And They're Going To Cuba

People say sport and politics don't mix? Think again. For all those people who said that the Olympics shouldn't have been in Beijing will probably be the same people who will be trying to conjure up images of the Cold War when the U.S. Men's Soccer Team travels to Cuba for a World Cup qualifier Saturday.

Or, most likely, people won't care. But the AP cares and they care about this whole U.S. versus Cuba paradox (via SI.com).

Yeah, the game is historic--historic only because Team USA haven't played in Cuba since 1947, and that's about it.

The sport aspect of it is if the U.S. go down to Havanah and loses, it'll be an embarrassment. If the Cubans win, then they keep their World Cup hopes alive.

But, there's nothing more really. Yes, the game will highlight how much Cuba still doesn't like America, but that's about it.

What I think that Associated Press writer was trying to do was make a really boring story and match into an interesting one. Because Cuba hasn't touched a World Cup in generations and because in this part of the world, we can already book the United States and Mexico's trips to South Africa for 2010, the AP writer had to make allusions to the Cold War, because that writer thought the game was boring. The AP writer did something that I was never taught at the Daily Cal--that person made his or her story sensationalistic.

Yeah, we know the U.S. will probably travel to Havanah and beat Cuba. We know there will be throngs of Cuban supporters yelling and screaming their lungs off. But they're doing it not because the United States, in their eyes, is the "enemy." The Cubans will be supporting their team with the most passion ever because: 1) their World Cup hopes are in the balance, 2)the United States is one of the two dominant powers in CONCACAF. I assure you, if Cuba was playing Mexico in Havanah, the same crowed that Landon Donovan and the Americans will face would be just as hostile towards El Tri.

So, put aside this free world versus Communism schtick. It doesn't stick.