NEW YORK (AP) – The coaches of the New York Cosmos and Cuba national soccer teams jointly announced Monday they will play a June 2 match in Havana.
The announcement comes amid talks by Washington and Havana to work toward the restoration of diplomatic relations between the former Cold War foes. The Cuban and Cosmos teams conducted their own negotiations in January, during a CONCACAF Under-20 tournament in Jamaica.
“Everything happened very quickly,” Cosmos president Seamus O’Brien said of the match, which both sides call an act of sports diplomacy. “Everything was done in a couple of weeks.”
The Cosmos will be the first professional U.S. soccer club to play on the island in 37 years. The now-defunct professional Chicago Sting played in Cuba in 1978, while the amateur U.S. national team played a World Cup qualifier there in 2008.
“When I was told that there was a chance of facing the Cosmos, I quickly said ‘yes,’ because I was aware of this club, their history, their prestige,” Walter Benitez, the Cuban team coach said in a press conference. “Now I realize that this is bigger than I figured.”