Gold Cup: Top 10 Moments of the Group Stage

With the first phase of the Gold Cup completed and the bracket for the knockout rounds officially set, it’s worth taking some time to review everything that’s unfolded so far. Certainly in the early days this tournament seemed to produce a lot of one sided matches, with Canada-Martinique and Mexico-Cuba setting the tone, but as the match days progressed we were treated to more and more exciting moments, golazos, and that sweet sweet drama. I present to you below my top 10 moments of the group stage:

10] Haiti Trick Play

Haiti’s first goal against Bermuda was a fun one; a sneaky fake argument between two potential kick takers left the Bermuda defense napping and tied the game for Haiti.

9] Guyana score first goal

Guyana were on paper the worst team in this tournament, and it certainly didn’t help that they were placed into a group with three very strong teams. They played well enough against the US but really shined against Panama, scoring their first ever Gold Cup goal in the 33rd minute to hang around with one of the regional powers. They would later draw Trinidad to pick up their first ever Gold Cup point and finish 3rd in the group.

8] USA hammer T&T

I will be the first to tell you that the storyline about the US getting revenge on the Soca Warriors is 90% fabricated and this game did not in any way ease the pain of missing the World Cup for American fans. The story here is not the United States, but the complete collapse of Trinidad. This loss marked the lowest of the low for a team that just a few years ago were World Cup hopefuls.

7] Eloy Room Snaps

Honduras lost to Curacao 1-0. Honduras had THIRTY-FIVE shots. Eloy Room did his thing in goal.

6] Honduras explode to ruin El Salvador

Honduras were eliminated after two matches and it looked like they had nothing but pride to play for against El Salvador, but after Curacao tied Jamaica Los Catratchos got a chance to play spoiler to their arch rivals, and spoil they did. 4 goals in a second half onslaught sent El Salvador packing and got Curacao into the next round.

5] Guardado goes top cheddar

Canada came to play this year, and they were in the middle of a pitched battle with Mexico when Andres Guardado decided the game was over. It took two neat dribbles and a banger to put the game out of reach.

4] Bermuda claim first win

Bermuda impressed all tournament, and showed promise against Haiti and Costa Rica. Their 2-0 victory over Nicaragua, the country’s first ever Gold Cup win, was a special moment for a country of just 60,000 people.

3] Parsemain pulls one back

Martinique were essentially eliminated heading into their final group match against regional giants Mexico, but battled hard right to the very end in a 3-2 loss. Kevin Parsemain’s free kick to even the score at 1 is the best goal of the tournament so far.

2] Haiti wins it against Costa Rica

Haiti started slow in their opening match against Bermuda, but showed what they were capable of in the 2nd half and against Nicaragua. It was not inconceivable that Haiti would win, but to turn around an early deficit against a power like Costa Rica demonstrates that Haiti are not here just to take part. They’ve won 7 competitive games in a row heading into the quarterfinal against Canada.

1] Curacao's late equalizer

Curacao were perhaps not quite as much underdogs as you may think, but nonetheless they had never won a Gold Cup match before this edition and were drawn into a difficult group. Jurien Gaari’s 93rd minute laser beam gave them life in this tournament and ultimately was enough to put them into the last 8 after Honduras won later that night. An iconic moment in Gold Cup history.

Hosting the Gold Cup Elsewhere

With this year’s tournament having games played in Central America and the Caribbean for the first time, there’s been a lot of discussion (more than usual) about the fact that the United States has essentially hosted every iteration of the Gold Cup. Everyone agrees that these group matches in Costa Rica and Jamaica are a step in the right direction, but it also must be said that they aren’t enough. No other confederation allows one country to continually host, and sure, the United States is a unique specimen in that it has a hundred Gold Cup quality stadiums and massive immigrant populations from every other nation in CONCACAF, but being an ideal host does not mean you should get a monopoly.

There are obstacles to hosting the tournament in other places, some spots more than others, but I would like to take a look at several mock-up Gold Cup plans for future tournaments and explain their viability as alternatives to letting the US continue to host every edition.

So before we get into those plans, we must discuss the two major obstacles: finances and stadiums. Money is the most important thing when it comes to this tournament. It is a major source of income for the confederation and playing it in the US at the largest possible stadiums maximizes profits. It’s worth noting that Gold Cup matches are typically played as double headers at a site where at least one of the four teams will pack the house with fans. This is very easy in the states for the US and Mexico in particular, though Central American enclaves take over stadiums in certain areas. This issue will be addressed in my example bids.

The issue of stadiums is that while the US has literally hundreds of huge and nice NFL, NCAA, and MLS stadiums, other potential hosts do not have as many. Prospective hosts Jamaica have only two stadiums with a capacity of 20,000+, for example. This too will be accounted for below.

