Gold Cup 2013: semifinals preview
Photo Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
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The Gold Cup kind of doesn’t matter. There are no World Cup qualifying implications, the international community pays it little attention, and the top teams—the United States and Mexico—are expected to advance past Wednesday’s semi-finals and meet in Sunday’s title game despite showing up to the party with b-teams. It’s just an obligatory North American family reunion where we pretend Canada and a French island are believable soccer adversaries. In fact the tournament’s core drive is to forge a cash grab, United States vs. Mexico final held in American cities with large Latino populations.
Try telling that to the very hungry and game Honduras and Panama.
Honduras once started a war with El Salvador over soccer and has taken all comers as the third-best team in CONCACAF for the past four years; and Panama already fields its most successful Gold Cup team since the 2005 side that overachieved all the way to the championship.
The Central American countries are respectively the last two teams to beat the U.S. and Mexico in a competitive game: Panama stunned El Tri 2-1 in Los Angeles to kick off this tournament; and Honduras bested Uncle Sam’s Army 2-1 at home in San Pedro Sula to kickoff World Cup qualifying in February.
What is certain: Cowboys Stadium should be electric tonight as revenge-minded fans overwhelm with support for the headliners. Expect Univision cameras, dancing, and flags. The last time Mexico played in Cowboys Stadium, during the 2011 Gold Cup’s group stage, things looked something like this:
But these were happier times for Mexico, because two years ago the team was basically an indie buzz band that Pitchfork had blurbed about. Today, they’re an indie buzz band that drank too much, missed key South by Southwest industry gigs, and then got a 5.4 rating from Pitchfork on their major label debut. El Tri has stumbled through its most disappointing summer in 20 years.
Manager Jose Manuel “El Chepo” de la Torre—coaching for his job—has gotten little from his reserves. Jonathan Orozco has been a fine goalie, but he’s still a stopgap that is clearly third to the net after Jesus Corona and Guillermo Ochoa. The memorable short list of new dudes looking good: Leon’s Luis Montes scored, the young Marco Fabian flexed his Olympic talent but hasn’t produced goal-scoring opportunities the way, say, a rejuvenated Landon Donovan has for Team USA. Miguel Layon and Adrian Aldrete look fine but remain untested at fullback.
Make no mistake, Panama is hot. FC Dallas’ Blas Pérez missed his country’s Mexican coup in Los Angeles this month to play an MLS game. Pérez contributed two goals to Panama’s 6-1 disposing of Cuba Sunday in the Georgia Dome. Panama’s manager, Julio Dely Valdes, talked about keeping feet on gas pedals and “furious efforts” during media day. Defensively, Panama has the size and grit to muddy the box for Mexico’s young, experimental roster.
For Team USA, Jurgen Klinsmann has a bunch of hard lineup decisions ahead of him, as once-forgotten players like DeMarcus Beasley and Stuart Holden are resurfacing with axes and have helped string a nine-game winning streak (tying a USMNT record). In the Gold Cup, Team USA has found its scoring rhythm and outgunned opponents 16-3.
Honduras is an aging team that elbowed its way to the Gold Cup in 2010 where they gave eventual champs Spain an admirable group stage effort. They are mean and tested. Younger guns like 20-year-old Andy Najar can forge scores from defensives scrums.
Predictions
Honduras has earned its respect by being able to grind out opponents like Costa Rica and El Salvador in 1-0 type of slugfests. But look for Jurgen Klinsmann’s suddenly fluid, streaking team to fine tune its lineup and put away Honduras late with a 3-1 victory. It’s been at the hands of Martinique, Canada, and Trinidad & Tobago, but Mexico has a three-game winning streak under its belt. This matters because the team is young and buried in their homeland’s seething, negative media and they’ve responded with results. Jerry World’s rioting nationals work as the 12th man, and Mexico gets an ugly win.