New York Cosmos Beat Cuba in Historic Havana Match

The Cuban national football side met in a friendly game with U.S.-based New York Cosmos in a packed Havana stadium Tuesday, where the national anthems of both countries rang out patriotically through the the rafters before kick-off.

The visitors dominated the game, winning 4-1, in a fixture that demonstrated the more amicable relations between the two nations.

Fans of the two teams waved their flags of stars and stripes as the players battled on the field, the first time that any professional U.S. sports side has played on the Caribbean island since 1999 when the Baltimore Orioles met the national baseball team. Cosmos is the first football side to play in Cuba since 1978.

Former Real Madrid ace Raul Gonzalez was well received and applauded by the Cuba fans, many of whom wore Real Madrid and Barcelona shirts to the game.

Brazilian legend Pele, who played for Cosmos between 1975 and 1977 and who is now honorary president, attended the match as guest of honor and was cheered on by both sets of fans.

The game marks a step further for the normalization of relations between Cuba and the U.S., since both the countries’ presidents announced a change in diplomatic ties in December 2014. Most recently, Cuba was removed from the U.S. list of terrorist-sponsoring states.

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