2021 Gold Cup (final)

Mexico 0-1 (OT) USA (117th)

Fun game! Good back and forth action all the way through . Kinda what I thought it would be: Mexico was more confident in midfield and got to goal more regularly, but their chances weren't really any better than the USA's. USA was getting quality rather than quantity, but I still expected quantity to win out in the end. Around the 70th minute, Mexico kinda slacked, USA finished strong but couldn't find the goal before OT. I thought Mexico kinda dominated the 1st OT period then kinda disappeared in the 2nd OT. 

Set play from about 40 yards out, nicely dropped at the spot, Robinson got up, caught the keeper out of position and guided it home in the 117th minute. Nice finish. Hey, I thought the Americans were capable of stealing it but until the 2nd OT, I still expected Mexico to figure it out. 

Good W for USA. This isn't their top squad, still a level up this team can go. That may well be true for Mexico, too. I thought they handled themselves well, the relationship between USA-Mexico has always been based on the border: games in USA tend to see the Americans winning, games in Mexico City are just death to the Americans, as brutal a homecourt advantage as any I've ever seen (think Duke at Cameron Indoor against non-conference opponents). I would've thought Vegas was kinda neutral territory at this point, but USA stayed with it and got the late win, always nice to bring home the trophy. 

I think both these teams are gonna be strong next year in Qatar. The world is a suddenly weird place, USA challenging at a World Cup is not something anyone's ever seen before, I wonder if we're there yet. Ditto for Mexico, they compete well internationally but seem to sputter in the same spot, weird world, man, a bust out Mexican performance might be on the horizon. 

I feel like Mexico and USA have been through a weird reality the last 15 years or so: the individual talent keeps getting better and is vastly better compared to 15 years ago but the team play is not any more cohesive or threatening or likely to win games. I understand that the rest of the countries of the world are going through a similar thing but I still feel like USA and Mexico are positioned to develop more talent at a more reliable pace than any other country (until China figures it out). But why doesn't that translate to more wins? Why doesn't that evolution of talent bring a similar evolution of successful application of talent? What is USA soccer missing? And can Mexico significantly challenge for a World Cup before USA? Qatar is the next place we'll find out.

2021 Gold Cup (final)

USA 1-0 Qatar

As in their previous match against El Salvador, Qatar kinda dominated the 1st half with cool possession and more chances around the goal than the Americans. Both squads were exhibiting hockey style offense: just create chaos in front of the net, then fling the ball toward the goal. Qatar almost got an OG (sweet touch save by the keeper) and then just a few minutes later a flailing pass found an open striker with a clear view from the wing (another sweet touch save). The Americans had a coupla similar moments but nothing as memorable or dangerous in the 1st half. 

In the 2nd half Qatar had their chance to take control: foul in the box in the 60th minute (looked like a good no-call live and even the first coupla reviews didn't win me over, but the final replay where you could see clear contact to the left leg, as opposed to the right, and I think it was the right call), but the dude missed, beat the keeper but put it over the bar, which left the door open for the Americans. I liked bringing Zardes in around the 60th minute, I like the idea of full throttle Zardes to close out a game. Fresh legs in general won out. The Qataris just kinda ran out of gas around the 80th minute. Americans had a long stretch of pinning the Qatari defenders deep and then stealing long balls around midfield, had a handful of quick touch possessions before finally finding the goal in the 87th minute: defender lost his balance in the box, (dude) just found himself open on the wing, makes the sweet pass back to the middle to find Zardes. Nice finish, nice goal, the Americans closed really well. Qatar was the better team (probably) for most of the game, but they hadn't played a real 90 minute game yet, wasn't sure they could do it and, well, they did not. They missed their best chance to ice it and that late American goal that should've tied it up, instead sent the Qataris packing. Since they are the 2022 host country, they will be around for another year and half, may as well get used to them; they looked pretty good to me, confident in midfield, capable of a few moments of magic up front, they play like a veteran, probably won't have any major upsets, but they'll be a tough out in the World Cup. Good W for USA, especially considering this is the 2nd string. 

Mexico 2-1 Canada

Canada is playing feisty and physical in both backfields. I like it. I don't think it's gonna work but I like their aggressiveness. Mexico is fine, they're not really lighting it up but they seem more likely to score. And when they took the lead right before halftime on a late PK (I thought it was the right call), that seemed about right. 

Pretty early in the 2nd half, Canada tied up the game off a nice finish off a breakaway (I dunno, man, he looked offside to me), good rip. Mexico came back a few minutes later with a PK (I thought it was the wrong call, there's not much contact and it's barely in the box at that), but the Canadian keeper saved it  (man, that sneaking up on the ball thing dudes do is pure show and doesn't really accrue any advantage in trying to convert the shot) and the game stayed tied up. Mexico was probably better but never took control, Canada hanging around, felt like it was going to OT, where it would be anyone's game. Then, OMG! A 90+9 goal to ice it. Wow, that was fuckin' baller and a sweet goal. Mexico waited til the final second, but they made the big play, snatched the victory, weren't waiting around 

Very chippy game, lots of shoving and pushing and hold-me-back-istry at work. Normally that's not my thing but hey man, World Cup is next summer, this int'l season is probably gonna be even more elbow-y than usual, so I liked the feisty from both teams. Canada and Mexico both are normally quite reserved on the field (as are the Americans), so watching them get up in each other's grills gave it a tough guy feel that should build up to a killer World Cup 2022. I've never been as impressed with Canada as I was in this Cup, their attack was as confident as I've ever seen, good pace, clever D, pugnacity on the field, this is a new Canada. Mexico is a nice team, they always compete well with the Europeans and Brazil, they're gonna be tough out for the next coupla years.

