America's Football- 06/16/07- Gold Cup Special #2
Posted by Sean Garmer on 06.16.2007
Guatemala vs. El Salvador, Mexico vs. Honduras, Panama vs. Cuba, and Mexico vs. Panama. It's all inside the second edition of the Gold Cup special.
Hello everyone, my tapes messed up and that's why I didn't have a regular MLS column this week. I should have one next week as the Gold Cup starts slowing down. However, I'm here with the second part of my coverage of the first round games of the Gold Cup. I'll be covering four games in this edition, and those are in this order: Guatemala vs. El Salvador, Mexico vs. Honduras, Panama vs. Cuba, and Mexico vs. Panama. There are two different rounds here, thanks to some blowouts, I covered three from one, and one from another round. I've listed the scores to games I did not cover for your information. Well, enjoy.
Guadeloupe defeats Canada 2-1
Costa Rica ties Haiti 1-1
United States defeats Trinidad & Tobago 2-0
With that out of the way, onto the games I will be covering. One notice though before I begin on the lineups. * Again, if I don't put the Country by the club name it means that they play for a team in the country they represent, if there is nothing by their name it means I don't know what club they play for. *
2007 Gold Cup Second & Third Round Group Games
Guatemala Methodically Conquerors Its Central American Rival
Guatemala (1) defeats El Salvador (0)
Line-Ups
(4-5-1)
Guatemala National Team
GK: Ricardo Trigueno Foster (Marquense)
RB: Gustavo Cabrera (Comunicaciones)
LB: Henry Medina (Municipal)
CB: Pablo Melgar (Antofagasta, Chile)
CB: Claudio Albizuris (Municipal)
MF: Leonel Noriega (Marquense)
MF: Jose Contreras (Comunicaciones)
MF: Mario Rodriguez (Municipal)
MF: Carlos Figueroa (Municipal)
MF: Carlos Quinones (Marquense)
ST: Carlos Ruiz (FC Dallas, MLS)
(4-4-2)
El Salvador National Team
GK: Juan Gomez (Firpo)
RB: Leonel Guevara (Vista Hermosa)
LB: Jose Henriquez
CB: Alexander Escobar
CB: Alfredo Pacheco (FAS)
MF: Victor Hugo Merino Dubon (Firpo)
MF: Ramon Sanchez
MF: Dennis Jonathan Alas (San Salvador)
MF: Eliseo Quintanilla (San Salvador)
ST: Juan Alexander Campos (Aguila)
ST: Ronald Cerritos (San Salvador)
Guatemala had to win this game to stay in the tournament and traditionally they've had the upperhand on El Salvador for a long time with six wins and three ties in their last nine. This time Guatemala came out, not hiding the fact that Carlos Ruiz was going to be the lone player upfront, and because these two teams know each other, the 4-5-1 worked better for them. As early in the 6th minute a defensive error in the center of the defense by El Salvador, allowed Carlos Ruiz to get the ball inside the 18 yard box but he shoots it right at the Keeper. He gets the rebound and at even a closer distance he shoots, and hits the Keeper right in the chest again. Ruiz who has not played for FC Dallas in a while, is using this tourney to keep himself fit, and he's been a little rusty so far throughout. Around the 10th minute after the 2nd time being fouled, El Salvador's Victor Merino is substituted because of an injury, for Jose Orlando Martinez. So now, El Salvador will be playing with three Strikers up front going to the 4-3-3. After this until about the 22nd minute was a defensive game where the ball stayed around the midfield but it was mostly Guatemala going forward because they are the ones that need the points. However, El Salvador should have tried more, considering they are playing the most dominant team in this tournament in their next game. In the 22nd minute, Guatemala had another nice chance as they got a corner that winds up on the head of a Guatemala player, and it gets close to goal before Keeper Juan Gomez picks it out of the air. Guatemala seemed to find alot of space on the right side with Carlos Figueroa who numerous times could get in the box, but he just couldn't make that pass or cross into the middle. That seemed to plague the team itself in the first half, Guatemala was dominating El Salvador who were pretty much playing the Counter-Attack. After passing 3/4 of the field, once it was time to get in the box, Guatemala couldn't make that one pass to keep the danger going, things seemed to clog up in that part of the field, where El Salvador was playing good defense. That prevented El Salvador from going on the attack at all, they possibly went near the Guatemala goal about three times the whole half, playing very conservatively. Nearing the end of the half around the 37th minute a long ball to Carlos Figueroa on the right side again, this time he gets in the box, but in front of him is Defender Alex Escobar, Juan Gomez the Salvadorian Keeper comes out and runs into the arm of his own player, and the Keeper, jams his left wrist, causing him to stay down until about the 45th minute. He would be substituted by Dagoberto Portillo. Due to all that, there were five minutes of injury time. So as the half closes we get a very quiet injury time, but the result is that the scored is tied at 0-0. With five yellow cards (three for Guatemala, two for El Salvador), two substitutions by injury for El Salvador, and lots of domination by Guatemala. Neither team had lots of chances either, hopefully, we something of interest in the 2nd half.
