Cuba coach, six players to arrive on day of first match

Additionally, Cuba kept a clean sheet for the first time in 14 games in the competition, conceding two goals or more in 13 straight games.

July 17, 2007 (Reliant Stadium – Houston, Texas, USA) Honduras 1, Guadeloupe 2 em>Quarterfinals: Guadeloupe made a magical Gold Cup run, reaching the semifinals. In a pair of warm-up matches they struggled with formations, eventually ditching Herrera’s favoured 5-3-2 in favour of a 4-4-2, and played to uninspiring draws with both Costa Rica and Honduras. Panama should be a tough out, as Los Canaleros (The Canal Men) were the runners-up in the 2013 tournament.

Mexico team has all the advantages in this game because Cuba will be without its head coach and seven players. He’s made a name for himself in La Liga as a tricky forward with an eye for the spectacular; look for him to net at least one of his trademark chipped goal in this tournament. La Selecta’s (also the Selected) key players will likely be Copa Centroamericana (the Central American Cup) star Rafael Burgos (Fredrikstad, Norway) and youngster Arturo Alvarez (Videoton, Hungary)… But recently Cuba fell to Jamaica and then New York Cosmos.

But their problems are paltry compared to turmoil that surrounds Cuba who always seem to come into the Gold Cup under a dark cloud. The Canadians are the lowest-ranked team in the group, but they’re on a four-game winning streak. He’ll probably get to start off with a win over Cuba. Meantime Mexico has an Argentina friendly this September. Canada no longer possess the great Dwayne de Rosario, who has retired, but the team still has several potential weapons, including Julian de Guzman, the first Canadian to play in Spain’s top league. Group C, which includes Mexico, may be one of the weaker groups. Tasked with rescuing Mexico from an horrific World Cup qualifying campaign – in which they flirted dangerously with elimination, eventually relying on a United States result in another match to pull them through – he weathered the storm admirably. But El Tri’s second all-time leading scorer, Javier Hernandez (Manchester United), is out for the tournament with an injury. A hat trick from Oribe Peralta, combined with goals from Carlos Vela, Andres Guardado and second-half substitute Giovani Dos Santos gave Mexico the biggest win in this edition of the tournament to date, as the overmatched Cubans provided no test for El Tri. “That’s why it was so important to play like that today, keep that intensity … try to score as many goals as we can”.

The Sounders very own Marco Pappa will lead Guatemala’s attack when they take on Trinidad and Tobago. The Soca Warriors are filled with veterans like Kenwyne Jones (Bournemouth, England), Khaleem Hyland (Racing Genk, Belgium), and Joevin Jones (Chicago Fire)…