Finals (Sunday)

Mexico v USA

I dunno. With both of these squads the offense just sorta appears, there's no real consistency to either, though both teams are confident on D and in the midfield. I dunno. I guess I expect Mexico to be more likely to get scoring chances, whether to finish a corner or just find a good shot in the run of play, indeed I'd even favor Mexico in a shoot out, so I really don't see USA taking this. And yet I wouldn't be surprised if it was USA that got lucky on a set play and stole it. An early goal might make for the maximum amount of excitement: like the Euro Final, an early goal puts the other team in hero ball mode a lot sooner than planned and that often translates to more goals in a Final. I think it'll be a fun game, USA is not at their best but they can hang with Mexico, but Mexico strikes me as more likely to get the Cup.

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. 

2021 Gold Cup Quarterfinals (predictions)

Qatar v El Salvador. Uhh....no idea. Qatar (the 2022 World Cup host) is a team worth getting to know, you will definitely see them next summer (next summer?) at the World Cup. But I didn't see any of their group games, so I got nothing. El Salvador seems like a pushover squad, but they've always got one pain in the ass dude that will steal your game if you left him. So I'll go ahead and say El Salvador 1-0. 

Mexico v Honduras. This one should be fun. I caught Mexico's draw with Trinidad (even contest, both teams had chances and whiffed) and Honduras 3-2 Panama was a fun one, lots of action all over the field. Over the years, as I've gotten ever more impressed with Mexico's on-field talent, I get less impressed with their overall team play; the steady accretion of talent has yet to make the team overall better (just like USA). Mexico is surely the better team at probably just about every position, but I doubt the talent gap is wide enough that Honduras can't snatch a W. I'll take Mexico but I expect this to be an old fashioned tussle. I'll say Mexico 2-1.  

Canada v Costa Rica. Canada's talent has steadily developed over the years but Canadian soccer has never struck fear into anyone. Costa Rica beat Guadeloupe, Suriname and Jamaica to get here, not the most overwhelming lineup but they knocked down everyone put in front of them. I gotta go with Costa Rica 2-0. 

USA v Jamaica. Like Mexico, USA had steadily improved its soccer development infrastructure over the last 20 years but I don't feel any grand shift in strategy or tactics, if the talent is so much better, why aren't we seeing it on the field? Jamaica always has speed and surprise but USA should be able to outlast them. I'll say USA 1-0.

(*) Pretty basic observations. I watched all the USA group games and a handful of others, but I'm not back on my soccer game just yet. How is World Cup '22 going to happen? Is the Sport schedule back on track...or did I celebrate prematurely?

2019 Gold Cup Quarterfinals

A
Mexico started off hot, easily won the group, but seemed to run out of gas (Martinique gave 'em a run). Arguably the best team in group play.
Canada won the games they should've won, lost the match they should've lost.
Martinique lit up Cuba and gave a full effort against Mexico. (Kinda wish they were moving on)
Cuba sucked--sucked bad! I guess I should've known they're not good at soccer (you ask Henry Kissinger, he'll tell ya the same thing) but I thought they'd have some spice to them.


B
Haiti came up big in the final match against Costa Rica. They've got good athletes but I wasn't particularly impressed with their on-ball action. They've got a puncher's chance to move on.
Costa Rica should've won this group but didn't win the game they needed to win. Instead of playing Canada, they're playing Mexico, which is a huge difference.
Bermuda was fun, man. Played Haiti and Costa Rica close and thumped Nicaragua. I was more impressed with the Caribbean teams than I expected to be.
Nicaragua was not good. They were not in any of their three matches.


C (The most mixed up group)
Jamaica has a lot of nice athletes but I've never been sold on their ability to play soccer. Against Curacao they must've missed on 400 scoring chances! So will they keep getting enough chances to score or will they keep disappointing in the box?
Yeah, Curacao! I gave them no chance and they actually looked pretty good in all three matches. (That late goal against Jamaica was the highlight of the whole tourney so far)
Honduras came up too little, too late.
El Salvador, too, was in the mix in this group but just didn't get it done. 


D
USA! USA! I wasn't skeptical, so much as I just had no idea what to expect. Thumping Guyana was expected but thumping Trinidad was not at all expected--and such a pleasant surprise! And finishing off Panama was a solid performance by a confident squad, that didn't even play their best side. Very impressive, USA looks very good moving forward.
Panama was fine. I dunno, they didn't blow me away.
Guyana played hard and even managed a good result against Trinidad. All in all I misjudged the Caribbean squads, those smaller countries came to play.
Trinidad was disappointing but USA shredding their defense took it out of 'em, I reckon.