Hosting a tournament in different places around the confederation is not just healthy for the sport, it’s about fairness as well. If you look at World Cup Qualifying, when teams like Panama, Honduras, and Costa Rica get a chance to play at home, they perform way better than they do during the Gold Cup. If the Gold Cup had rotating hosts like the other continental tournaments, I have no doubts that several Central American teams would have won a title by now, and perhaps a Caribbean side as well. We’ve seen USA and Mexico get overmatched in Central America many times before, even to lowly teams like Guatemala. The same can be said for the Caribbean, albeit to a lesser extent. Think about the performances of South Korea 2002, Russia 2018, or Chile 2015 at the Copa America, and you’ll get a quick idea of how much that home soil matters.

There’s nothing fair about the Gold Cup, and that extends beyond the home field advantage and into the format of the tournament, which is always designed to ensure the US and Mexico never have to face off until the finals, even if they finish 2nd in the group. This impossibility makes it much harder for other nations to overcome the already steep odds of playing the two biggest teams in the region at home (and Mexico is very much at home in the US). Although this format is not directly tied to hosting, I just wanted to add that it needs to be changed to create a more fair tournament and in the hypothetical bids below you should assume that the United States and Mexico can meet prior to the final. Onto the bids!

Mexico

This one really doesn’t need much of an explanation of how it would function. There are more than enough large Liga MX stadiums ready to host and there are over a hundred million fans around the country. Every Mexico game (and their paired group stage, quarterfinal, and semifinal matches) would be packed out, and locals would surely fill the seats at many of the other games. I’m confident the people of Monterrey would turn up to watch an underdog Barbados side attempt to deal with a Central American rival. Mexico are the most storied side in CONCACAF history and have hosted two World Cups by themselves before; it's a no brainer that they should host the Gold Cup soon.

Canada

Like Mexico, not much to explain here. Canada just successfully hosted a Women’s World Cup in 2015 (26,000 average attendance) and they have numerous CFL and MLS venues to choose from. Canada games would be well supported, and US and Mexican fans would travel in droves. That’s potentially three groups covered right there. Though not as much as the US, Canada has immigrant populations from most CONCACAF nations and everyone would still get some support from locals. Fan support and stadiums would not be an issue. Canada’s massive size might be, but that can easily be circumvented by scheduling little to no cross country flights until the final. Keep two groups more west and two groups more east, play the quarters and semis more towards the middle of the country in places like Winnipeg and Regina, and you’re good to go.

Costa Rica and Panama

Now we get into the more complicated stuff. Neither country on their own is perhaps quite ready to host solo, but the two neighbors combined check all the boxes. Both are in the upper echelon of teams in the region. Both possess a handful of high quality stadiums. Compared to the US, these two countries are so tiny that it’s very easy for traveling fans to go to all three of their team’s group matches. Groups A and B could be played in Costa Rica, while Groups C and D could be in Panama. With all the matches being played so close to each other, I don't think it would be a surprise if thousands of football fanatics stayed in San José or Panama City for the full two weeks of the group stage and attended nearly every match.

The hosts’ groups would fill up their match-days no problem, and the other two groups, headlined by the US and Mexico, would draw in sizable crowds as well. Quarterfinal and semifinal doubleheaders, which the hosts would very likely be in, would sell too. It doesn’t really matter which country gets the final, it would perform well either way. This system is the ideal Central American bid: it’s simple, only involves two countries, will be well attended, and gives two contenders who have more than earned some home matches a chance play in front of their own fans for once.

In San José, Costa Rica, there are two large venues: the National Stadium (which hosted games during the 2019 Gold Cup) and the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa, which needs no introduction as one of the great fortresses of the region and is a fantastic place for a soccer match. Down the road in Alajuela is the Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, which holds 18,000 and rounds out the trio of Costa Rican stadiums to be used.

In Panama City there are three capable stadiums. The Estadio Rommel Fernandez hosted the Copa Centroamericana (all 15 matches) in 2017 and held up well enough. The Estadio Rod Carew is a baseball venue but can easily be converted to support soccer. The Maracaná is tiny but very modern and high quality, and would be a perfect place to host some matches between smaller teams.

 

Central America

This is another idea to get the tournament fully onto Central American soil. Much like how Euro 2020 will be hosted across 12 countries who may or not make the final tournament, this format would split the games between Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Each country would need to prepare only one top condition stadium, which would be easy enough to do. The big issue with this formula is that constant travel across borders would be difficult for fans and attendances might be lower compared to having the whole tournament in a relatively small area.

