Trinidad and Tobago beats Cuba 2-0, secures place in quarterfinals

Guatemala’s Minor Lopez got the ball in front of the net but his kick only grazed it. Still, it bounced just outside of the goal.

A staunch defensive effort will be required from Guatemala, but they are unlikely to be able to keep Mexico out for 90 minutes given El Tri’s excellent attack.

CONCACAF: GLENDALE, Arizona – Ju;y 12, 2015 – After absorbing a six-goal loss to Mexico, Cuba captain Yenier Marquez promised one thing would be different for its next Group C match in the CONCACAF Gold Cup: fans will see a motivated team against Trinidad & Tobago on Sunday. Mexico managed one shot on goal in the second half.

Both teams will come out in the second game after Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba meet earlier in the evening so Guatemala and Mexico will know just how important their clash will be.

Will Mexico top Group C at the 2015 Gold Cup? Panama now holds it on two points and an even differential, but they face the USA, whereas Honduras and Haiti each have a point and a minus-one; should either take the match, they could vault into second. Their performance against Guatemala, particularly in the first half, was excellent.

That was the final real chance for El Tri, who will wrap up Group C play in Charlotte on Wednesday against Trinidad and Tobago (8:30 pm ET, FOX Sports 2 and UniMas in the USA, Sportsnet World in Canada).

The result Guatemala still makes Mexico’ advancement in the Gold Cup very likely, but if the team finishes out of first place, surviving the elimination games that follow could be very hard. “Gio!” before Coach Miguel Herrera finally sent Dos Santos into the game in the 82nd minute. He may have indeed scored or set up the winning goal if he’d gotten more time in the game to do it.

Hector Herrera came the closest to giving Mexico the lead but his right-footed shot from outside the box in the 86th minute hit the crossbar.

Mexico forward Carlos Vela (11) gets tackled by Guatemala… When the biggest complaint is that your team “only” won by six, it was a good night. United States of America (automatic qualifier and potential host), Mexico (automatic qualifier), Jamaica (2014 Caribbean Cup winners) and Costa Rica (2014 Copa Centroamericana winners) have already qualified for the tournament.

The Soca Warriors carved out an wonderful 3-1 victory against Guatemala last Thursday at the Soldier Field in Chicago, as reported at the MLS Soccer website.