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.