by Gian-Luca
Canada
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Jamaica
We’ll look at Canada more closely in an entry of its own. This group features the only two teams still involved in World Cup Qualifying who are bringing either their full squad or pretty close to it to this tourney. Naturally they both happen to be in Canada’s group, along with an always tough Jamaican team, making this yet another “group of death” (by Concacaf standards) for Canada to get out of. Canada has been placed in what are arguably “groups of death” for the past two World Cup Qualifying tournaments, only to finish last in both. Let’s hope a better fate awaits us this time.
Costa Rica
Must be considered the clear favourite to win the group, if not a favourite to win the whole tourney. They are currently in first place in the final round of World Cup Qualifying and have brought what is basically their top squad to the tourney. The team is led by the seemingly ageless Walter Centeno who will turn 35 in October. He brings plenty of experience (being the most capped “Ticos” player in their history) and provides a solid anchor to the midfield – and plenty of goals, with 19 for his country. There are plenty of goals overall in this squad – strikers Alvaro Saborio and Andy Furtado have 27 goals between them, which is probably more than any other team’s top two strikers have in this edition of the Gold Cup. In the back Harold Wallace, who played against Canada in the 2000, 2003, 2005 and 2007 editions of the Gold Cup, is still there and as you might have guessed by now is the other incredibly experienced player on the Costa Rica team. Its not all about experience however – look out for midfield youngster Celso Borges who plays in Norway and already has 5 goals in just 12 caps, including 3 in the final round of World Cup Qualifying, two of which were game winners.
On paper this team should win the group and contend for the championship. However, despite seemingly indicating a serious intention to win the Gold Cup for the first time by bringing an "A" squad, the Costa Rican coach has been quoted in the Costa Rican press as saying “Suppose we win the Gold Cup. And? We don't win anything because: it doesn't get us to a Copa America, it doesn't get us to a World Cup and there is no Confederations Cup ticket”. There are many ways in which to take this comment – as a ready-made excuse before underperforming, as a way of keeping pressure off the players, or possibly as a sign that the team isn’t as motivated as others might be to win this since they are still involved in qualifying. What it does suggest to me is that if countries in this region want to earn respect of the rest of the world, we need to respect our own competitions first, and the suggesting that being champions of the region is in of itself worthless shows a severe lack of respect.
El Salvador
El Salvador was a major player on the Concacaf scene for a long time, having made their way to two World Cups in a 12 year span in the 1970’s and 1980’s. They fell from the scene in the last 10 years even worse than Canada has, but a controversial victory over Central American rivals Panama (who seemed to have supplanted them in the Central American soccer hierarchy) and an extremely favourable draw in the semi-final stage sees them back into the “Hex” for the first time since 1998, and they have followed that up with their sixth Gold Cup Appearance. They also are taking this competition very seriously – not just because their roster is their top squad (all 18 players from their last World Cup Qualifier are in the 23 man squad) but unlike Costa Rica, they have publicly admitted it instead of claiming the opposite, with one key member stating “We're playing to win, not just because it's an obligation."
The team is led in midfield by Eliseo Quantanilla who has recently returned to play in El Salvador after a spell in Cyrprus. The midfield star and striker Rudis Corrales account for most of the goals on this team with 25 between them. The squad is largely domestic based – only 3 players ply their trade outside of El Salvador, New York Red Bulls Defender Alfredo Pacheco and two recent signings for Club Leon in Mexico, Julio Martinez and Rodolfo Zelaya. The latter is suspended (along with defender Deris Umanzor) for the first two games of the tourney, which apart from hampering their own team, means they won’t face Canada.
The domestic-based nature of this team makes it difficult for someone based in Canada to write about them with any authority – especially as the two countries last met in a Gold Cup Qualifier in 1999 and the entire El Salvadoran team has changed since then (along with most of the Canadian one). But even if you were familiar with the team, it would still be difficult to know what to expect, as anything might happen. For example, their recent Central American Nations Cup semifinal (which acted as qualifiers for the Gold Cup) against Costa Rica had to be abandoned by the officials because the team ended up with just 6 players on the field in the second half, due to 2 expulsions in the first 25 minutes (one to Quintanilla), 3 early substitutions and then three alleged injuries (which resulted in three suspensions mentioned above). The team’s fortunes have improved recently, but they are, like so many Central American teams, far stronger at home (they recently beat Ecuador and Mexico in a World Cup Qualifier there) but won’t have that particular luxury in this tourney. As a team still attempting to qualify while Canada is out, they definitely should be respected by the Canadian team and its fans.
Jamaica
The Jamaicans arrive for their seventh Gold Cup after unluckily being eliminated from the “Group of Death” semi-final World Cup Qualifying round on goal differential to Mexico – and even then only because Mexico was gifted with a draw in Canada due to the Ref’s bizarre decision to reward Gerardo Torrado’s flying elbow into the face of Marcel De Jong with dangerous free kick for Mexico, which they of course scored on. Much of that same Jamaican team is along for the Gold Cup and definitely helps to make this another Group of Death as there are no weak teams here. The main missing player for Jamaica is English born-and-bred striker Marlon King, who is having some legal issues back home in the UK. Otherwise it is basically their first string team, which means that of the four teams in this group, it is actually Canada who will be bringing the most depleted roster.
The Jamaican team bring arguably the most experienced defense in the entire competition – 36 year old Ian Goodison of Tranmere Rovers, 30 year-old Captain Ricardo Gardner of Bolton, 30 Year old Claude Davis of Derby County and 34 year old Tyrone Marshall of Seattle Sounders bring (at the time of writing) a total of 349 caps between them to this tourney. They will be playing in front of keeper Donovan Ricketts of the LA Galaxy who has long been the Jamaican number one. The Jamaican midfield will also be strong – a plethora of Euro-based midfielders in their 20’s – Demar Phillips, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Jermaine Johnson, Jason Morrison, Rodolph Austin, Oneil Thompson – are all quick and skillful on the ball. And up front are prolific strikers Luton Shelton of Valerenga in Norway (at 27 goals is already tied for top Jamaican goal scorer of all time, at just age 23) and Ricardo Fuller of Stoke City in the UK. This is a complete team, very experienced and could be the dark horse of the tournament. They should also be brimming with confidence in their opener against Canada, having drawn 1-1 in Canada and beaten us 3-0 in Jamaica in our two most recent meetings (the latter was against a second-string Canadian team with nothing to play for, but that might not affect the Jamaicans confidence either way).