HexagonalBlog

Belize makes history, qualifies for Gold Cup

Yes, I know I'm late, but Happy New Year to everyone!  Soccermetrics is keeping me busy as always, but I had a great reason to come back.

Belize is going to the Gold Cup!

Yes, Belize, currently ranked 164 in the FIFA World Ranking (and last among Central American countries), is headed to the Gold Cup after finishing in fourth place in the Copa Centroamericana, formerly known as the Copa UNCAF. They were the lone Central American team never to have qualified for an international competition.  No longer.

All of the hard work was done in the group stage as Belize won the winnable game against Nicaragua and held their own against relative powers Guatemala and Costa Rica.  The 0-0 against Guatemala -- even a chapínes side that had declined greatly since 2005 -- has to rank among Belize's most important football results.  Yes, they fell to Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Honduras, but by the minimum in each match and to a goal scored in the second half.

Belize's best known player is Deon McCaulay, the national team's all-time leading scorer who has played for a few mid-table clubs in Costa Rica and Honduras.  Belize will be up against it in the Gold Cup, but at least their fans will get to live the dream.

 

Panama ends USA's unbeaten record in Gold Cup group stage

Last night I said on Twitter that I would write my thoughts on Bob Bradley's future with the US national team, but I must acknowledge Panama's well-deserved win over the USA last night.  They exhibited a dynamism and creativity that the USA lacked, and, unlike their opponents, played as if they wanted to win the game. Panama has a current generation of quality players, and if Júlio César Dely Valdes can build on this win they might be able to challenge for a Hexagonal place. 

Funky chicken spoils Mexico's Gold Cup run

Five players on Mexico's national team were suspended from the Gold Cup, and from international football, because of positive results from a doping test conducted on 21 May.  The implicated players are Francisco Rodríguez, Antonio "Sinha" Naelson, Edgar Dueñas, Cristián Bermúdez, and Guillermo Ochoa.  The banned substance that appeared in the tests is clenbuterol, which is a substance used to increase speed and muscle mass in animals.  FMF officials think that the substance may have been ingested from a meal where tainted beef or chicken was served.

From reading the press reports and statements from the Mexican officials, it appears that the players were "doped" through no fault of their own.  They were at the team compound where they consumed the ill-fated meal, but why were their tests positive and not the rest of their teammates?  It is very possible that the doping could be judged an accident and the players cleared of all charges, but in the short-term this result will not only affect Mexico's Gold Cup chances, but also the ongoing transfer deals of that group of five, in particular Guillermo Ochoa. 

Now, the suspension didn't affect Mexico in the slightest tonight as they routed Cuba 5-0.  But if the doping controversy has not been resolved by the time Mexico progress to the Gold Cup semifinals, the lack of depth in the Mexican squad could cripple them.

How will the CONCACAF Civil War affect the Gold Cup?

CONCACAF has split effectively in two factions, a Caribbean section led out of Port-of-Spain, and a North and Central American section led out of the main CONCACAF offices in New York City.  But will this apparent schism have an effect on the Gold Cup?  I say no, or at least, not in public.

Because the Gold Cup is always in the USA (putting aside the 1993 tournament held in USA and Mexico), the North American CONCACAF offices have greater control over the running of the tournament.  The one administrative aspect that would be most affected by the Executive Committee turmoil would be the issuance of credentials to officials to either appear on the field of play or even enter the stadium.  Executive Committee members can appear at any Gold Cup match that they choose, but they would be most likely to appear at either the opening matches or the Final.  I believe there is a much greater chance for a standoff at either one of these matches as it is an occasion where a confederation president is likely to show up, and both Alfredo Hawit and Lisle Austin see themselves as president of  CONCACAF.  I doubt that Hawit would be barred from entering Gold Cup stadiums, but I am almost certain that if Austin flies up to the USA and attempts to attend a Gold Cup match, he would be barred from entering the stadium.  I have not read any reports from the Caribbean that Austin will attend the Gold Cup, but if he truly sees himself as CONCACAF president, I can't see why he would not attend.

Gold Cup groups announced

The draw for the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup was announced today.  Here are the three groups:

Group A: Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Cuba

Group B: Honduras, Guatemala, Jamaica, Grenada

Group C: USA, Canada, Panama, Guadeloupe

The top two in each group advance to the knockout stage, followed by the best two of the third-placed teams. 

