TAMPA - For the U.S. under-23 men's national soccer team, the road to the Beijing Olympics starts in Florida.
The Americans earned a disappointing 1-1 draw with Cuba in its first of three Olympic qualifying matches at Raymond James Stadium on Tuesday night.
The U.S. scored early and dominated possession in the second half - usually a recipe for a smooth win - but allowed Cuba to escape with a tie.
"In terms of the tournament, this is the first game, so we know that we should play better, and we could play better," U.S. coach Peter Nowak said. "Everything is open in this group."
If the favored U.S. squad can finish in the top two of Group A, which also includes Honduras and Panama, it will move on to Nashville for a do-or-die semifinal on March 20.
There, they would face off against one of the top two teams in Group B, which includes Mexico, Canada, Guatemala and Haiti.
If the Americans win in Nashville, they qualify for the Beijing Olympic Games in August.
If they lose, they'll be watching the Olympics on TV.
But they have to get through Tampa first, and that proposition became a little bit tougher with the Cuba result.
Eighteen-year-old phenom Freddy Adu put the U.S. on the board in the 14th minute.
He tapped a corner kick to Charlie Davies, who passed right back to Adu in stride for the give-and-go goal.
Adu fired a low left-footed shot from the right side through traffic off the diving Cuban goalkeeper's hand and into the back of the net.
It looked like the U.S. would cruise from that point on.
"After we got the first goal, Peter did tell us we've got to play the same way we've been playing," Adu said. "I just felt like, maybe, maybe we took our foot off the pedal a little bit. But then again, that's something that you learn from. You come back next game, and you keep going."
On cue, Cuba answered in the 42nd minute, when Roberto Linares beat U.S. keeper Chris Seitz by sticking his foot out on a centering pass and deflecting the ball across the box into the opposite side of the net.
Linares was later sent off in the 84th minute thanks to a second yellow card to give the U.S. a one-man advantage for the remainder of the match.
The Americans could not capitalize, only mustering a flurry of desperation crosses late in injury time.
Multiple Cuban players appeared to direct derogatory gestures toward American fans near the end of the match and walked off pleased with the final score.
The next match for the U.S. is on Thursday against Panama before finishing the first stage of qualifying Saturday against Honduras.
Honduras beat Panama 1-0 with a thrilling 90th minute goal in Tuesday's early match.
Adu shrugged off the Americans' status as group favorites after the match but still expressed disappointment in Tuesday's result.
"We were a bit unlucky," Adu said. "We're going to go back to the drawing board, and this team will rebound."
The U.S. does have a Gator connection.
Nathan Sturgis, who started as a central defender, is the older brother of UF incoming freshman football player Caleb Sturgis.
Caleb is expected to be UF's starting kicker in the fall.
