Gold Cup First Round Review

CONCACAF in 2007 is kind of an interesting confederation. You have two teams who are quite a significant distance ahead of everyone else, and then a bunch of teams who are more or less indistinguishable from another. Costa Rica hit its peak in about 2001 or so, and the current edition of the team seems no better than Honduras, Canada, or Guatemala. Throw in a fully stocked Trinidad and Jamaica, and you'll have an interesting World Cup qualifying tournament next year.

For the time being however, all we have is the Gold Cup, with its anemic 8 from 12 group phase. So it's hard to say whose been excelling here. The US is 3-0 but have looked more comfortable than impressive (I'll save my US thoughts for a future post). Honduras has looked pretty good, even considering that their big win was against Cuba. When they get David Sauzo back for World Cup qualifying they might be a force. Panama has, at the least, maintained its progress it produced in the last cycle.

Here are my quarter-final predictions.

Canada-Guatemala. Like Fox Mulder when faced with some be-tentacled creature spawned from sewage, I want to believe in the Canadian national team. Sure they have no strikers per se, but they have some guys with experience at high levels, more European-based players, etc. The difference, of course, is that the aforementioned be-tentacled creature turns about to be real, while Canada do things like losing to tiny Caribbean islands who aren't really countries. However, Guatemala has looked pretty ordinary in the games I've seen. So I am going with blind belief: 1-0 to Canuckistan. Whatever the score, this match will not be one for the purists.

USA-Panama. I see no reason why the US can't continue their sleepy progress through this tournament against Panama, a team that never seems to bother them in the way other Central American teams do. 2-0 USA

Mexico-Costa Rica. I haven't actually seen any Mexico games this tournament, so I can't accurate diagnose what their problem is. That hasn't stopped me from taking great glee from their loss to Honduras. I'm not sure this Tico team has what it takes to replicate that result. So put me down for a 2-2 tie and a Mexican win on penalties.

Honduras-Guadeloupe. So I was going to write an "Explain Guadeloupe to me" post. You see, Guadeloupe has Jocelyn Angloma, who was capped for France, and I couldn't understand why he was allowed to play for Guadeloupe. But I forgot about the infallible power of Wikipedia, whose entry on Angloma helpfully explains that Guadeloupe aren't FIFA members, and consequently can play Guadeloupean citizens. So theoretically, Lilian Thuram could play for Guadeloupe if he fancied a summer vacation. Failing that, I say 3-0 Honduras.