USA-Canada look like one of the matches of the group stage (a rematch of that controversial 2007 semifinal); so does Mexico-Costa Rica.  In Group B, Jamaica appear to have a very charitable draw and look good to reach the knockout stage.  And unless USA and Mexico really screw it up, the Gold Cup is set up (some would use a different word) for a USA-Mexico final.

Only a few more months before the Gold Cup worth winning, as the winner advances to the Confederations Cup in Brazil in 2013.

 

Guatemala last in, Honduras-Costa Rica in UNCAF final

Guatemala avenged its shocking loss to Nicaragua two years ago with a 2-1victory to advance to the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Nicaragua took the lead midway through the first half, but Guatemala coach Ever Almeida made a change by bringing on Gregory Ruíz a couple of minutes after the Nicaraguan goal.  It proved to be inspired as Ruíz scored the equalizer less then five minutes later, and then another round of substitutions in the second half led to the winner, scored by Manuel León halfway through the second half.

In the semifinal matches tonight, Honduras beat El Salvador 2-0, in a match dominated by El Salvador but also by Honduran keeper Noel Valladares, and Costa Rica defeated the host nation Panama 4-2 on penalties after the match finished 1-1.  (For those of you interested, Costa Rica kicked first in the penalty kick shootout.)

So on Sunday it will be Honduras versus Costa Rica for the ninth time in ten Central American championships.  Costa Rica will go for their seventh title, Honduras, their third.

Honduras to Gold Cup 2011

Honduras clinched their spot in this summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup by defeating Guatemala 3-1.  Motagua's Jorge Claros scored the winner in the closing stages of the first half, and the insurance goal in the final minute of the match.  Guatemala will face Nicaragua, who drew 1-1 with Belize to clinch third place in Group A on goal difference.  It will be a rematch of the fifth-place playoff match in 2009, when Nicaragua beat the chapines 2-0 to clinch their first-ever appearance at the Gold Cup.

In the other match of the day, the hosts Panama completed their perfect record in Group A with a 2-0 win over El Salvador. 

So the semifinals are set up like these: Panama will face Costa Rica, while El Salvador will play old rivals Honduras.  Home team advantage is never to be underestimated, but I expect a Costa Rica-Honduras final on Sunday.

El Salvador, Panama, Costa Rica in 2011 Gold Cup

El Salvador, Panama, and Costa Rica have confirmed their places at this summer's Gold Cup.  El Salvador and Panama won comfortable victories against the minnows of Central America -- the Salvadorans beat Belize 5-2 in the opening match, and Panama defeated Nicaragua 2-0.  The local papers criticized Panama for not converting their superiority into more goals, which was the same problem that they had against Belize. 

In the middle game, Costa Rica recovered from a weak first half to defeat Guatemala 2-0, thanks to two goals by Marco Ureña.  Ureña was part of the great Costa Rican U-20 side that finished fourth in Egypt in 2009, and the senior team will be very happy to see him get established there.

Thank goodness the Gold Cup is over

(I meant to publish this last night.)

First of all, congratulations to Mexico on winning the Gold Cup, and finally breaking their long winless drought against the USA away from Azteca.  I felt the USA were more consistent during the tournament, with the shocking exception of the final, but Mexico got better as the tournament progressed and peaked at the right time.   I said around the time of the 2007 U-17 World Cup American soccer fans would be hearing a lot more about Giovani dos Santos and Carlos Vela for years to come.  Today, dos Santos and Vela played perhaps their best matches in a Tricolor shirt, and almost certainly played themselves onto the roster for the big August 12 qualifier.  Mexico put a high priority on the Gold Cup, put forward the strongest possible side, and won.  Full credit to them.

That said...

I am so glad that this Gold Cup is finally over.   The Gold Cup is only half-decent tournament during a non-World Cup year.  It becomes downright mediocre when it falls in the same year as the World Cup qualifiers.  It is good that there are no longer guest countries participating in CONCACAF's national team championship, but the quality of play is lacking even in a twelve-team tournament.  I wasn't able to see all the matches on TV, but I saw about four in their entirety as well as the two I saw in person, and the group stage matches were not very compelling.  USA-Panama in the quarterfinal round was a good match, but the tournament only became interesting in the semifinal round.  All of the semifinalists were the top four teams in the Hexagonal, so they should feel some satisfaction for making it that far in the tournament.  But it took to long to get to this point, and no one else in the tournament were able to prove themselves capable of knocking off the top four.  In my opinion, the Gold Cup should be an eight-team tournament played every four years, but I know that such a proposal will never survive 30 seconds in a CONCACAF ExCo meeting.  