To start the half Guatemala made a change for positions, as Marvin Avila came in for Mario Rodriguez. I guess, they finally realized that Carlos Ruiz needs some help up front to keep the pressure off of him. Avila makes his presence felt in the beginning as he causes a Corner in the 47th minute and then on the kick, he hits it with his head but it gets deflected outside. However, it proves that Guatemala is now serious about looking for the win. Moving to the 4-4-2 allowed Carlos Ruiz to play more of a role and in the 51st minute he takes a difficult ball in the box, turns around, and barely shoots it wide. Let's see if his presence is felt longer than for the two minutes he mattered in the first half. About four minutes later with Guatemala dominating possesion of the ball, Orlando Martinez ties up the yellow card distribution, making it three for El Salvador, and six for the game. Then in the 57th minute Guatemala subs it's best player on the pitch in order to save him for the next game, to bring in a true forward, to play next to Carlos Ruiz, in Dwight Pezzarossi, moving Marvin Avila to the right side where Figueroa was before. It will be interesting to see if, Guatemala will play better or worse without Figueroa. Even though, El Salvador played terrific defense as the whole first twenty minutes was a defensive battle, they were only able to manage one chance in that time, getting one corner in the 64 minute. That's the bad thing about two teams like this playing each other, since they know each other so well, the game is played methodically and tends to drag. Luckily, things got interesting about three minutes later. As a long ball is sent into the left side of the El Salvador box. Between Lionel Guevara and Jose Henriquez they knock the ball straight in the air for no reason. As a result the ball falls in the middle of the area, and Guatemala's Jose Contreras is there and knocks it into the goal. It's kinda funny considering how well El Salvador had played on the defensive side, and then a defensive error ends up costing them. Usually a goal in a tight game, makes things interesting because the other team now has to start going on the attack, and thank goodness, because this game was really dragging along. However, it was still Guatemala giving the scares as a minute later when Ruiz gets fouled about four yards from the Penalty Arc, Jose Contreras takes the kick, and it hits the top of the crossbar. El Salvador breathe a huge sigh of relief on that. El Salvador makes it's final change in the 78th minute as Francisco Alvarez in place of Ronald Cerritos who had done nothing in the entire game. Right after Carlos Ruiz is substituted as well, for Jairo Arreola, mainly just a position change to give Ruiz some rest. The last ten minutes kinda personified the whole game, with Guatemala dominating once again, prohibiting El Salvador from getting any chances clear chances. They had one where the ball fell to Eliseo Quintanilla in the Guatemala box, but he kicked it too hard and it went over the goal. Quintanilla was about the only player to do anything of note for El Salvador on the offensive side. Guatemala seemed happy just to get out of there with a 1-0 victory. El Salvador looked like a team that was just playing not to lose, and in the end, it bit them in the butt. Guatemala still hasn't shown anything that would make anyone think, they can play well in the next round. They seem content just to barely do what's necessary to get by. They only need a tie to get through to the next round, if USA beats El Salvador, and I wouldn't be surprised to see that as the result.
