All right folks, lets hope the nice little Gold Cup streak continues this saturday with the US - Costa Rica game.
This is the way I look at this game. The single most important factor this game has is the fact that Copa America would like to invite the top two teams from this tournament to their next tourney. This is in fact the reason why Brazil was playing in the Gold Cup, though they dont belong to the CONCACAF, they are invited as winners of the last Copa America. Now, I say they "would" be invited because the CONMEBOL (thats South Americas governing soccer body) has made it clear that not everyone is guaranteed a spot. I guess they wouldnt have liked to invite a team like Martinica had they pulled off the miracle of qualifying to the final. Is Costa Rica good enough for them? We will find out if we win this game, is the US good enough? We will find that out too.
Now, ordinarily, any 3rd place game is dealt with in a very careless manner, after all who cares who{s third of fourth.... However, having Brazil advance to the final, only one CONCACAF team (Mexico) has sealed the ticket to the Copa America. The other team would be by the third place team.
Having said that, we know that this game has importance and alot of it. Just that by itself should provide enough stress for the players taking the pitch.
The U.S. is a team that has problems scoring and creating plays as evidenced by the game with Brazil where they were way overplayed and had to be helped by the ref on two Brazil goals to even stay in the game. Yes, I said the US has problems scoring (and now, scoring 5 on Cuba does not count as offensive power, its like the Lakers beating the Nuggets by 4, no not impressive). And no, Im not a US basher, I actually like the US and am just being critical of their offense. The one thing the US has going for them is the fact that they seem to be a rather compact team, a very solid block with a heavy ass anchor in whomever is put back at goalkeeper. I dont care if thats Friedel, Keller or Howard (in the near future) the US has SOLID Goalkeeping.
Costa Rica I wont go into much detail because I have in the last several threads Ive posted, the key to us is the fact that like the US we are offensively challenged. Last nights game was a killer because of the way the two goals were scored but what the heck, theres nothing that hurts more than shooting yourself in the foot.
In terms of who will win this game, Ill keep to myself for now, I have a good feeling about Costa Rica winning this but I dont know if that will happen before or after the 90 minute mark. If anything Ill again bet a two way line where the tie, pushes. For now however and based on the analysis above, Ill go ahead and make US-Costa Rica under 2.5 my first pick.
Good luck and as always, all comments are appreciated.
This is the way I look at this game. The single most important factor this game has is the fact that Copa America would like to invite the top two teams from this tournament to their next tourney. This is in fact the reason why Brazil was playing in the Gold Cup, though they dont belong to the CONCACAF, they are invited as winners of the last Copa America. Now, I say they "would" be invited because the CONMEBOL (thats South Americas governing soccer body) has made it clear that not everyone is guaranteed a spot. I guess they wouldnt have liked to invite a team like Martinica had they pulled off the miracle of qualifying to the final. Is Costa Rica good enough for them? We will find out if we win this game, is the US good enough? We will find that out too.
Now, ordinarily, any 3rd place game is dealt with in a very careless manner, after all who cares who{s third of fourth.... However, having Brazil advance to the final, only one CONCACAF team (Mexico) has sealed the ticket to the Copa America. The other team would be by the third place team.
Having said that, we know that this game has importance and alot of it. Just that by itself should provide enough stress for the players taking the pitch.
The U.S. is a team that has problems scoring and creating plays as evidenced by the game with Brazil where they were way overplayed and had to be helped by the ref on two Brazil goals to even stay in the game. Yes, I said the US has problems scoring (and now, scoring 5 on Cuba does not count as offensive power, its like the Lakers beating the Nuggets by 4, no not impressive). And no, Im not a US basher, I actually like the US and am just being critical of their offense. The one thing the US has going for them is the fact that they seem to be a rather compact team, a very solid block with a heavy ass anchor in whomever is put back at goalkeeper. I dont care if thats Friedel, Keller or Howard (in the near future) the US has SOLID Goalkeeping.
Costa Rica I wont go into much detail because I have in the last several threads Ive posted, the key to us is the fact that like the US we are offensively challenged. Last nights game was a killer because of the way the two goals were scored but what the heck, theres nothing that hurts more than shooting yourself in the foot.
In terms of who will win this game, Ill keep to myself for now, I have a good feeling about Costa Rica winning this but I dont know if that will happen before or after the 90 minute mark. If anything Ill again bet a two way line where the tie, pushes. For now however and based on the analysis above, Ill go ahead and make US-Costa Rica under 2.5 my first pick.
Good luck and as always, all comments are appreciated.
