2021 Gold Cup (semifinals)

Qatar 3-2 El Salvador

2 mins in El Salvador has an unfortunate giveaway in the midfield, offense turns to defense, Qatar has two guys going forward, they cross up the defense, leaving a lane for a 3rd guy streaking through, who gets himself all alone inside the box and finishes a nice rip past the diving keeper. A few minutes later, Qatar scored from 20 yds out (one of those cold blooded upper 90 shots you'd see in old Brazil highlight videos), just nasty, just completely outta nowhere, gets himself a bit of space and rips the upper 90, just a thing of beauty. El Salvador was shellshocked and Qatar just took it to them for about 60 minutes and when Qatar goes up 3-0 on a PK early in the 2nd half, El Salvador finally woke up and balled out for the last 30 mins. Fun game! El Salvador gets on the board in the 63rd min, after a nice overhead pass sneaks inside the offside trap and the dude up front got a nice shot and he ripped it. A coupla mins later, they came right back down and drilled another and it was a game for a while.  The Salvadorans had the tying goal waived off for offside (correct call), but they attacked and made it a game. But that first 60 mins, man, Qatar looked like a hit squad. 

Honduras 0-3 Mexico

Yeah, Mexico was just better. They attacked better, defended better, countered better, controlled better...they were just better. It was only a matter of time before they found the goal and when they did, they piled on quick and were up by 3 goals at halftime. The 2nd half, as you might imagine, was a snooze. I watched Honduras in the group play and they looked all right to me, so I'm thinking Mexico is really rounding into shape and is planning on winning this Cup. 

Costa Rica 0-2 Canada

Canada looked in control in a way that Canada normally does not, but I suspect Costa Rica is not at their best. Canada is a nice squad but I don't think they're gonna give Mexico much of match. 

USA 1-0 Jamaica

Jamiaca always has blazing speed and good athleticism and they used both in their full court press that kept the Americans on their heels for long stretches of the match. I thought USA countered it pretty well, held possession and moved forward effectively and for the most part kept Jamaica away from scoring chances. When USA finally got the lead in the 2nd half, they held it by maintaining effective possession down the stretch. I know that this is not USA's 1st team, I'm not sure if the other countries brought their A-team or not. This feels like a good W for USA.

Semifinals

Qatar v USA

If Qatar comes out blazing the way they did against El Salvador, USA is gonna be in some trouble. And they might still be. As dominant as Qatar was in the 1st half of that quarterfinal, I thought they whiffed on a lot of good chances...so are they the kinda team that whiffs a lot or are they they kinda team that gets up early and then farts around? I dunno. I would suggest that USA not find out. I think USA bunkers in, counters to a fast break offense, and generally just tries to keep Qatar away from goal. I could see a match where Qatar dominates possession, only for the Americans to steal the game late with athletic play...or I can also see penalty kicks. I'll take USA 1-0 in regulation (but its anyone game in OT).  

Mexico v Canada

Mexico is built for tournaments like this, Canada has already looked better than I've ever seen them in my life. Could it be that Canada is ready to announce itself in the Gold Cup world? I doubt it. I'll take Mexico 2-0.