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.