Cuba national football team

The Cuba national football team (Spanish: Selección nacional de fútbol de Cuba) represents Cuba in men's international association football and it is controlled by the Asociación de Fútbol de Cuba, The team's nickname is Leones del Caribe (Lions of Caribbean), The team represents all three FIFA, Caribbean Football Union and Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF).

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Cuba women's national football team.

Cuba
Nickname(s)Leones del Caribe (Lions of the Caribbean)
AssociationFootball Association of Cuba
ConfederationCONCACAF
(North America)
Sub-confederationCFU (Caribbean)
Head coachPablo Elier Sánchez
Most capsYénier Márquez (126)
Top scorerLester Moré (29)
Home stadiumEstadio Pedro Marrero
FIFA codeCUB
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 179 (16 July 2020)[1]
Highest46 (November – December 2006)
Lowest182 (August 2017, March–May 2018)
First international
 Cuba 3–1 Jamaica 
(Havana, Cuba; 16 March 1930)
Biggest win
 Cuba 11–0 Turks and Caicos Islands 
(Havana, Cuba; 8 September 2018)
Biggest defeat
 Sweden 8–0 Cuba 
(Antibes, France; 12 June 1938)
 Soviet Union 8–0 Cuba 
(Moscow, Soviet Union; 24 July 1980)
World Cup
Appearances1 (first in 1938)
Best resultQuarter-finals, 1938
CONCACAF Championship
& Gold Cup
Appearances11 (first in 1971)
Best resultFourth place, 1971

They were the first Caribbean team to get to the World Cup Quarter finals – they did so in 1938. There, they defeated Romania in a replay 2–1 after drawing against them 3–3. They were then eliminated in the quarter-finals by Sweden, 8–0. Cuba has not returned to the World Cup since.

Cuba finished second in the Caribbean Cup in 1996, 1999 and 2005 and won the 2012 Caribbean Cup.

History

Early history

Cuba played its first international football match on 16 March 1930 at that year's Central American and Caribbean Games. They beat Jamaica (then a British colony) 3–1 in Havana. Four days later, they beat Honduras 7–0.[2] Cuba were managed by José Tapia, who remained in charge until after Cuba's 1938 World Cup campaign. Cuba's first World Cup qualification campaign was for the 1934 World Cup in Italy. All of the CONCACAF entrants were placed in Group 11. The winner of a best-of-three tournament between the two weakest nations, Cuba and Haiti would produce a winner to play 1930 qualifiers Mexico in another round of best-of-three. The winner of that would play 1930 semi-finalists the United States of America for a place in the finals. All of the matches between Cuba and Haiti in the first round were staged at Parc Leconte in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on 28, 1 and 4 January–February 1934. Cuba won the first match 3–1 with Mario Lopez opening from a penalty and Hector Socorro scoring the second. The second match was a 1–1 draw with Lopez equalising in the 85th minute. In the final match, Cuba won 6–0 with two Lopez goals, one from Hector Socorro and one from his brother Francisco. The second round against Mexico consisted of three matches at Parque Necaxa in Mexico City. Its first match, on 4 March 1934, saw Mexico go 3–0 up with a hat-trick by Dionisio Mejia, his goals scored in the 12th, 14th and 16th minutes. Mario Lopez scored twice for Cuba with one in each half, but Mexico won 3–2. A week later, Mejia scored another hat-trick as Mexico won 5–0, and seven days later, Mexico won 4–1 after Lopez opened the scoring in the 15th minute. Mexico did not qualify, their 4–2 play-off defeat to the United States was held in Rome during the finals, as the two teams had forgotten to stage it earlier.