So after a two-month break, it's back to the Hexagonal.  Thank goodness.

A trip to Glendale

On Sunday I went to the final round of matches in Group C at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.  It really is quite a facility.  I've been there for three different sporting events (NFL football, college basketball, and soccer), and I participated in a behind-the-scenes tour of the stadium last year, so I've seen the UP stadium from a variety of perspectives.  It's not too far from Phoenix (about 10 miles west of central Phoenix), so if you're in the area I highly recommend the tour.  Especially if you're a Maricopa county resident so that you see where your tax dollars went!

With Mexico's place in the quarterfinals confirmed I didn't think the final round of matches would be very interesting, then remembered that they could still finish between first and third in the group, so I decided to go to the game on Sunday morning.  I arrived in time for the first match between Nicaragua and Panama, and there was a small line in front of the ticket booth.  There was a sprinkling of fans inside the stadium when the two teams walked onto the field.

There were a few Panama fans waving Panamanian flags, and maybe 10 Nicaragua fans wearing hats and Federation shirts.  The rest were either Mexican fans waiting for the second game or neutral gringos like me who just wanted to check out a soccer game.

As for the first game, I didn't find it very compelling.  Panama were a stronger team physically and technically than Nicaragua, but they needed to score a goal to feel comfortable about their chances.    You had a feeling it was inevitable unless Panama decided to play really poorly, and I didn't see that happening.  Blas Pérez scored on a beautiful flying header -- what made it such a good play was that the initial cross took a deflection off a Nicaraguan player on the right, but Pérez picked up the path of the ball and ran into space to head the ball home.  The red card to Nicaragua's López effectively ended any chance of coming back, and Gómez's goal before the hour mark opened the floodgates.  Tejada added two more in the final 15 minutes.  So Panama were through to the quarterfinal round, and Jamaica were out.

While this was going on, the lower bowl was filling up with the green shirts of the Mexican supporters.  I was actually looking forward to this match -- I wanted to see if Guadeloupe were as good as they appeared to be in this Gold Cup and the previous one. 

Once again, I was disappointed.  Guadeloupe didn't put forward much in terms of attack, and Mexico were finding Bravo time and again up front.  Bravo really should have scored in the opening minute, and had some other chances later on, but the Guadeloupe 'keeper Fausta kept his team in the game.  (I had to search on a website for his name because CONCACAF didn't list player numbers in their complimentary program guides.)  Finally, Mexico scored from a goal out of nowhere.  Torrado received the ball outside the area and launched a rocket that Fausta got a hand to but could not stop.  It was still rising when it hit the back of the net. 

In the second half, Mexico were much closer to their second goal than Guadeloupe were to their first, and then the wheels came off the Caribbean side.  First Vertot received a second yellow card, then Godin got a straight red for a studs-up tackle.  Near the end, Sabah struck a fine header off a corner, and Mexico had clinched first place in Group C.  They made it harder for themselves than it should have been, but in the end they finished where they were supposed to finish, and they will avoid the USA until the final.  Mexico can exhale, and so can CONCACAF.  I'm certain they didn't want to see the top two teams in the region meet in the quarterfinal.

So I saw six goals in two matches, but I wasn't impressed with the level of soccer as a whole.  I was expecting more from Guadeloupe but didn't see it, and Mexico, while improved, are far from their best.  Panama routed Nicaragua by getting to deflections first, and Nicaragua's quest ended before it had even started. 

As for CONCACAF, I'm not sure what they gained by having matches in Glendale.  I can't imagine that they've made a lot of money from this venue -- parking was free (almost unheard of at University of Phoenix Stadium), and there were around 24,000 people in the stadium.  I don't know how much the stadium costs to operate, but I wouldn't be surprised if CONCACAF made a net revenue of low six figures, at best. 

One more thing: those plastic horns are annoying.  I don't know why the European players were so shocked with the vuvuzelas in South Africa; we in North America have had to deal with those obnoxious things for 15 years!