With six hosts and only four groups they would likely need to be treated as regular teams and put into pots, potentially leaving one group with three hosts or another group with zero. It would take some tricky maneuvering to pull it off, but this would be a way to give games to all of Central America (besides Belize). Group matches would be played all over the six nations; Guatemala and El Salvador get two quarterfinals each, Honduras and Panama each get a semifinal, and Costa Rica gets the final. Switch those countries around if you'd like, but the spread would need to be something along those lines.

Jamaica/Trinidad & Tobago/Haiti

Caribbean nations make up the vast majority of CONCACAF's members, and the sub-region deserves a chance to host a major tournament. With so many of the islands being so small, however, it can be tough to find places suitable to host. Along with Cuba, who won't be hosting for the foreseeable future for obvious reasons, these three are the largest Caribbean powers at the moment and the most deserving of the honor. Jamaica hosted two group matches at this 2019 edition quite successfully, and has got enough facilities to host a lot more. In addition to the National Stadium, the island has two sizable cricket venues in Trelawny Stadium and Sabina Park, both of which can be configured for football.

Trinidad and Tobago have two capable stadiums, both in the major population center of Port of Spain. The Halsey Crawford Stadium is the traditional national team home ground, and Queen's Park Oval is a picturesque site for international soccer, which it has hosted in the past. Like Jamaica (and the rest of the Caribbean) the islands are an attractive destination and it wouldn't be hard to draw in traveling fans from around the region to fill the stadiums. With proper ticket pricing and when paired in double headers with the host team, locals would provide great atmosphere all by themselves.

Haiti are really optional in this bid; the other two are capable of making it work by themselves. They only have one venue available for use, the Stade Sylvio Cator, and in this plan they just host one group matchday. This is as a courtesy to the Haitians who really do deserve a home game, and also a chance to give some of the other grounds a chance to rest and stay in good shape.

What Does the Future Hold?

Now there is little doubt in my mind that the Gold Cup calendar right now reads USA 2021, USA 2023, and USA 2025, but it should be Costa Rica/Panama 2021 to give Central America a full tournament as soon as possible, then Mexico in 2023 and Canada in 2025 to give them practice for hosting the 2026 World Cup. The other ideas discussed here, especially the one involving the Caribbean, should be looked at after the World Cup ends. It would also be wise of the confederation to give the Nations League Final Four to some of these places as a chance for them to have a dress rehearsal for a larger tournament.

Why Costa Rica Wins the Gold Cup

Los Ticos have never won a Gold Cup title before (though they did win the old Concacaf Championship 3 times). They’ve only made it to the final once. The best player on the team and in the entire region, Keylor Navas, won’t be playing for them this month. And yet, they are my pick to win it all this time around. Here’s why.

The biggest factor that makes the time ripe for a Costa Rican title is that their opposition has never been weaker. Aside from Canada’s shock victory in 2000, the US and Mexico have cleaned up every trophy and are quite often the two finalists. The duopoly has held firm for 19 years. But as discussed, Mexico are missing as many as nine starters depending on who you ask, and the US are missing some key players of their own and also are just not good. Costa Rica can smell blood this year, and they have to be thinking with the current state of the Big 2 that they can win this summer.

Costa Rica are also getting a chance to host their opening match against Nicaragua. Now there was never much danger of the Ticos losing to Nicaragua or not getting out of this group, but the home field advantage stretches further than the one game where it physically exists. To be able to play and get what should be a comfortable victory in front of your home fans is a great momentum builder and extremely good for the mental fitness of this team. As the weeks of a major tournament pass on, the stress of it all can weigh heavily on a player’s mind more and more with each passing day. Costa Rica, in effect, don’t start undergoing that mental strain until a few days after everyone else, as the Nicaragua match should have the feel of a glorified send off.

Personnel wise, yes, the loss of Keylor Navas is tough. But it’s not crippling. At the World Cup, Costa Rica may need Navas’ heroics to bail them out against the best teams on the planet, but at the Gold Cup? The defense is more than capable of stifling the opposition without the help of a world class goalie. And for what its worth, Navas’ replacement Leonel Moreira is a solid player in his own right.

The strength of this side is a magical midfield, with the veteran trio of Bryan Ruiz, Christian Bolaños, and Celso Borges back to dazzle audiences once again. It’s a well oiled machine of beautiful ball movement and intelligent play. Yeltsin Tejeda can play more of a holding role behind them to great effect. Jimmy Marin can carve up most Concacaf defenses at will. The question mark is moreso who will be finishing the job. Álvaro Saborío is 37 now and well past his best. Nobody has much faith in Jonathan MacDonald. Joel Campbell didn’t have a particularly great year at León. But this core, especially with the addition of Marin, is going to create a lot of chances, and if the forwards can’t get it done then the midfield will have to score themselves. Kendall Waston is also a massive threat on corner kicks and set pieces. I'm confident that the goals will come from somewhere.

