ST. LOUIS — Some of my colleagues who were in Havana for the World Cup qualifier Saturday, such as Mike Woitalla of Soccer America and Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated had a less than rosy view of the U.S. team’s 1-0 win. Yes, the Cubans are an all-amateur side, and not a particularly experienced one at that, but I think getting a win on the road in CONCACAF (even in the least-hostile road atmosphere you’ll ever find this late in the tournament) on a soggy field against a team needing a result to keep its hopes alive is the bottom line. Should the Americans have created more scoring opportunities? It would have been nice, but I think after going up 1-0, the Americans began to cruise. And the Cubans may have too. Said Landon Donovan after the match, “I think they would have rather lost 1-0 than 3-0.”

I don’t think the Americans will clinch a spot in the final round of qualifying with a win on Wednesday against Trinidad in Chicago, but it will be very difficult for them not to get in if they have nine points in three games. They would have to lose their final three games and get a specific string of results in the other matches in the group.

Tim Howard didn’t have to do a whole lot in the match, but he made the save he had to. He got mad his defense in the first half after a defensive breakdown created possibly Cuba’s best scoring chance. Frankie Hejduk got beat several times by Cuban attackers and only the presence of Oguchi Onyewu kept bigger problems from happening. Steve Cherundolo should be back in the lineup in Hejduk’s place on Wednesday. (He had a yellow card suspsension.)

Around the region, after just two games, it’s becoming clear who the six teams in the final round will be: United States, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador and either Guatemala or Trinidad. Canada opened by getting just one point in two matches at home, so it will take a massive turnaround by them to avoid being the region’s big disappointment again.

As for the Cuba trip, it was fascinating, an eye-opening experience in a part of the world Americans don’t get to see. I now also have much more interest in Hurricane Ike, which is heading across the island and heading for Havana. A couple of writers on the trip had stayed over for an extra day at the end and I hope they’re able to get out ahead of the storm. It looks like Havana will be hit hard, and a lot of the buildings there are very old and very fragile. I hope the city and the people come through OK.

On Sunday, my last day, there was a big storm that rolled through at breakfast time, and at about 10 a.m. it had stopped so I ventured out to take a final walk around the area. It was more hot and humid than any St. Louis day I can recall. I had walked just two blocks and was drenched in sweat. I checked out Havana’s famous ice cream shop (but didn’t get any) and the Habana Libre hotel, which was once the Havana Hilton until the Revolution came and Castro and his revolutionaries took it over and made it their headquarters.

Five of us took a bus to the airport, where we were uncertain what to expect since we seemed to keep finding unexpected charges. But the check-in went smoothly (if slowly). My boarding pass consisted of a blank boarding pass ticket with a number, 38, written on by hand. We paid our 25 convertible peso exit tax and then stood around for an hour. The Cuban customs agents apparently took a break at midday, so until they got back, there was nothing to do, and let me tell you, the terminal where the flights to the U.S. leave from is not loaded with diversions. (Or, for that matter, food.) Eventually, the customs people came back, scrutinized by passport and visa, perhaps thinking I was a Cuban trying to slip out of the country illegally. (”What day did you arrive?”) Once through there and the metal detector, we sat and waited for about two hours for our plane, to arrive, unload (an amazingly slow process for some reason), and then reload.

The biggest surprise was clearing U.S. customs. They looked at my card, asked me why I had been in Cuba, I told them, and they sent me on my way. I figured my bags would be checked to make sure I wasn’t bringing anything in (I didn’t have anything anyway), but they didn’t. Maybe they checked the bags of other people, but I went right through. (It should be noted that if they had looked and had found something, I’d be in big trouble.)

I think those of us who made the trip were in agreement that we would love to go back someday, and Cuba was on the list of countries we hoped would make it to the second round. But it doesn’t look like that will happen. In the meantime, I hope they get through Ike OK.