Blanco Leaves Mexico Seeing Red, And Gives Honduras Some Costly Points
Honduras (2) defeats Mexico (1)
Line-Ups
(5-3-2)
Honduras National Team
GK: Orlin Vallecillo (Real Espana)
RB: Samuel Caballero (Changchun Yatai, China)
LB: Maynor Figueroa (CD Olimpia)
CB: Oscar Garcia (CD Olimpia)
CB: Edgar Alvarez (F.C. Messina, Italy)
CB: Emilio Izaguirre (CD Motagua)
MF: Emil Martinez (CD Marathon)
MF: Jorge Claros (CD Motagua)
MF: Amado Guevara (Chivas USA, MLS)
ST: Carlos Costly (GKS Belchatow, Poland)
ST: Carlos Pavon (Real Espana)
(3-5-2)
Mexico National Team
GK: Oswaldo Sanchez (Santos Laguna)
RB: Ricardo Osorio (Stuttgart, Germany)
CB: Jose Magallon (Chivas Guadalajara)
LB: Carlos Salcido (PSV Eindhoven, Holland)
MF: Pavel Pardo (Stuttgart, Germany)
MF: Alberto Medina (Chivas Guadalajara)
MF: Jose Guardado (Atlas)
MF: Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul)
MF: Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Chicago Fire, MLS)
ST: Ramon Morales (Chivas Guadalajara)
ST: Omar Bravo (Chivas Guadalajara)
These two teams know each other well, this actually used to be the big clash in CONCACAF before the United States became Mexico's main rival. To say these two teams have a long history of hating each other would be an understatement. Within the first five minutes Honduras made its presence felt. As going down the left flank was Carlos Pavon he sends a high volley to the right side that connects with fellow Striker Carlos Costly's head but the ball bounces on the ground first and then heads to goal, which makes it an easy pick up for Mexican Keeper Oswaldo Sanchez. Oswaldo is the best Keeper in all of Mexican Soccer, so Honduras knew it was going to be a long day trying to score on him. However, they kept being a force as two minutes later, a defensive error by the Mexican defense leaves a ball in the box, and Carlos Costly barely pushes it over the crossbar. Then in the 9th minute it was Carlos Pavon who gave his try at goal but it was pushed away by Oswaldo. To say, Mexico had no idea what to do with the speedy Honduras is probably about right. Mexico could not even get past midfield on its own, so they were constantly defending. The attacking formation they were in, didn't help either, granted they had their three best defenders back defending, but if Hugo Sanchez was going to go on the attack, he shouldn't have played his B team line-up. I understand they only had two days rest, but it seems that Sanchez has taken not only Cuba, but Honduras lightly as well, by not playing the best possible. A tournament is not the time to test out which players work, that's what Friendly's are for. I think that might have cost him this game. Getting back to the action, in the 12th minute we had a very controversial play occur inside the Penalty Area. As Carlos Pavon had the ball in the box, Keeper Oswaldo Sanchez clearly hits the ball, and Carlos Pavon runs into the keeper and flips over. For some reason, he's awarded a Spot Kick, even though again, Oswaldo went for the ball first. The result, Amado Guevara takes it, and clangs the ball into the left post and misses it, and that's as close as you can get to justice in Soccer. Mexico finally gets involved on offense, as a Mexican player is fouled about five yards from the Penalty Arc. Mexico is awarded a free kick and Blanco takes it. He sends the ball right to the Honduran Keeper Vallecillo and he drops it right in front of goal. Omar Bravo is there but he sends the ball wide, instead of in goal and Honduras takes a sigh of relief. Mexico seemed to wake up after that near miss, and started getting to goal more, but no real chances except for a set piece outside of the Penalty Arc again, that goes over the goal. In the 23rd minute Honduran Jorge Claros becomes the first player to get a yellow card for kicking Blanco from behind. On the resulting Free Kick and Corner, Mexico gets nothing. There is something I should note though, Samuel Caballero and Blanco had a little scuffle. Due to Caballero blowing kisses at him, which Blanco responds by spitting at him. This little confrontation plays an intregal part later in the game. In the 27th minute, Mexico would get its own Spot Kick, as Emilio Izaguirre kicks Alberto Medina on the edge inside the box. Blanco would take the Spot Kick and blasts it into the goal. Even though Mexico had not done as much as Honduras, they are the ones that wind up leading the game first, at 1-0. After that, the game calmed down, Mexico still held most of the possesion but didn't generate anything noteworthy and Honduras much less than that. In the 41st minute Mexico got it's last clear chance of the half.When Andres Guardado passed a defender on the edge of the box, got inside and sent a shot that just went wide to the right. After that, the game was calm even through the one minute of injury time. Both defenses have played great especially Samuel Caballero for Honduras, who would let nothing happen on that right side. Maynor Figueroa did his part too. The same could be said for Mexico, Carlos Salcido and Jose Magallon did well, everything came through the middle where Ricardo Osorio just wasn't in the right frame of mind, he couldn't even get his passes to the midfielders correct. The first half was a nice up and down affair, with some controversy and conflict, but that's to be expected when these two teams play. I'm really looking forward to the 2nd half of this one.