Though hardly a perfect squad, you have to remember the field is weaker than ever and Costa Rica have all the X-factors on their side. Somebody has to win, right? Are you putting your money on the team that just got smoked by Venezuela and Jamaica at home or Mexico’s B- team? I’ll take the Ticos, please.

2019 Gold Cup Group D Preview

The last group, headlined by the questionable United States team, is looking to end up being more open than we initially expected. Panama and Trinidad & Tobago will be looking to pounce on the opportunity to claim first place, and Guyana are just hoping for some good experience in their debut.

United States

The US are not in good shape right now. After warmup losses at home to Jamaica (1-0) and Venezuela (3-0), the team that once looked like favorites are now looking like they could struggle to make the final, and crashing out of the group is no longer impossible. Gregg Berhalter’s squad was completely lost all week and I can’t imagine morale is very high right now. The one positive is that they start with Guyana, which should be an easy victory to get their mind-state right.

The biggest concerns with the USMNT are at the back. The goalkeeper situation remains a mess since Tim Howard left the picture, and the defense is currently in shambles. Nick Lima and Omar Gonzalez are not enough. In the midfield you have the completely overmatched Will Trapp, but on the flip side you also have Christian Pulisic who has already shown a lot of being able to carry this team, and Tyler Adams who is nope he's gone too. Up front Jozy Altidore is *still* the only major threat, but when he’s on form he can terrorize this group. The only problem is he needs people to help get him the ball.

The expectations two weeks ago were to win the tournament; now I’m not sure. They’ve been absolutely dreadful all week, but they do have a relatively easy road to the final. Side note: I think there’s a reasonable chance that the cancelled Confederations Cup gets un-cancelled, and the US will need to get their act together before the playoff potentially comes around.

Panama

Still the fastest rising team in the region, Panama are looking to cap off their ascent with a Gold Cup title. They made their World Cup debut a year ago and came home with little to show for it, but the USA is no Belgium. Los Canaleros are the 2nd best team on this half of the bracket, and with the way the United States look right now the final is a real possibility.

The older generation of Felipe Baloy and Blas Perez have finally moved on, but Roman Torres is still here putting in work. Adolfo Machado has also been here *forever.* But I’d like to draw your attention to Omar Browne, who really made a name for himself in the CCL this year when he torched Atlanta and Sporting KC for Independiente. He’s since moved to MLS where he scored a winner on debut and looks to be fitting right in. At 25 years old he’s breaking out quite late, but he might be next up for Panama.

Trinidad & Tobago

T&T have been all over the place for the past few years. They made the hex and famously eliminated the US, and two Gold Cups ago they battled 4-4 with Mexico in an all time classic match. In between, they missed the 2017 Gold Cup entirely. They didn’t have to play any qualifiers, so it’s been a while since we’ve seen this team in a competitive setting, but they’ll be up against it with the two teams above.

The Soca Warriors under Dennis Lawrence have become a team that is worth much more than the sum of their parts. Almost this entire team plays in the local domestic league or in the American lower divisions. Defensively they’ve become a sound unit; since the victory over the US their opponents have scored 1, 2, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, and 0 goals. Unfortunately for all the great defending the goals on the opposite end have just not been coming for T&T, who look much more like a grind it out and win on penalties team than they did four years ago when they put seven past El Tri in two games.

Guyana

Guyana are making their Gold Cup debut, but there’s not going to be much of a honeymoon period. Probably the worst team in the field, they’ll be thrown into the fire against a US team that will be hungry to hang 10 on them. That’s not to say they can’t hold their own, though. We’ve seen it plenty of times that these Caribbean teams can cause trouble; Guyana’s French neighbors did so one tournament ago.

In the qualifiers though this team was hardly dominant. They tied Barbados 1-1 (but won 3-0 on disqualification), beat Turks and Caicos 8-0, lost to French Guiana and then beat Belize 2-1. Playing at that level will NOT be enough to upset the apple cart in any meaningful way.

Unfortunately keeper and goalscoring wizard Kai McKenzie-Lyle won’t be there for the Golden Jaguars. In fact, mostly anyone you may be familiar with won’t be. They only have three players with 10+ caps, and none with more than 20, The lack of experience is definitely going to add to this side’s struggles early on. If I had to keep a close eye on one player I’d take Stephen Duke-McKenna, an 18 year old Everton product who’s looking to be part of the Bolton setup next year.

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That's all 16 teams in the field covered. The Gold Cup kicks off Saturday the 15th and I will be busy watching the games moreso than writing about them, but expect a handful of updates over the next few weeks. Thanks for reading!

