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!