To start the 2nd half, Jorge Claros was substituted for another Midfielder Mario Rodriguez. Around the first minute Carlos Costly gets fouled by Carlos Salcido on the right side, almost near the touch line. The kick is taken by Honduras and centered to the head of Oscar Garcia. Then Oswaldo Sanchez makes a fantastic save tipping the ball with his fingers up in the air and then catching it. Shortly after in the 3rd minute Mexico gets a Corner, but before it can be kicked Samuel Caballero is down. Remember that confrontation between Blanco and Caballero earlier, well again, Caballero makes out like he wants to kiss Blanco in the ear, and Blanco doesn't like it so he elbows Caballero in the chest. After some discussion the referee pulls out the red card and Mexico now has to play with ten men the rest of the half. It's awful when a team has to lose a player, but Blanco does have a temper and the soon to be member of the Chicago Fire cost his team here. In games like this, you have to be careful, and control yourself. Of course, this caused Honduras to take control of the game with the man advantage. In the 60th minute Honduras finally gets their answer. Mexico's defense had to make shift with the three in the back they had, and move some midfielders to the back to protect. After the red card, it was a total bombardment by Honduras. Amado Guevara sends a pass to Carlos Costly on the left, inside the box, and as Oswaldo goes to try to pick him off he closes the angle, so as soon as Costly gets near the Goalie box he lets it fly and the ball skirts past Oswaldo's outstretched arm and into the right corner of the goal. A beauty of a shot by Costly (his 2nd of the tourney) and it ties the game at 1-1. A minute later Alberto Medina goes through two defenders into the Honduran box, and Keeper Vallecillo makes a nice save to force a corner, that results in nothing. In the 62nd minute Mexico makes a defensive change taking out a forward in Ramon Morales to bring in Francisco Rodriguez to make a back four for better defense, when actually, they should have had a back four all game, but this should help their defense. From this point forward, Honduras just seemed to be waiting to strike to get the goal to go ahead. As they would still go to goal such as, Edgar Alvarez in the 65th minute and then two minutes later Carlos Costly gets in the middle of the box and sends a header to Pavon, who lets it drop and let's it fly and it barely goes wide to the right. The game went into a lull for ten minutes with the teams keeping it in the midfield mostly, with some chances for Honduras but they were nullified by the Mexican defense. In the 75th minute Honduras makes another offensive change taking out Emil Martinez in exchange for Jairo Martinez (a midfielder for a forward). The Honduras defense would not allow Mexico to do anything really, but then again, at this point it looked like Mexico was playing to keep the tie, which was probably the best choice, however it might have been a good idea to make some kind of offensive change. Once we hit the 84th minute things looked to be coming to an end, with Mexico making their final change removing Omar Bravo for Jose Francisco (Kikin) Fonseca, and Honduras brought Carlos Oliva for Amado Guevara as well. Honduras seemed to lose their touch a little, when they got in the area they seemed lost, even at one point 4 on 2, they couldn't connect on their passes, because it wasn't that Mexico's defense was playing any better. Things got interesting towards injury time as Pavel Pardo got a yellow card for a nasty foul on Oliva. The resulting free kick put the ball in the box, Mexico deflects it to the left side and a center pass into the box, to Carlos Costly who puts his head on it and into the goal. Honduras up 2-1 almost at the end of the game. What a time, for Honduras to finally go up ahead, just when it seemed as if, the game would end tied. Honduras kills Mexico's spirit. The game would end a minute or two after, without much trouble. Mexico's switching of players, Blanco's red card, and their lazy defense hurts them in the end. Mexico now goes into the game with Panama needing to get a result, and Honduras plays the easier team in the group in Cuba. The whole Honduras team was much better than Mexico, yes a red card had to do with it, but it was evident when Mexico had 11 on the field too. Hugo Sanchez needs to pick his team and play them the rest of the way, or he could find himself with a bad match-up in the next round. That's if they make it.
