COUNTDOWN

... To the U.S. vs. Cuba World Cup qualifier.

HAVANA, SEPT. 6 (ESPN CLASSIC, 8 P.M. ET)

Every four years, Americans gear up for their soccer squad to make noise at the planet's biggest sporting event. What most don't realize is that merely qualifying for the World Cup Finals (as the 32-team quadrennial showdown is properly known) is an accomplishment in itself. This Cuba tilt is just the fourth match of a three-round, 18-game qualifying marathon that won't end until November 2009. (The U.S. trounced Barbados in two first-round matches.) But a victory in Havana, coming less than a month after a hard-fought win in Guatemala on Aug. 20, would go a long way toward securing the Yanks a spot in next year's final stage of qualifying.

5 GUYS TO WATCH

The future of the U.S. national team—keeper Tim Howard, midfielders Freddy Adu, Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu and forward Jozy Altidore—has arrived. Howard made his 2010 qualifying debut with a clean sheet at Guatemala, the Americans' first-ever qualifying win there. At 29, he's a worthy successor to world-beating backstops Brad Friedel and Kasey Keller. Meanwhile, the Olympic quartet, with an average age of 20, is putting that gut-wrenching, first-round exit in Beijing behind them. Bradley, who emerged last season as a surprise scoring threat (20 goals for his Dutch club, Heerenveen), is an automatic starter for the senior squad. Adu (Monaco), Edu (Glasgow Rangers) and Altidore (Villarreal) have parlayed strong MLS and international play into big Euro contracts. The downside of their good fortune is that some of them may not be in Havana. One of coach Bob Bradley's principal challenges is to balance the team's immediate needs with its long-term interests—and affording these young stars the opportunity to earn club PT against top talent is vital to the success of U.S. soccer.

4 HOMERS

The past four meetings between the two nations' senior squads were on U.S. soil. The three most recent visits resulted in three Cuban players claiming political asylum. (Federal law guarantees permanent residency to Cubans who get to America.) The highest-profile defection came in 2005, when striker Maykel Galindo bolted after a Gold Cup stop in Seattle. Galindo went on to star in MLS, leading Chivas USA with 12 goals in 2007. Last March, seven Cuban under-23 team members followed suit, taking off after a match in Florida. That forced the Leones del Caribe to play their next game with 10 men. Cuba's senior side visits Washington, D.C., for an Oct. 11 rematch. How many players return home remains to be seen.

3 VALUABLE POINTS

The 1-0 win in Guatemala (and the three points that came with it) shows that the U.S. can prevail in unfriendly conditions. But despite recent dominance over the Cubans (a 13-1 scoring advantage in their past four matches), the Yanks will find beating them in Havana almost as challenging as scouting them. "It's difficult to get information on Cuba, because we can't go there to see them play," says U.S. assistant coach John Hackworth. "From what we've read, they have good athleticism, defend as a group and take their opportunities on counterattacks and set pieces." Another concern? The bumpy field at 80-year-old Estadio Pedro Marrero favors Cuban strikers Roberto Linares and Leonel Duarte, who can easily turn one bad bounce into a game-changing goal.

2 NEW LEADERS

With Fidel Castro out and a new U.S. president on the way in, diplomatic relations between the countries could resume for the first time since 1961. "Certainly, the stars are aligning for a change in U.S.-Cuba policy," says Peter Kornbluh, a Cuba expert at the National Security Archive. But despite a travel and trade embargo, it's not that unusual for U.S. athletes to compete in Cuba. American jocks participated in the Havana-hosted Pan Am Games in 1991, and the Orioles played an exhibition game there in 1999. And while baseball remains Cuba's first love, better relations can only help the country's rapidly improving soccer program to challenge the U.S., Mexico and Costa Rica for a spot atop the regional pecking order.

1 OF MANY

With three points in the bank, the goal now is to build confidence and establish consistency. Bradley's crew could stomach a draw in Havana, but avoiding an upset is everything. "With only six games in this round, if we lose once, it's difficult to make up ground later," says forward Landon Donovan. The U.S. must finish in the top half of its quartet (Cuba, Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago) to be among the six squads who will move on to vie for CONCACAF's three guaranteed spots in South Africa. And tough as this game will be, the road from here doesn't get any easier.

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