As you all know, the draw for the Gold Cup was last Thursday. You can find the draw and match schedule here.
Once again, the draw is set up to keep the USA and Mexico apart until the final. I suppose that could be sabotaged by USA or Mexico finishing third in their groups, but I don't see that happening.
The result of all this is that once again Canada have found themselves in the most difficult group. I see three tough games for them, but it will be three tough games for everyone in Group A. It could come down to which team scores a win, so maybe four or five points will be enough to go through.
Group B is the second most difficult, but I see more separation between USA and Honduras and Grenada and Haiti. The USA-Honduras match will be the pick of the group stage, and Grenada might be able to edge Haiti for third place. I don't know who will score Haiti's goals in this tournament; they've had difficulty scoring goals in the qualifying tournament.
(And I managed to miss the news that Cuba had withdrawn from the Gold Cup, ostensibly due to "player development issues." I'm willing to guess that the risk of defections in the USA was a contributing factor.)
Group C is the easiest group of the three, as Mexico will face a Panamanian team in transition, a debutante Nicaragua, and the French department Guadeloupe. The Caribbeans might give the Mexicans more of a fight, but I can't see how Mexico, even in its current mediocre form, cannot finish in first place.
So those are my initial impressions of the groups; I'll try to put down something more detailed before late June.
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