Panama & Cuba take It to the Wire
Panama (2) vs. Cuba (2)
Line-Ups
Panama National Team
(3-4-3)
GK: Jaime Penedo (CA Osasuna, Spain)
RB: Felipe Baloy (CF Monterrey, Mexico)
CB: Amilcar Henriquez (CD Arabe Unido)
LB: Carlos Rivera (San Francisco, FC)
MF: Alberto Blanco (Plaza Amador)
MF: Gabriel Enrique Gomez (Independiente Santa Fe, Colombia)
MF: Victor Herrera (Puerto Rico Islanders, Puerto Rico)
MF: Juan Perez (Tauro FC)
ST: Jose Luis Garces (C.F. Os Belenenses, Portugal)
ST: Blas Perez (Cucuta Deportivo, Colombia)
ST: Roman Torres (La Equidad, Colombia)
Both teams started out with a purpose going towards the goal. Cuba had the first real chance of the first five minutes. On the right side a Cuban Player sent in, what looked like a Center pass ended up dropping towards goal, and Keeper Jamie Penedo had to dive to knock it away. A minute later Panama responded as Blas Perez sent a shot in the 18 yard box that hit the chest of Keeper Odelin Molina. Cuba started having more possesion after that counter-attack, as Panama continued their lazy defensive play, that was evident last game. However, you can't say that they don't know how to attack though. Cuba probably did the smart thing using a more defensive line-up because Panama has two terrific forwards, but that meant they were going to struggle on the attack. Another important thing was the appearance of Alain Cervantes who is sort of the man that controls the pitch for Cuba and they played much better for it. Panama made some good choices this time as well, bringing in Victor Herrera that played well towards the end of the game against Honduras. The same goes for Jose Luis Garces who ended up making the goal that won the game for them. Speaking of Jose Luis Garces, he would do the same at the beginning here for Panama. In the 15th minute, Victor Herrera sends a long ball to Blas Perez, who then kicks the ball to himself on his head, gives a head pass to Jose Luis Garces on the right side, inside the box, and he sends a shot to the left side of the goal, to put Panama up 1-0. Panama pretty much dominated after scoring, it's not that they had many chances, it was more about playing defense, which they didn't do very well. They just got lucky Cuba was connecting well on their passes. Around the 23rd minute Cuba started having more possesion once again, including a nice set piece on the edge of the right side of the box that turned out very well for Cuba. It took place around the 28th minute Jaime Colome takes the shot and it hugs the right side of the goal, goes low, and all the Keeper can do is nothing. Cuba quickly ties it up at 1-1, proving that they aren't an easy team to beat. Nothing of note really happened after the Cuba goal. Panama was kinda shocked by it, and seemed relaxed to let Cuba keep trying to get in their area. However, when Cuba got there they couldn't find their way, so it was a defensive battle for the rest of the half. Going into the second, it will be interesting to see if, Cuba steps it up and takes hold of the situation, or is Panama going to figure out that they need to secure their spot in the second round and stop playing around.