2019 Gold Cup Group C Preview

Group C is an interesting one. Though it is the only group without a member of the so called Big 3 in it, it is also the deepest group in the tournament and one of the deepest in Gold Cup history. With Honduras, Jamaica, El Salvador, and Curaçao, it's possible for any combination of two teams to advance. Everyone has a chance at the knockout stage, which should make all six matches in this group extra tense and extra exciting.

Honduras

Since 2005, Honduras have mostly been perennial semifinalists, though in 2017 they lost in the quarters to Mexico. This tournament, as is the case with this entire group, could go two ways for them. Perhaps they win the group and get an easier road to the semifinals, make something happen and get a crack at the title. Or perhaps they fold in a very difficult group and crash out in the first stage. It's tough to tell for Los Catratchos, who did perform well in their first warmup match, drawing 1-1 in Paraguay. They lost the second match 7-0 to Brazil, however.

This Honduras squad is a fun mix of veterans and newcomers alike who are spread far and wide across the region. Only three of the 23 players on the squad are employed outside of Concacaf countries. Captain Maynor Figueroa is back for the millionth time at a Gold Cup, and is accompanied by some pretty decent defensive partners in Brayan Beckeles and Emilio Izaguirre. Bryan Acosta just became a DP for FC Dallas this year and will have a lot to do in the midfield. Up front the most exciting man of the bunch is Alberth Elis, who can only be described as a game changing winger. Perhaps not every night, but when he's on his A-game it feels like there's nothing you can do to stop him.

Jamaica

Jamaica have made two straight finals, upsetting USA in 2015 and Mexico in 2017. They've also just cleanly beaten the US again in a warm up match. They also also have a huge advantage in that their toughest group stage match, against Honduras, will be played at home as Jamaica won hosting rights to a single group stage matchday. They're in good form and in great position to make another deep run.

Starting from between the sticks, Andre Blake is perhaps the best goalkeeper at this tournament, and Kemar Lawrence is a great left back who can get forward on the counter in a hurry. Speed is a Jamaican national team trope of course, but this side definitely packs it all around. Shamar Nicholson, who scored a BANGER against the US in that friendly win for his first goal with the national team, might just be a breakout star at the tournament.

Jamaica have one star who stands above the rest though: Leon Bailey. The 21 year old from Bayer Leverkusen is finally going to make his Reggae Boyz debut, and the hype is very real for this kid. He could end up being a Golden Ball winner and the person that gets Jamaica over the hump and into the history books. Like Elis, he's a winger that is capable of picking apart basically any defense in this tournament and I think he'll show everyone that pretty quickly.

El Salvador

El Salvador are definitely a cut below Jamaica and Honduras, but there's no question they can compete with anyone in this group. Even though they barely qualified for this tournament, historically they've been a 2nd or 3rd place in the group type team, which usually lands them a quarterfinal spot. Of course, 3rd won't cut it anymore, and La Selecta need to come at their best to progress. They beat Haiti in their first warm up match but then strangely traveled all the way to Japan and lost 2-0, but more importantly may have put a lot of unnecessary travel fatigue in their system.

Much of this squad plays at home in the Salvadoran league, which is not the strongest, but on the plus side the back line has a lot of extra experience playing with one another. The team star Rodolfo Zelaya isn't here, which means its up to Oscar Ceren to carry the load and create for this team. The captain has the heart to do it and a lot of talent but it's a tall order to get too many goals out of this team with no Zelaya.

Ceren's brother, Darwin, will also be among the key players for La Selecta. Darwin is normally a bit more forward minded than his brother but I suspect Oscar will be asked to push up more than usual for this tournament. The goal for this team has to be the quarterfinals, which is very achievable but will not come easily. Anything beyond that would be a dream.

Curaçao

The islanders are 2022 hex hopefuls and cleaned up in qualifying, scoring 22 goals and conceding just two, both in the final match in which they were on auto-pilot. They were just crowned champions of the 2019 King's Cup, disposing of India and Vietnam to take the title. If you aren't in the know of Asian football, India are an easy victory but Vietnam are actually quite good. It's an impressive win for Curaçao and definitely a momentum builder, though like El Salvador they've had a lot of flying in the past week.

This squad is mostly known for captain and defensive stalwart Cuco Martina of Premier League fame, but they're a lot deeper than that. Leandro Bacuna plays for Coventry and had a long history in the Premier League himself with Aston Villa. However, the question mark surrounding this team is who will be doing the scoring? Of the five players registered as forwards on the roster, four of them have never scored for Curaçao. The exception, Gino van Kessel, has 8 goals in 19 caps but is hardly a goalscorer by trade.

