We went into d game like if we were playin d "big 3" in concacaf...when playin Mexico....d US or CR who are all better teams than us yes we have to play a defensive type game cus dey dat good but not against panama! Panama don't warrant dat typa respect....dey won today cuz we facilitated their play with our neglect to play dem open.
With all due respect, had you played an open game vs Panama as you did vs Mexico its likely that you would have conceded heavily(just like you did vs Mexico). In a quarterfinal game, the preferred approach is to be compact in midfield/defense and see how your opponents react. The Mexico game somewhat was a special case, Mexico obviously threw everything at you in a game that had very little consequence to both teams, as both of you were already thru to the next round. They got two goals early and continued hunting for more, leaving their defense exposed for your strikers room to gun them down. Those tactics are OK for a game that has no great consequence on proceedings, but no coach worth his salt will employ such tactics in a quarterfinal or semifinal game against respectable opponents. Hart took the right approach vs Panama... notice also Mexico employed totally different tactics in the late game last night.
Cuba has been poor all tournament, conceding 14 goals in 3 games... and though Guatemala conceded far less, apparently they are not too far ahead of Cuba given that Cuba beat them.
But to say Panama is a poor team is wide of the mark, in CONCACAF, they are a pretty decent team, and has had great success at the last three gold cups. I have a strong feeling Jamaica will be facing them for the third place game. On Saturday.