Gold Cup: Ranking the eight quarterfinals
by Paul Kennedy (Soccer America).
As unconvincing as the USA has been so far at the Gold Cup, it remains in good shape to defend its title. It drew the weakest team left in the tournament for the quarterfinals: Cuba, which lost its first two games by a margin of 8-0, had four players detect but somehow beat Guatemala, 1-0, to reach the final eight. The big surprise is the presence in the quarterfinals of all four Caribbean teams, including group winners Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica. Here's how the teams rank, based on their performances in the group stage ...
1. Trinidad & Tobago. Win your first two games, then come back twice against Mexico to earn a tie. Now, that's a good first round, especially for a team that was a longshot entering the tournament. "No one gave us any chance back home … to even win a game," said T&T coach Stephen Hart. "That’s what they were saying."
And that was before T&T rallied to tie Mexico, 4-4, and clinch first place in Group C on Wednesday night. The Soca Warriors trailed 2-0, blew a 3-2 lead with three minutes to play but still had enough to come back and tie El Tri on a goal by Yohance Marshall, who began his pro career out of USF with the LA Galaxy, later sent time in clubs in the USL, then in Thailand and Asia and now plays in El Salvador.
“It’s important for the people, for the young players back at home, it’s important for our football," said Hart, who became the second coach after Bruce Arena to qualify a team four times to the knockout phase (twice with Canada and now twice the Soca Warriors). "I cannot tell you how important it is for us to get to the quarterfinal. I am very happy for these young players because they believed in me."
2. USA. The USA could not be more please with the how the Gold Cup has played. It USA opens the knockout stage with what should be an easy game against Cuba, while on the other side of the bracket, the tournament's other two seeds, Mexico and Costa Rica, meet in the quarterfinals.
Sounds a little like the Women's World Cup with the USA opening the knockout stage against Colombia and Germany-France on the other side of the bracket in the quarterfinals? The Cuba game should give Jurgen Klinsmann a chance to sort out some issues in his team and await the return of John Brooks for the quarterfinals.
3. Jamaica. It's been a long summer for the Reggae Boyz. For the first time, they played in the Copa America, where they lost all three games, all by 1-0. But they then had two and half weeks off and regrouped for the Gold Cup, where they tied Costa Rica (2-0), then beat Canada (1-0) and El Salvador (1-0).
"I'm very, very happy about my team," Jamaica head coach Winfried Schaefer said. "I trust my players." Indeed, he made just one lineup change in three games, starting Darren Mattocks up front after going with Simon Dawkins in the first two games. Mattocks, who is suspended against Haiti in Saturday's quarterfinals, is one of five MLS players Schafer has started along with Kemar Lawrence (New York Red Bulls), Je-Vaughn Watson (FC Dallas) and Jermaine Taylor and Giles Barnes (both Houston Dynamo).
4. Mexico. If head coach Miguel Herrera wants to keep his job, El Tri isn't helping out. A 6-0 win over Cuba ended a seven-game winless streak but since then it's tied Guatemala (0-0) and T&T (4-4). The latter result is the shocker. Mexico was cruising 2-0 after 55 minutes in Charlotte when the Soca Warriors scored three goals in 13 minutes to take the lead. El Tri seemed to have won the game on a goal by Andres Guardado in the 88th minute and an own goal in the 90th minute, but Marshall's equalizer ruined the festivities.
To add to Mexico's misery, Giovani dos Santos, who signed with the LA Galaxy earlier in the day, left at halftime with a leg injury. The status for Sunday's match against Costa Rica is uncertain.
5. Haiti. Another surprise from the Caribbean, Haiti tied Panama, 1-1, in its opening game on a goal by Sony Norde, then gave the USA everything it had in a 1-0 loss on Clint Dempsey's goal in the 47th minute. It came as no surprise then that it beat Honduras, 1-0, on Duckens Nazon's goal to claim second place in Group A behind the USA.
Other teams have been getting big games out of their MLS players. The Grenadiers have relied on players farther down the ladder. Pascal Millien (Jacksonville Armada) and James Marcelin (Fort Lauderdale Strikers) from the NASL and Mechack Jerome (Charlotte Independence) from the USL started in the win over Honduras.
6. Costa Rica. It has been a particularly great tournament so far for the Ticos, quarterfinalists a year ago at the World Cup. They blew a 2-1 lead against Jamaica and had to settle for a 1-1. They conceded a goal in stoppage time to former U.S. U-17 Dustin Correa, allowing El Salvador to draw, 1-1. A third draw -- this time scoreless against Canada in Toronto -- was good enough for second place in Group B.
Coach Paulo Wanchope has introduced a bunch of new domestic-based talent: Francisco Calvo, David Ramirez, David Guzman and Deyver Vega, all from Saprissa, and Alajuelense's Johan Venegas, who is reportedly being pursued by the Montreal Impact.
7. Panama. In all three Group A games, the Canaleros took the lead only to have to settle for 1-1 ties, first against Haiti, then Honduras and the USA. For an hour of so on Monday night, Panama looked very good against the USA, but it then faded in the end.
Coach Hernan Dario Gomez has started Blas Perez, 34, and Luis Tejada, 33, up front in all three games. They'll have the maximum five days to prepare for T&T on Sunday.
8. Cuba. Who'd have given the Cubans a chance of advancing after opening with a 6-0 loss to Mexico in a match that saw El Tri finish with a 44-3 edge in shots? By the time Cuba played Guatemala on Wednesday, it had completed a hat trick. Before each game, it had at least one player defect: first Keiler Garcia before the Mexico game in Chicago, backup goalkeeper Arael Arguellez before the team traveled to Phoenix, where it lost to T&T, 2-0, and Dario Suarez and Aricheel Hernandez disappeared before Wednesday's game in Charlotte.
Absences have been nothing new for Cuba at the Gold Cup. Head coach Raul Gonzalez and six players, all U-23s, were stuck in Havana because of visa problems, and they missed the Mexico game. Hernandez quickly defected, but four started in the 1-0 win over Guatemala, including Maikel Reyes, who scored the winner to return Cuba to the quarterfinals for the second straight tournament.