A pair of teams seeking their first-ever victory in League A at the CONCACAF Nations League will face each other on Tuesday as Cuba host Suriname at Antonio Maceo Stadium in Santiago.
Both sides collected a single point on Friday, with the Cubans playing Haiti to a 0-0 draw, while Suriname salvaged a 1-1 result against Grenada.
Match preview
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It was by no means a masterclass performance from Cuba in their first match back in League A, but given their form heading into this competition, a single point must feel like a baby step in the right direction.
In his first competitive match in charge of Los Leones del Caribe, Yunielys Castillo went with a defensive 5-4-1 formation, which, to his credit, was well executed by his players, who made it extremely difficult for the Haitians to find time and space in the attacking third.
That system may have shut down the opposition effectively on Friday, but the Cubans were not all that efficient on the counter as this group appeared somewhat unbalanced on the odd time they had possession.
Cuba have now gone three successive matches without conceding in the group phase of this competition, although their previous two clean sheets came in the 2022-23 edition of this competition when they played against League B opponents, defeating Barbados (1-0) and Guadeloupe (1-0).
Tuesday will be the first time they play a League A encounter in Cuba, as this team lost their two home games played in the Cayman Islands at the 2019 Nations League A group stage (1-0 to Canada and 4-0 versus the USA).
However, they do have a 100% record in their only three Nations League matches played in Cuba, defeating Barbados (3-0), Antigua and Barbuda (3-1) and Guadeloupe (1-0), while they have not lost a match played in their home country since suffering a 2-1 defeat versus Curacao in March 2021.
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They were flirting with defeat in the latter stages of their opening encounter, but Suriname did well to answer quickly in Grenada, levelling that match at one just two minutes after going behind.
It ended a three-match losing run for this team at the Nations League, but for Aron Winter's men, it will have felt like a missed opportunity, seeing as they had nearly 60% possession and six efforts on target.
Conceding only once away from home, however, could be seen as a small moral victory, given their defensive struggles on the road in the 2022-23 Nations League group stage when they lost their two matches played as the visitors by a combined score of 6-1, allowing three goals to Jamaica and Mexico respectively.
A-Selektie are now winless in four successive competitive fixtures and have not won a game as the visiting team since crushing Aruba 6-0 in a World Cup qualifying fixture played at IMG Academy Stadium in Florida back in March 2021.
Suriname have won 14 of their last 16 encounters when scoring multiple goals and have not lost a match after 90 minutes when doing so since a 4-2 defeat versus Haiti at the 2017 Caribbean Cup.
Not since 2016 has this team gone on to win a match in normal time after conceding the opening goal, as they scored twice in the final five minutes plus stoppage time to defeat Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 2-1 in a Caribbean Cup qualification fixture that year.
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Team News
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In his first match as the Cuban boss, Castillo brought in four newcomers who were not in the starting 11 for their previous game against Canada at the Gold Cup, with Raiko Arozarena, Cavafe, Alejandro Delgado and Daniel Diaz replacing Sandy Sanchez, Modesto Mendez, Willian Pozo-Venta and Maikel Reyes.
Yosel Piedra is one of only a handful of players on this team who had League A experience before the 2023-24 Nations League tournament began, with the others being Dariel Morejon, Maikel Reyes, Nelson Johnston and Luis Paradela.
All four goals scored by Aricheell Hernandez at the previous Nations League tournament occurred in Cuba, including a hat-trick in a 3-1 win over Antigua and Barbuda, while Yasniel Matos had the only goal in their last Nations League home game when his side defeated Guadeloupe 1-0.
On Friday, Winter gave two Suriname players their first senior appearances with the national team as Renske Adipi and Stefano Denswil featured in the starting 11 against Grenada.
Navajo Bakboord and Dhoraso Moreo Klas represented the Suriname senior squad for only the second time, as they both came on as substitutes on Friday, while Gleofilo Vlijter is now just three appearances shy of 20 and still just one goal away from matching Stefano Rijssel for the most all-time.
Mitchell te Vrede replaced Diego Biseswar at half time on Friday, scoring the equalising goal two minutes after Saydrel Lewis had put Grenada ahead as the former Feyenoord striker was set up nicely by Kenneth Paal of Queens Park Rangers.
Cuba possible starting lineup:
Arozarena; Morejon, Piedra, Cavafe, Corrales, Delgado; L. Paradela, Torres, E. Hernandez, Matos; Reyes
Suriname possible starting lineup:
Hahn; Abena, Denswil, Pinas; Dankerlui, R. Vlijter, Leerdam, Paal; Jozefzoon, G. Vlijter, Bisewar
We say: Cuba 0-0 Suriname
We anticipate the Cubans will adopt a similar passive approach like we saw them employ in their opening encounter, and we do not believe either side have enough quality to make their chances count.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