Panama started out the half making a substitution as in comes Ricardo Phillips (who played well last game) for Alberto Blanco. Then Panama does it again with the quick start. In the 46th minute, a pass is sent into the middle and a Cuban player tries to stop the flow with a slide tackle. The ball gets stuck on his foot, and Blas Perez takes it, strides into the box and sends a low ball blazing past the Cuban Keeper Molina, to put Panama up 2-1. Let's see if Panama keeps up the attack or if they relax again. At the beginning it seemed as if, Panama started to relax as Cuba began to get more possesion, while Panama was comfortable playing defense. Cuba did make some mistakes on defense that almost cost them, inside their own area too, but Panama commited them as well. In the 58th minute a ball was sent in that was to two open Cuban players but it ended up being too high for them, but it just went wide of the goal as well. A minute later the Panama defense has a lapse on the right side allowing Pedro Faife to escape free he sends a low ball into the middle of the box, it goes to the foot of Cuban Reynier Alcantara but it goes over the goal. Two minutes later, Cuba gets their first yellow card of the game is Silvio Minoso, and as a result he will miss the next game against Honduras because he already had another yellow from the Mexico game. Panama as well makes another change taking out Amilcar Henriquez to put in a Defender Luis Moreno, making a back four for Panama, wanting to preserve the 2-1 lead. Cuba also makes a substitution a minute later, removing Leonel Durate (who had done much of nothing) to put in Adonis Ramis, mainly a position for position move, but maybe it will spark something for Cuba. In the 66th minute Blas Perez again, makes a play to get himself open in the box, but his shot goes off the foot of Cuban Keeper Molina and then cleared luckily by the Cuban defense. That one came pretty close to going in too. Panama again, showing their lax on defense with a close call in the 72nd minute when Osvaldo Alonso sends a ball into the box from the right, Luis Moreno tries to deflect it with his body, when in fact, all it does is wind up on the head of Cuban Reyneir Alcantara and the ball barely goes over the goal. Honestly, if Panama plays this way against a hungry Mexico team, they are going to wind up on the losing end and getting third place, because the defense is the only thing keeping them from going a long way in this tournament. In the 77th minute another defensive change is made for Panama bringing in Engie Mitre for Jose Luis Garces, conceding that they are going to be playing defense, and moving their formation to the 4-4-2. Obviously, Mitre didn't come in quick enough as 15 seconds later, 78th minute, Jamie Colome sends a ball in, from the Penalty arc to the left edge inside the box, to Reynier Alcantara, who beats his defender and kicks it high and past Jamie Penedo to tie the game at 2-2. It was about time, Cuba got something, the way Panama was playing defense. Both teams had chances to go ahead and win the game, but in the end, it remains tied and Honduras, and Mexico celebrate. The clearest one was to end the game, Cuban Keeper Molina causes a foul on Felipe Baloy inside the box. The resulting Spot Kick was emberassing, as Baloy takes it and sends it way over the goal. That's just sad, but it sums up Panama's game. Panama playing like the Phoenix Suns trying to outscore everyone is not going to work past this round. They have to find some formation that works for them, and I'd recommend keeping four in the back if they have issues in that area. Cuba did what they had to, to force the tie, and could have done the same against Mexico. They have a shot at qualifying if they beat Honduras, their chances are slim, but it could happen. As you will learn in a little bit, this bad play from Panama earns them a bad result against Mexico, but maybe, in the Quarterfinals they will fix something. Sadly, Cuba got blasted in their last game, and this one, only gave them hope.
Thanks to the two blow outs from Honduras and the United States, (honestly both of those teams dominated, there isn't much to say) I will only be covering one game from the third round of the group games. First, I leave you with the results from the other games.
