2013 Gold Cup Day 2: Honduras Takes Charge

Haiti played well but couldn't fend off timely Honduras strikes (Fox Sports)

Gold Cup group B play opened up yesterday at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey with two matches.  El Salvador took on  Trinidad and Tobago in the first match and the second was between Haiti and Honduras.  I thought both games were pretty entertaining to watch and made for a good night of football.

El Salvador and T&T provided most of the night's scoring.  Going in I probably would have expected El Salvador to get the win, but honestly I've seen very little of them and even less of T&T.    It was T&T that drew first blood though.  In the 10th minute Philadelphia's Keon Daniel pounced on an unclaimed ball and drove into the area, sneaking it past the Salvadoran 'keeper to make it 0-1.  It really was a nice finish.  However El Salvador equalized just 11 minutes later with a nice free kick from Rodolfo Zelaya, and the teams went into the halftime break level at 1-1.

The struggle continued in the second half, but El Salvador grabbed the next goal.  Again Zelaya found the back of the net in the 68th minute with a header, and El Salvador looked like they just might push through.  T&T had other plans though as Stoke City's Kenwyne Jones equalized in the 72nd minute to assure that both sides split the points.

I was really looking forward to the Haiti match.  I'll admit that some of it was because of the human interest story involved.  This is Haiti's first Gold Cup since the 2010 earthquake that devastated the country.  I was also really keen to see former RSL man Jean Alexandre, who was captain of the side.

Haiti played a pretty strong match and actually dominated the midfield for much of it.  However in the end they were undone by poor finishing.  Honduras suffered no such issue and they were content to take the chances when they came.  Rony Martinez scored the opener in the first minute to make it 1-0 to Honduras.   San Jose's Marvin Chavez sealed the deal in the 78th minute to make it 2-0, which was the full time result.

It was a bit of an unfortunate result for the Haitians, who played pretty well.  The three points puts Honduras in control of the group, but second place is still up for grabs with the result in the first game.  That place could come down to the last game.  Should be interesting.

Gold Cup Quarterfinals: Day Two

I was glad I was off work on Sunday so I could take in both Gold Cup matches from RFK. Still, I really wish FSC would have covered the rest of the matches throughout the tourney in English, not just the USA matches. I'd really rather watch those live games than EPL/Serie A reruns or WPS matches, but that's just me. I watched them on Univision and brushed up on my Spanish.

I was really wondering if the USA could pull it off against Jamaica. The Reggae Boyz had a ton of confidence and a ton of weapons coming in. Then the US announced that Landycakes was starting on the bench. Now, I don't begrudge Clint and Landon going to those weddings at all. Family is most important. However, it worried me that Landon wasn't gonna be on the pitch.

Luckily it worked out though. Gutsy call by Bob Bradley. Gotta give him credit. Had it not panned out he would have been a major goat. It had it's moments though. Howard made a great save on the Reggae Boyz early, that made the US nervous. Despite the fact that the USA played pretty well in the first half, it was goalless at the break.

They really fired it up in the second half though. In the 49th minute Jermaine Jones hammered a shot that took a deflection and went in to give the USA a 1-0 lead. For my money, it was an own goal, but a great strike nonetheless for Jones. Then in the 66th minute, Jermaine Taylor took a swipe at Jones on a counter. Jones got through it, but went to ground after a couple of steps and earned the Jamaican a red card. To me, it was a total flop. That was pretty much all she wrote for the Reggae Boyz. Dempsey scored a nice goal in the 80th to seal it up.

Bad news was that Jozy Altidore left the game with a hamstring injury. His status for the semis is still up in the air.

Now, who would the USA face in Houston? El Salvador or Panama? This one was another hard fought match that went to penalties. It shouldn't have though, as Zelaya missed a PK in the first half that would have given La Selecta the lead. He did score later, but Tejada just managed to get the ball over the El Salvador line in the 90th minute to equalize. There were no goals in extra time, and Panama went on to win 5-3 on PKs.

So it will be a rematch in the Gold Cup Semifinal in Houston: The USA vs. Panama. Who will get the last laugh?

Gold Cup: Costa Rica vs. El Salvador

Now this was an enjoyable match to watch. I mean, that's the thing about soccer. You can have a low scoring match and still have it be fun, like this one. You can also have a low scoring match that's just a total crap fest, like in KC tonight. At any rate, this one didn't keep the high scoring tradition of Group A as laid out on match day 1, but it was exciting to the final whistle.

If you were to watch the whole match, you'd have to say Costa Rica was the better team. Saborio got them started in the 3rd minute, putting a shot on target to force a save. The Ticos continued to assault the El Salvador goal, and Sabo himself had some real nice looks. They just couldn't quite find the back of the net in the first half.

El Salvador had their chances too. While they were holding on at the defensive end, they got some nice looks off of counters and set pieces. Zelaya was the biggest trouble men for them, and he pestered the Costa Rican defense all day. However, he himself couldn't really find the target until the 45th minute. After a foul, he set up a free kick just outside the 18. He put a nice bit of curl on it, and bent it in just past the keepers fingers to send El Salvador to the break up 0-1.

The trend kind of continued in the second half. Costa Rica would build the pressure, then El Salvador would get a chance or two. You could really tell that Costa Rica was going all out for the equalizer though.

The match got a little chippy, and that put Marrufo in a bad mood. As MLS fans know so well, you don't give Jair a reason to go to his pocket, he loves his pocket, and he started to dispense the yellows freely.

Despite all the pressure from the Ticos, El Salvador had a couple of chances to seal it. In the 76th, Romero had a shot at an empty net and missed it. Quintanilla had a couple of chances late, in the 89th and stoppage time, but he couldn't finish either.

Lightning struck for Costa Rica in the final minute of stoppage time. Randall Brenes had come on as a sub in the 80th minute. Deep into to stoppage time he got his chance and took it. He put a low shot in far post to equalize at 1-1, which was the full time result.

After the match, the El Salvador coach whined about the amount of stoppage time. I don't know why. There were subs and yellow cards galore. It seemed about right to me. Besides, they had chances to finish the match and didn't take them. Plus, you play to the whistle, period. The result has Costa Rica in the driver's seat for 2nd in group A, but El Salvador plays Cuba next, and the Ticos play Mexico. It's not over yet.

Gold Cup: Mexico vs. El Salvador

So in the first game of the night, we had a 5-0 thrashing by an obviously superior team. Surely El Salvador could do a little better against Mexico, right? Right?

Well it looked that way for awhile. The first half was very competitive, and one might might actually say that El Salvador was the better squad. They had some nice chances and played some pretty decent team defense. This all seemed to frustrate El Tri quite a bit. They even picked up a couple of yellow cards. Mexico also passed up some pretty good chances. Chicharito was offside more often than not, and in the 38th Guardado had probably the best chance of the half, but it hit way high right in front of goal. El Salvador had to be brimming with confidence as they headed into the half time break tied at 0-0.

Well the second half was a totally different story. Mexico stepped up big and made a huge statement. Juarez opened up the scoring in the 50th minute, then the flood gates opened. El Salvador looked like a deer in the headlights as De Nigris checked into the game and scored in the 58th.

Then it was Chicharito time. He got his first in the 60th to make 3-0, then in the 67th, he got a free header to make it 4-0. The party was on for the Mexican side. El Salvador conceded a PK in stoppage time, and Gonzalez got sent off on the play, straight red. Chicharito hit the PK in cheeky fashion to give Mexico the final 5-0 margin.

So at the end of Gold Cup day 1, the two favorites in group A got the job done. Both Mexico and Costa Rica earned 5-0 victories. Should be fun when they get together.