1938–2000

The decision to stage the 1938 World Cup in France was poorly received in the Americas, who had hoped for it to return to South America after the 1934 World Cup in Italy. All nations in South America except Brazil withdrew, and all CONCACAF nations except Cuba, thus the two qualified by default. The tournament was held as a straight knock-out tournament of 16 nations. Cuba were drawn to play their first-ever World Cup finals match against Romania (who were making their third finals appearance) at Stade du T.O.E.C. in Toulouse, on 5 June 1938. Silviu Bindea put Romania ahead after 35 minutes and Hector Socorro equalised nine minutes later. With three minutes remaining, Tomás Fernández gave Cuba the lead, but within a minute Iuliu Baratky forced extra time with a Romanian equaliser. Romania went 3–2 up in extra-time by Stefan Dobay's goal on 105 minutes, but Juan Tuñas equalised for Cuba with three minutes of extra-time remaining. The replay was held at the same stadium, on 9 June. This was at the same time as Switzerland's 4–2 replay win over Germany. Dobay put Romania 1–0 up at half-time with a 35th-minute goal, but in the second half Cuba equalised through Socorro in the 51st minute. Six minutes later, Carlos Oliviera scored the winning goal and it ended 2–1. In the quarter-final, Cuba lost 8–0 to Sweden at Stade du Fort Carre in Antibes, on 12 June. Sweden's Tore Keller and Gustav Wetterström each scored hat-tricks.[3]

The NAFC Championship 1949 served as CONCACAF's qualification group for the 1950 World Cup in Brazil. Cuba, the United States of America and Mexico played each other twice in a tournament held in Mexico City in September 1949. The top two would qualify. Cuba came third and did not qualify, their only point was gained from their second match, a 1–1 draw against the United States on 14 September. Cuba did not compete in World Cup qualification again until 1966. They returned to participation in qualification for 1978, but the 1982 qualifiers represented a significant breakthrough- Cuba reached the final round of qualifying, and were only two points short of reaching the 1982 World Cup. In recent years, Cuban football has seen an improvement in results.

2000–present

They reached the quarter-finals of the 2003 Gold Cup (where they were beaten by the United States) by defeating Canada 2–0 in the Group stage. During the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, Cuba faced Costa Rica and were only eliminated on away goals. They held Costa Rica to a draw in Havana 2–2 and later battled it out for a 1–1 draw in Costa Rica. During the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, Cuba faced Antigua and Barbuda and the match ended in a 3–3 draw. Later in Pedro Marreo, Cuba won 4–1 to advance to the semi-final round of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers. Cuba was with the United States, Trinidad and Tobago and Guatemala. Cuba finished in the fourth place with only one victory against Guatemala 2–1 with a goal scored by Aliannis Urgellés. They finished in third place in the 2010 Caribbean Cup to take a place in the 2011 Gold Cup. In 2012, Cuba won the Caribbean Cup for the first time.

For the 2014 World Cup, the Cuban team qualified directly to the Third round as one of the six highest ranked teams and were placed in Group C with Honduras, Panama, and Canada. Although the Cuban team had several close games, they ended their qualification process with one draw and five defeats (losing home and away to Canada and Honduras and drawing to Panama in Havana in their final game after losing in Panama City). Their only goal of the qualifying campaign came from Alberto Gomes against Panama in the final game of the group stage.

Competitive record

World Cup record
Main article: Cuba at the FIFA World Cup
Cuba's FIFA World Cup record Qualification record
Host nation(s)
and year		 Round Pos Pld W D* L GF GA Squad Outcome Pld W D L GF GA
1930 Did not enter Did not enter
1934 Did not qualify 2nd 6 2 1 3 13 14
1938 Quarter-finals 7th 3 1 1 1 5 12 Squad Bye
1950 Did not qualify 3rd 4 0 1 3 3 11
1954 Not accepted[4] Not accepted
1958 Did not enter Did not enter
1962
1966 Did not qualify 3rd 4 1 1 2 3 5
1970 Not accepted[4] Not accepted
1974 Did not enter Did not enter
1978 Did not qualify Playoff 5 2 2 1 7 5
1982 5th 9 4 3 2 11 8
1986 Did not enter Did not enter
1990 Did not qualify 2nd 2 0 1 2 1 2
1994 Withdrew Withdrew
1998 Did not qualify 4th 10 4 1 5 17 18
2002 Playoff 8 2 5 1 7 3
2006 Playoff 4 2 2 0 8 4
2010 4th 8 3 0 5 13 21
2014 4th 6 0 1 5 1 10
2018 Playoff 2 0 2 0 1 1
2022 To be determined To be determined
2026
Total Quarter-finals 1/21 3 1 1 1 5 12 68 20 20 29 85 102