Canada defeats Haiti 2-0
Costa Rica defeats Guadeloupe 1-0
Guatemala ties Trinidad & Tobago 1-1
United States defeats El Salvador 4-0
Honduras defeats Cuba 5-0
Mexico Survives and Advances Automatically
Mexico (1) defeats Panama (0)
Line-Ups
Mexico National Team
(4-4-2)
GK: Oswaldo Sanchez (Santos Laguna)
RB: Ricardo Osorio (Stuttgart, Germany)
CB: Jose Magallon (Chivas Guadalajara)
CB: Francisco Rodriguez (Chivas Guadalajara)
LB: Carlos Salcido (PSV Eindhoven, Holland)
MF: Andres Guardado (Atlas)
MF: Alberto Medina (Chivas Guadalajara)
MF: Pavel Pardo (Stuttgart, Germany)
MF: Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul)
ST: Jared Borgetti (Cruz Azul)
ST: Nery Alberto Castillo (Olympiakos, Greece)
Panama National Team
(3-4-3)
GK: Jamie Penedo (CA Osasuna)
RB: Felipe Baloy (CF Monterrey)
CB: Luis Moreno (Tauro FC)
LB: Carlos Rivera (San Francisco FC)
MF: Rolando Escobar (Tauro FC)
MF: Gabriel Gomez (Independiente Santa Fe, Colombia)
MF: Victor Herrera (Puerto Rico Islanders, USA)
MF: Juan Perez (Tauro FC)
ST: Jose Luis Garces (CF Os Belenses
ST: Blas Perez (Cucuta Deportivo, Colombia)
ST: Roman Torres (La Equidad, Colombia)
Hugo Sanchez finally decided to put out his best team, if he'd done it in the last game, this one might not have been that important. Regardless, Mexico was on the attack early as, guess what, a defensive lapse from Panama, allowed Alberto Medina to have a ball in the middle, outside the box, Medina sent a nice ball to the right side to Andres Guardado. He sends a volley in that skips and ended up on the head of Nery Castillo and Penedo has to make a crazy save that knocks the ball over the cross bar. The resulting corner did nothing, but Mexico looked determined to do something early, because Panama looked really shaky on defense again. Their offense however, was on form. As Panama got a set piece in the 9th minute that came real close. As the pass goes into the box and Defenseman Felipe Baloy runs past his defender, and dives with his head. The ball hits the left post, and Oswaldo Sanchez is pissed off. Then in the 12th minute we have a scuffle because on a Mexican throw-in, another ball goes into play, so the referee decides to do a "Drop Ball" then Panama players and Mexican players start getting into it, luckily no one got carded, and Mexico was given the ball to prevent issues. Up until the 25th minute the game was a defensive struggle as both teams had issues getting passes anywhere once they got in the area, especially Mexico looked lost in the midfield because they couldn't get the long ball to work. This is the best defensive job from Panama in the group round, and it's about time they figured something out. They are still playing the three in the back, but they seemed more in sync with each other. Mexico had problems because they were worried about playing defense, due to the great front line that Panama has. In that time Mexico got two yellow cards as well, From Alberto Medina and Pavel Pardo, Panama got one from Blas Perez too. After this, Mexico found a way to get in this game, they had a couple of chances, the best one coming in the 28th minute. Pavel Pardo kicks a high ball in that lands on Borgetti's head he drops it down for Nery Castillo to whack it into the right post. On the retry, Andres Guardado got fouled, and Panama player Alex Escobar got a yellow card for it. Mexico had a couple of more chances, but after the 33rd minute the rest of the half was clogged in the midfield. Both teams could not connect on passes. Mexico mostly, it came from the defense who were not talking with their midfielders because they would either get the pass intercepted or the midfielder would immediately lose it. Panama looked like they were content going to the half with the score as is, there was some offensive movement late, but they mostly set back and allowed the defense to keep Mexico busy. Mexico did however, continue to play well on the right side with Andres Guardado who was creating everything for them, but then the rest of the offense seemed lost. We go to the half at 0-0, but it's probably what's deserved, seeing as both teams did not play well. Hopefully, that changes in the 2nd half, or we are going to be in for a long day.