Don't get it mistaken; this team DOES score a lot of goals, but there is just no consistent source. When it comes to crunch time there is no one player Curaçao can look to and say "Get us out of this one." I think in a group where they face three tough opponents, this will be their undoing. Somebody is going to be called upon in every single match, and I'm not sure someone will rise to the occasion all three times.

2019 Gold Cup Group B Preview

Group B will be host to the first ever Gold Cup matches in Central America, with the first round taking place in Costa Rica. It's about time Los Ticos got to host some games, as their resumé recently shows them to be more than deserving. This is a good step in the right direction, but let's hope for a semi-final here next time around.

Featuring Costa Rica, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Bermuda, this is one of the more tame groups in Gold Cup history, but that second place behind Costa Rica is very much up for grabs. Haiti and Nicaragua has become a serious rivalry in recent years, with the Central Americans knocking Les Grenadiers out of the 2017 Gold Cup playoff in dramatic fashion and Haiti getting the better of them during the qualification for this tournament. It's one of the most anticipated games of the group stage overall and with Costa Rica likely finishing first and Bermuda likely finishing last, it will mean everything when it happens.

Costa Rica

Los Ticos have achieved great successes in many areas, but the Gold Cup is the one that has eluded them to this point. It's actually insane to think that this side, which has been better than the United States for long stretches of time, has yet to take home a single Gold Cup title. They aren't helped by Concacaf's consistent seeding of Mexico #1 and USA #2. Costa Rica typically are unable to be ranked any higher than third and as such get stuck having to beat the other two regional powers back to back to win it all. But as unfair as that may be, they still have only made a single final, back in 2002, which is simply not good enough.

With a weakened Mexico on their side of the bracket, maybe this is the year. Though they're without Keylor Navas (the best in the world), the regulars of Bryan Ruiz, Kendall Waston, Christian Bolaños, and even Joel Campbell are expected to be included in the final 23. Also suiting up for Los Ticos is young star Jimmy Marin, who gained quite the reputation when he torched Atlanta in the CCL earlier this year. A home opener against a weaker Nicaragua side should give them a huge confidence and momentum boost that they'll hope to stretch deep into the tournament.

Three wins in the group is very possible, setting up a relatively easy quarterfinal against Martinique/Canada, then you get the weakened Mexico team, and then the US in the final. Though they're certainly not the favorites, that is a very attainable path for this team over the next month.

Haiti

Like Canada, Les Grenadiers are another team I have fallen in love with over the past 18 months or so. Historically a brute force and no nonsense sort of team that could defend well and make even the best really work hard for a goal, Haiti are undergoing a bit of an attacking renaissance at the moment.

Aside from the 13 goals they dropped on a very weak Sint Maarten team, they scored twice in all three of their other qualifiers, beating Saint Lucia, Nicaragua, and Cuba in the process. To be fair, they've lost two friendlies to El Salvador 1-0 in that time frame. But this team now shows up to score goals, with players like Duckens Nazon who seems to find the net in every match he plays for Haiti regardless of club form.

Haiti will be looking to replicate their success of 2015 and get back to the knockout round over rivals Nicaragua, but with Mexico likely looming in the quarterfinals it's hard to imagine the Haitians going any farther than that.

Nicaragua

Nicaragua are a fascinating team. They are historically one of Central America's weakest sides, and perhaps they still are, but one thing has changed recently. Juan Barrera has arrived. Over the past two years or so, Barrera has exploded onto the scene as the brightest star for La Azul y Blanco. Starting with his iconic hat trick in the final 10 minutes of the 2nd leg to send Haiti packing and Nicaragua through to the 2017 Gold Cup, he's never slowed down for the national team and has been playing out of his mind ever since. Like Nazon, his club form doesn't reflect this upward trend, but something magical happens when he puts on his country's shirt that just causes him to unleash havoc on defenses across the region.

The rest of the roster leaves something to be desired. A handful of players have migrated to stronger Central American leagues, but most of this roster plays for lowly local clubs. Carlos Chavarria (Nicaragua's only goalscorer at the 2017 tournament) has ended up in Iran and is a decent scoring partner for Barrera.

For a team making only their third ever Gold Cup apperance and the first where they really have a shot at the knockout rounds, it's fair to say these are the biggest matches in Nicaraguan history coming up. The next showdown with Haiti will be a thrilling new chapter in the rivalry and one I cannot wait to see.

Bermuda

Making their Gold Cup debut, Bermuda are not expected to achieve much in 2019. Facing Haiti in the opener leaves them in a position to take a tough loss in their first ever Gold Cup match if they don't show up prepared. On the flip side, being thrown straight into the fire of an extremely important game can give them a shot at a memorable upset and a start to what could be a cinderella campaign.