CONCACAF Championship/Gold Cup record
Main article: Cuba at the CONCACAF Gold Cup
CONCACAF Championship
Year Result Position Pld W T L GF GA
1963Did not enter
1965Withdrew
1967Did not qualify
1969Did not enter
1971Fourth place4th512257
1973Did not enter
1977Did not qualify
1981Final Round5th512248
1985Did not enter
1989Did not qualify
CONCACAF Gold Cup
1991Withdrew
1993Did not enter
1996Did not qualify
1998Group stage10th2002210
2000Did not qualify
2002Group stage11th201101
2003Quarter-finals8th310228
2005Group stage12th300339
2007Group stage12th301239
2009Withdrew
2011Group stage12th3003116
2013Quarter-finals8th4103613
2015Quarter-finals8th4103114
2017Did not qualify
2019Group stage16th3003017
Total11/2513/2737562427112

NAFC Championship record
  • 1947 – Runners-up
  • 1949 – Third place

Caribbean Cup record
CFU Caribbean Cup
Year Round Pld W D L GF GA
1989Did not enter
1990
1991Withdrew
1992Fourth Place522142
1993Did not enter
1994Withdrew
1995Third Place530296
1996Second Place531172
1997Did not enter
1998Did not qualify
1999Second Place540193
2001Fourth Place512257
2005Second Place320152
2007Third Place521276
2008Fourth Place522174
2010Third Place540152
2012Champions520152
2014Fourth Place412155
2017Did not qualify
Total1 Championship472610146841

Players

Current squad

The following 23 players were called up for the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup.[5]
Caps and goals as of 24 March 2019 after the game against Haiti.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Sandy Sánchez (1994-05-24) 24 May 1994 13 1 Delfines del Este
12 1GK Elier Pozo (1995-01-28) 28 January 1995 2 0 Pinar del Río
21 1GK Nelson Johnston (1990-02-25) 25 February 1990 4 0 Santiago de Cuba
17 2DF Karel Espino (2001-10-27) 27 October 2001 1 0 Artemisa
4 2DF Yasmany López (1987-10-11) 11 October 1987 29 1 Ciego de Ávila
15 2DF Leonis Martínez (1989-02-03) 3 February 1989 9 0 Santiago de Cuba
5 2DF Daniel Morejón (1998-12-21) 21 December 1998 6 0 Ciego de Ávila
6 2DF Yosel Piedra (1994-03-27) 27 March 1994 17 0 USAC
3 2DF Erick Rizo (1991-02-28) 28 February 1991 11 0 Santiago de Cuba
7 3MF Rolando Abreu (1992-05-15) 15 May 1992 7 0 Santiago de Cuba
13 3MF Aníbal Álvarez (1995-05-25) 25 May 1995 1 1 Ciego de Ávila
2 3MF Andy Baquero (1994-08-17) 17 August 1994 23 3 Delfines del Este
22 3MF Roberney Caballero (1995-11-02) 2 November 1995 10 3 Camagüey
10 3MF Aricheel Hernández (1993-09-20) 20 September 1993 15 2 Independiente
19 3MF Jorge Kindelán (1986-04-12) 12 April 1986 7 0 Santiago de Cuba
20 3MF Luismel Morris (1997-12-14) 14 December 1997 9 3 Camagüey
18 3MF Reinaldo Pérez (1994-01-22) 22 January 1994 11 0 Delfines del Este
8 3MF Alejandro Portal (1995-10-21) 21 October 1995 2 0 Pinar del Río
14 3MF Jean Carlos Rodríguez (1999-05-27) 27 May 1999 0 0 Pinar del Río
16 3MF Daniel Luis Sáez (1994-05-11) 11 May 1994 19 1 Delfines del Este
11 3MF Yordan Santa Cruz (1993-10-07) 7 October 1993 14 6 Jarabacoa FC
23 4FW Luis Paradela (1997-01-21) 21 January 1997 6 5 Reno 1868
9 4FW Maikel Reyes (1993-03-04) 4 March 1993 14 2 Pinar del Río