Obviously, Panama understood they needed to get going, and it happened in the first minute too. Juan Perez sends a long ball to the edge of the middle of the box. Right to the feet of Blas Perez who beat his defender and had an open shot at goal and he misses wide. Mexico was caught sleeping and Panama could not convert, that's pretty much how this game has gone for both teams so far, they get there, but can't convert when needed. The game played out just like the first half, until about the 60th minute. Both teams could get to the box, but after that, could not find a way to escape the defense, with alot of the game being played in the midfield. In the 60th minute, something finally happens. As Mexico gets a Corner kick, Andres Guardado takes it, and Carlos Salcido is free to kick it into the goal. This makes the score 1-0 in favor for the Mexicans. Panama on a quick counter almost got one in, but the play ended up being offsides.Later Jared Borgetti would get a yellow card for a hard foul on Victor Herrera, making it three cards for Mexico. We again, get that clogging defensive play until about the 75th minute, Panama did have a nice chance off a corner within that time, Felipe Baloy kicked the ball that drops in, and Andres Guardado who is sitting next to the right post, hits it with his head to prevent it going in the goal. A beautiful movement by Guardado that saved the game for Mexico. Just before we got there, a ball drops on the outside of the box, and Panama's Ricardo Phillips hits it into the right post, and another blast from Alex Escobar is removed by Oswaldo Sanchez. Panama seems to have their chances, but either the post, or by their own accord, they miss, Oswaldo did a great job in goal once again. However, he did well relying more on his well formed defense, and it proved better for him, especially the man from PSV, Carlos Salcido who not only scores, but makes a couple of great plays on defense that saved the game for Mexico. Panama starts making a change to become more offensive putting in Luis Tejada (ex player of Real Salt Lake, he's now a free agent). Mexico as well removes Nery Castillo to bring in Jose Francisco (Kikin) Fonseca, mainly to bring them some freshness up front. Kikin has played well in the tourney every time he's come into the game. However, all these changes didn't do much for Panama other than bringing in fresh men, not to mention that in the 85th minute Alex Escobar seals Panama's fate, as he picks up his second yellow card for a very stupid foul on Andres Guardado, which means he gets sent off. Panama plays with ten, but a minute later Panama almost gets a goal, but Oswaldo Sanchez makes a great save. Then Roman Torres does something silly, it probably should have been a yellow card, but because it's late in the game, and the referee probably senses some malice, he gives him a red card and he's sent off as well. Now Panama plays with nine, how a team can lose their heads this close to the end of the game is beyond me. This is what makes me think that they will not get past the United States in the next round, their attack is great but, Mexico found a way to stop them. I'm sure Bob Bradley will be watching the tape, and the way the US has been dominating, it doesn't look good for Panama. Tim Howard isn't near as good a Keeper as Oswaldo Sanchez, but if the US prevents them from getting to him it means the same. Mexico deserved to win this one, they move on to face Costa Rica. Panama now has to find a different formation to play as without Roman Torres they can't play the 3-4-3 they've been using. All in all, both teams weren't at their best, a better showing from Mexico than the last game, and now the first round comes to a close.
So I went 7 for 8 on my Predictions, I knew nothing of Guadeloupe and only picked Haiti because they won the Caribbean Cup, and thought they would play better. Mexico was outplayed by Honduras in their group, and, Mexico deservedly placed second after a good game against Panama. Panama was playing well, but their lack of defense and overall silly play, especially, in the game against Mexico, lucky for them they made it anyway. Canada and the US, and Guatemala did what I thought they were going to do. The Quarterfinals should be interesting.
* Predictions were made Friday * I finished writing about the Mexico vs. Panama game on Saturday though.
Ok, well that's it for the first round games. So I guess I should give my prediction for the games on Saturday and Sunday.
Canada to defeat Guatemala
United States to defeat Panama
Honduras to defeat Guadeloupe
Mexico to defeat Costa Rica
Again, just in case you didn't understand, I think, Canada, United States, Honduras, and Mexico will wind up in the Semi-Finals. These are the best four teams in the tournament and I don't see a reason why they wouldn't meet in the Semi-Finals. Guadeloupe has been the surprise, but the way they played against Costa Rica, makes me think the best team in the tourney so far, Honduras, will wipe the floor with them. Mexico is too good to lose to a Costa Rica team that hasn't played well at all in this thing. United States should defeat their Finals opponents from 2005, as Panama has been playing badly on defense, while the US offense has been stellar. Guatemala is in the 2nd round by default and it will be very evident, I think Canada will roll over them. If my predictions are right, we will have a very interesting Semi-Finals.
Well, I'll try to have the Quarterfinal thoughts up, anywhere from Monday or Tuesday, and then have my regular MLS column up on Wednesday. Until then, remember that even though it's called Soccer here, it's actually Football around the world. Later Footy fans.