The Gombey Warriors come into the tournament in better form than you might expect; having won their final three qualifiers in impressive fashion. They blasted Sint Maarten 12-0 (Do you see a trend here?), edged El Salvador 1-0 at home, and then came from behind to win 3-1 at the Dominican Republic to clinch their spot and deny the DR a maiden appearance.

Most familiar to fans is probably Nahki Wells, who plays for Burnley and was scoring 10+ goals a year for Huddersfield prior to that. But Bermuda are more than a one man show, and they spread the love more than any other team in the qualifiers: 11 different players scored in all across the four matches.

I don't see Bermuda getting out of the group in their first campaign, but like Cuba they have the potential to play spoiler to either Haiti or Nicaragua and shake up the group in a big way.

2019 Gold Cup Group A Preview

It is officially Gold Cup season and I could not be more hyped up about it! Concacaf has expanded the field to 16 teams for the 2019 edition, meaning we have got a cleaner and simpler format than ever. No more best 3rd placed teams advancing; it will be the top two from each group moving on to the quarterfinals. Also new and exciting is that Costa Rica and Jamaica will be hosting select games, marking the first tournament to not be hosted entirely within North America in history.

As you might expect, there will be a lot of words on this site about the Gold Cup, and we will begin by taking a look at each of the four groups. Today we'll preview Group A, headlined by Mexico and also consisting of Canada, Martinique, and Cuba.

Mexico

Mexico are the seven time champions and the most successful team in the region overall, and a full strength El Tri side are surely the best in Concacaf. However, Mexico will be showing up with far from a full strength team, and it may end up costing them their 8th title. Hector Herrera, Carlos Vela, and Chicharito have all opted to sit out. Hirving Lozano is injured, as is Miguel Layun. Tecatito Corona won't be there either. And the young stars, Diego Lainez and Juan Jose Macias, just took part in Mexico's miserable U-20 World Cup campaign and will be unavailable as well. AND Marco Fabian has announced he's doubtful.

On the flip side, Raul Jimenez will be there, and he's just finished up a career season in the Premier League with Wolves. Rodolfo Pizarro has had a resurgence and will be asked to play right behind him. Guardado, Jonathan Dos Santos, and Erick Gutierrez will need to blend together in the midfield, which may not be the smoothest mixture.

Overall, a weak Mexico is still Mexico, and if you're reading this you probably know the drill by now. Even without most of their Europe based players, a Liga MX heavy squad is more than enough to win the Gold Cup, and they shouldn't be seriously threatened by anyone beyond Costa Rica and the US. Of course, they were knocked out by Jamaica last time around, so maybe I'm a fool.

Canada

Confession time. I am absolutely in love with this Canada team. After many years of being embarrassingly bad, the northerners have been quietly building a respectable squad and this tournament is a chance for them to demonstrate that.

From front to back this team is filled with talent, but they particularly excel at the forward position, with Cyle Larin (Besiktas), veteran Junior Hoilett (Cardiff), Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich), Lucas Cavallini (Puebla) and Jonathan David (Gent) all being very capable goalscorers. Milan Borjan between the posts earned a lot of acclaim when his Red Star Belgrade team beat Liverpool in the Champions League last fall. Defensively they are a bit lacking, but Jonathan Osorio and Atiba Hutchinson can tie the midfield together and help out the back line if need be.

It may still be a bit too early, and I expect to see this team fully blossom over the course of the next cycle, but they can certainly put on a show this year and put in possibly their best performance since they won the whole thing back in 2000. They should get out of this group.

Martinique

Martinique put in a great showing in 2017, beating Nicaragua and going toe to toe with the US, and they'll be looking to improve on that this time around and return to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002. Martiniquais football has seen a bit of a resurgence over the past few years, with club success and their relatively strong showing last tournament.

Les Matinino won all four of their qualifiers to get here, and were led by all time leading scorer Kévin Parsemain, Sébastien Cretinoir, and Daniel Herrelle. All three are veterans with 50+ caps and multiple tournaments of Gold Cup experience under their belts. Parsemain also has the interesting distinction of having played one (successful) season in the DR Congo for DC Motema Pembe; perhaps not the greatest team in the world but interesting nonetheless.

Over half of this squad plays in the Martinique first division, but again, that league has done better than you might expect over the past two years. Club Franciscain were on their way to the Concacaf League quarterfinals before a late collapse in 2018, while Aiglon du Lamentin had a dramatic run to the ninth round of the French Cup, losing to Ligue 2 side Orleans after extra time. A handful of veterans have ended up in Ligue 2 themselves, or the Spanish 2nd division, and Jordy Delem has become an MLS regular.