Recent call-ups

Caps and goals as of 24 March 2019 after the game against Haiti.[6]

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Diosvelis Guerra (1989-05-21) 21 May 1989 17 0 Camagüey
2DF José Almelo (1996-06-03) 3 June 1996 1 0 Pinar del Río
2DF Yonaidis García (1997-07-03) 3 July 1997 0 0 Camagüey
2DF Marlon Sánchez (1999-07-07) 7 July 1999 0 0 Santiago de Cuba
3MF Neisser Sandó (1998-10-26) 26 October 1998 6 0 Santiago de Cuba
4FW Eddy Olivares (1991-03-26) 26 March 1991 7 1 Santiago de Cuba
4FW Juan Manuel Andreus (1999-11-08) 8 November 1999 2 1 Las Tunas
4FW Allan Pérez (1996-07-19) 19 July 1996 5 0 Ciego de Ávila

Previous squads

Defection and economic migration by Cuban athletes
Further information: List of Cuban football players who have defected to the United States

As well as Cuban athletes in other sports, a number of football players have made the move to the United States in recent years. During the 2002 Gold Cup in Los Angeles, two Cuban players Rey Ángel Martínez and Alberto Delgado chose to remain in the United States. Striker Maykel Galindo did so during the 2005 Gold Cup. Two more, Osvaldo Alonso and Lester More did so during the 2007 Gold Cup.

In 2008, defections occurred during two separate tournaments held in the United States. In March, seven players from the U-23 national football, including Yeniel Bermúdez, Yordany Álvarez and Yendry Díaz defected during the 2008 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament while the team was based in Tampa, FL. In October, two days before the country's World Cup Qualifier versus the US, Reynier Alcántara and Pedro Faife walked away from the team's hotel near Washington, D.C.. During the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Yosniel Mesa defected while the team was in Charlotte, North Carolina.[7] During the 2015 Gold Cup, forward Keiler García defected to the United States before the team's first match against Mexico in Chicago.[8]

Recent results and forthcoming fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Date Venue Opponent Result Competition
7 September 2019 BMO Field, Toronto  Canada 0–6 Nations League A
10 September 2019 Truman Bodden Sports Complex, George Town  Canada 0–1 Nations League A
11 October 2019 Audi Field, Washington, D.C.  United States 0–7 Nations League A
7 November 2019 Nicaragua National Football Stadium, Managua  Nicaragua 0–0 Friendly
10 November 2019 Nicaragua National Football Stadium, Managua  Nicaragua 1–0 Friendly
19 November 2019 Truman Bodden Sports Complex, George Town  United States 0–4 Nations League A

Coaches
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References
  1. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  2. "Cuba – List of International Matches". Rsssf.com. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  3. "Baseball in Their Veins, but a New Ball at Their Feet". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  4. "History of the FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition (by year)" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  5. "Final 23-Player Rosters Announced for 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup". COCACAF Gold Cup. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  6. "Cuatro villaclareños en preselección cubana de fútbol". Telecubanacán. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  7. "Cuba's Yosniel Mesa defects". ESPN. Associated Press. Retrieved 13 June 2011.
  8. "Keilen García, el premio-castigo de la libertad". ESPN Deportes. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
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