HAVANA, Aug 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. national soccer team wants to play an
exhibition game against Cuba in Havana as part of flourishing sporting exchanges
between the two political foes, the official daily Granma reported Thursday.
Granma, the mouthpiece of Cuba's ruling Communist Party, quoted top local
soccer official Luis Hernandez as saying the best date for such a game would be
the summer of 2000.
``The national football team of the United States has shown its desire to
play a friendly game with the Cuban team, in Havana, according to a message
received yesterday (Wednesday) at the headquarters of our football federation,''
Granma said.
Such a game would be a culmination of various lower-level soccer exchanges
between Cuba and the United States in recent years, such as two visits by a
California women's team, and the current tour by a boys' soccer team from
Nebraska.
Despite the two nations' decades-old political differences, sport is
increasingly turning into a bridge between the two neighbouring peoples. That
trend was perhaps best symbolised by the baseball friendlies earlier this year
between a Cuban national squad and the Baltimore Orioles.
As well as sports' ties, cultural and academic exchanges have also been
growing as part of a movement on both sides to boost people-to-people ties
between Cuba and the United States.
Washington cut off formal diplomatic ties with Havana soon after President
Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, and has maintained an economic embargo on the
Caribbean island for the last 37 years.
The U.S. World Cup-experienced soccer team would be the firm favourite to
win against Cuba, although the island's squad has been improving in recent years
with some notable victories over its Caribbean neighbours. Baseball is the
dominant sport in Cuba.
09:37 08-19-99
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