Quarters
Haiti-Canada
Canada is probably the better team but they're not great, while Haiti has enough athletes to sport better big play capability. I'd say Haiti has a better chance to connect on a corner kick but this has PK's written all over it.

Mexico-Costa Rica
Costa Rica has had some fine squads in recent years but I didn't see anything in the group games to make me think they're gonna be able to hang with Mexico. Gotta take Mexico to advance.

Jamaica-Panama
Two kinda disappointing sides. Jamaica never seemed very likely to finish their chances, Panama never seemed likely to move forward well enough to finish. Another one that could go to PK's though I suspect Jamaica is the better team.

USA-Curacao
I've admired Curacao's effort so far but USA seems to have their shit together, gotta ride the Americans to get to the final.


Mexico and USA are the two best teams (as they always should be) and I'd be kinda surprised (and more than a little disappointed) if they don't face off in the finals. 

2019 Gold Cup (Group Play)

I hadn't planned on recording my thoughts on Gold Cup group play but I have watched all the games (each team has played once), so I might as well.

A
Mexico 7-0 Cuba
Canada 4-0 Martinique

Mexico is clearly the best team in the entire field. Cuba is not the worst but easily in the bottom half of teams. Martinique is probably the worst team in the field, Canada looks good now but I suspect they're not good at all.

Mexico will destroy Canada and Martinique and easily win this group.
Canada/Cuba will battle for 2nd place (Canada is probably better but Cuba seemed a little more dangerous around the goal; Cuba has a puncher's chance but I'll take Canada).
Martinique is going to get destroyed--DE-stroyed--by Mexico and Cuba will likely lay a pasting on them, too.


B
Haiti 2-1 Bermuda
Costa Rica 4-0 Nicaragua

Bermuda dominated the 1st half but Haiti had more big play potential; sure enough Haiti scored on two set plays and left Bermuda behind. Neither of these squads are particularly noteworthy in the long run, though.
Costa Rica handled Nicaragua without much trouble; Costa Rica is generally among the best in CONCACAF so this was a predictable result, meaning I'm not sure how good Costa Rica actually is. Nicaragua is not good.

Costa Rica should beat Haiti and Bermuda and easily win this group.
I don't think Haiti is very good but they are probably better than Nicaragua, so I reckon they'll finished 2nd.
Bermuda was fun to watch, possessed the ball well at times, I think they'll beat Nicaragua.
Nicaragua is not good.


C
El Salvador 1-0 Curacao
Jamaica 3-2 Honduras

El Salvador got the dagger goal right before halftime and made it hold up; El Salvador is savvy and they're good with the ball, usually not a great side but you don't wanna fuck with them. Curacao is roughly the size of Springfield, Missouri, hard to expect them to have a plethora of world class footballers.
Jamaica is always fun to watch, always great athletes, sometimes they're actually good at soccer; hard to tell here because I thought Honduras played with some spunk. I think they're the two best teams in this group.

I think Jamaica beats El Salvador and Curacao, finishes 1st.
I think Honduras beats El Salvador and Curacao, finishes 2nd.
I think El Salvador finishes 3rd.
I think Curacao sounds like a helluva place to visit.


D
Panama 2-0 Trinidad
USA 4-0 Guyana

Personally I kinda thought Trinidad was better than Panama; Panama got two good chances and they finished both of them. But Trinidad's attack felt more dangerous for the most part and they just seemed better with the ball and on the ball. I think both of these squads are gonna be tough for USA to beat.
USA should've won 4-0 and they did, so what does that tell us? I dunno. They did what they should've done so while they have performed the first step, I think the next steps are gonna be tougher and I have no idea if they're ready. Guyana is not good, they play hard, I was impressed that they were still bringing it late in the game, but they're not good.

USA should be better than Panama and Trinidad but I'm just not sure. I beat we draw with Trinidad and then need a result against Panama to move on (because Panama and Trinidad are both gonna use and abuse Guyana). My guess is that we'll draw with Panama, too. So Panama goes through as #1, USA as #2 and Trinidad drops the 3rd (Guyana will be 4th, I am convinced).


In the quarters I got:
Mexico-Haiti (I'll take Mexico)
Costa Rica-Canada (I'll take Costa Rica)
Jamaica-USA (I'll take USA)
Panama-Honduras (I'll take Panama)

(Would that put USA-Mexico in the semis together? I think so but I'm honestly not sure)

Mexico-USA (I'll take Mexico)
Costa Rica-Panama (I'll take Costa Rica)

Mexico-Costa Rica (I'll take Mexico)


Rank them in tiers:

Easily the best team so far
1) Mexico
I guess they could win
2-7) Costa Rica, Jamaica, Honduras, USA, Panama, Trinidad
Long shot
8-10) El Salvador, Canada, Cuba
No
11-13) Haiti, Nicaragua, Bermuda
No chance they even win a game
14-16) Guyana, Curacao, Martinique


Okay, USA is closer to the top than the bottom but they're in a tough group, so it still might not work out for them. We'll see, still can't tell about this team.