free kick taken by Nikolas Tsakiris and at 26', Zavier Gozo scored from inside the Cuban area.

The Cubans tried to reach the opponent's goal, but Karel Pérez was denied by the post and goalkeeper Julian Eyestone made two providential saves. 

The Caribbean team could not do much more and suffered from the quality of their opponents, leaders of the Concacaf ranking, the only explanation for what was seen on the field. 

Taha Harbroune broke through the wall with a free kick at 58' and Marcos Zambrano extended the lead with time expired after a corner taken by Harbroune himself.

Thus ended the anguish and it is time to get ready for the match against Jamaica at the end of the group stage. 

Taking into account Costa Rica's 3-0 victory over the Reggae Boyz, Cuba must wait for combinations of results that are more or less probable depending on the case, although qualification depends entirely on them. 

With the expected victory against the Jamaicans, they would reach four points, the same as the Ticos, and beyond securing a place in the second or third places in the group, it is unlikely that with that amount they will not reach one of the two places as the best third place finishers.

In section C Guatemala and Haiti have no points, so the winner of the duel between them should then beat Mexico or Panama, very unlikely results given the qualitative differences between those teams with the rest of the teams.