2017 coach Jean-Marc Civault had this team playing exciting attacking soccer and brought the mentality that they could take teams head on rather than park the bus. New manager Mario Bocaly would be wise to do the same, and if it all comes together this team could steal Canada's spot in the quarters.

Cuba

Cuba are always a bit of a tough read. Much of the team plies their trade in the Cuban League which I know absolutely nothing about. A few others have moved to the superior Liga Dominicana, while Yosel Piedra and Luis Paradela are developing in the Guatemalan Liga de Ascenso (2nd Division). Arichel Hernández plays with Independiente in Panama, who gained acclaim for destroying Toronto in the CCL earlier this year, but has not really been part of the setup there.

That sounds like a bleak outlook for Cuba, but don't forget they made the quarterfinals in both 2013 and 2015 with entirely Cuban based squads. The potential for another trip to the knockout stage is greatly reduced now that third place won't be good enough, but Cuba can certainly play the role of spoilers to either Canada or Martinique, and it's likely that whoever gets the better result against Cuba of those two will be the ones advancing. After all, this team did get past the Dominican Republic in qualifying and took Haiti to the dying minutes in Port-Au-Prince, which is never an easy task, so who's to say they can't steal points off someone and shake up the group a little?

A Research Guide to Concacaf at the 2019 Women's World Cup

We are not far off from the start of the Women's World Cup 2019, and three Concacaf teams will be participating in the tournament this year. The first team is of course the United States, who need no introduction. The second is Canada, led by the great Christine Sinclair, who will be entering the tournament just three goals shy of the all time scoring record for an international player. The final spot belongs to Jamaica, making their debut behind the strength of star in the making Bunny Shaw.

I am very excited for the tournament, especially to see Sinclair hopefully break one of the sport's most prestigious records. But I am also by no means an expert on women's soccer outside of Liga MX Femenil (where I am intermediate at best), so rather than provide you with sloppy coverage of Concacaf's teams, I encourage you to look to people who *do* know exactly what they're talking about. Here is a little "research guide" for what to look at:

The Equalizer has full team previews for ever nation here, and a knowledgeable and respected staff that's been writing about women's soccer since the dawn of time. All For XI is a brand new women's soccer website with a lot of talented people on board. FIFA themselves have become an extremely good place for highlights and press conferences at all of their tournaments, and they've got some cool mini-documentaries about the tournament going up every day.

The one thing I will say on my own is make time to watch Jamaica play at least once because Bunny Shaw is MUST SEE. She's not the best player headed to France, but after watching her play a handful of times I can safely say she has that "it" factor that just captivates you. And she scores bangers.

Honduran Final Preview: Olimpia vs Motagua

After last weekend's super Sunday which saw three champions crowned across the region, we have reached the final final of the Concacaf Spring calendar; the 2nd leg of the championship in Honduras between Olimpia and Motagua. The two played out an intense 2-2 draw in the opening leg (at Motagua, though the two share the national stadium), and with no away goals in play, we have essentially what boils down to a one game winner take all showdown.

The champion in this epic Clasico Capitalino wins not only bragging rights for the long summer ahead, but also their 31st (Olimpia) or 17th (Motagua) title, the two highest totals in the country. Both teams are already qualified directly to the Round of 16 of the 2019 Concacaf League, where the goal has to be to raise the trophy and at bare minimum qualify for the 2020 CCL.

So the scene is set, but who are the key players? For Olimpia it's none other than Concacaf veteran Jerry Bengston who has put in one of the best seasons of his lengthy career with 24 goals in the 2018/19 season so far, good enough to lead the league. Team captain Ever Alvarado is a talented center back with a long national team future ahead of him. He also scored in the 2nd minute of the opening leg.

Motagua had an unlikely goalscorer of their own, 24 year old center back Marcelo Pereira. He scored twice in the first leg, but also netted an own goal, so it was a busy day overall. Pereira is also a national team member and may end up forming a partnership with Alvarado for Los Catratchos at some point down the line. The reigning champs will also run out Roberto Moreira (20 goals) and Kevin Lopez (10 goals), a fearsome duo that will in all likelihood give the fans an exciting game.

This game is essentially the closure of the season in the region; all the major championships will be settled and the field for next year's continental competitions will be set. Fans who really can't get enough may look to the Haitian playoffs which conclude next week, but for me it is officially Gold Cup season. Much to come on that as you may expect.

The final kicks off at 6PM Eastern on Centro America TV in the US, though it will also be on Televicentro 5 in Honduras and on their website. Televicentro 5 is sometimes geoblocked and sometimes not, but the first leg was available worldwide and the network's tweets seem to suggest the same for the second leg, so fingers crossed.