by Gian-Luca
With the enormous break between the group stage and the next round (8 days for Canada and nearly a full week break in play for the whole tourney) there is time to take a look at what transpired during the group stage of the 2009 Gold Cup.
Group A:
The acknowledged "Group of Death" saw Canada come out comfortably as group winners, with two wins and a draw (the latter after they already qualified), for the most successful group stage performance by Canada at this tourney. Surprising? Other fans and members of the media seem to think so but I don't know if the Canadian team is all that surprised. They are full of confidence heading into the quarter-finals.
Costa Rica did just enough to qualify, but it does seem that they have their priorities elsewhere. Still, they brought most of their top team and with qualification on the line failed to beat a Canadian team that had little to play for and had rested 5 starters (and was already missing more top players from its roster than the Ticos to begin with).
El Salvador and Jamaica were both disappointing, particularly Jamaica. I honestly didn't expect much from El Salvador and their performance confirmed my expectations. They seem to run out of gas after the first half against Costa Rica and were lucky to beat them. That their full-squad lost to two non-Hex teams is further proof that the qualifying system in Concacaf is flawed.
Jamaica simply self-destructed. They may have deserved a draw against Canada but they didn't get it. They were outplaying Costa Rica before a stupid challenge brought a deserved red-card late in the first half. Unfortunately being in the group of death meant that the two other 3rd place teams got to beat up on a weak team whereas Jamaica (or even El Salvador for that matter) didn't have that luxury. The group of death lived up to its name (it was the only group that didn't feature any blow-out scorelines - in fact no game was decided by more than one goal - and the only group where every team won at least one game).
Group B:
The US finished in first as expected although they got a surprise scare from Haiti in their final game with Stuart Holden scoring in injury time to prevent a Haitian victory and a 3-way first place tie in total points for Group B. As it is, those two points dropped were only the second time in Gold Cup history the US has done that in the Group stage, having won every other match but one (a draw in 2005 against Costa Rica with both teams already qualified). It has to be said that the US team against Haiti could be considered a "C" team as even the B team starters didn't play with qualification already assured. The US roster keeps changing with players being added and released at an almost dizzying pace (Cherundolo and Parkhurst have apparently gone back to their clubs, joining Feilhaber and Adu in that regard already).
Honduras without many of their own stars won comfortably against Haiti and especially against Grenada - but then everybody beat Grenada comfortably in this group. The Hondurans may be heading into the Quarter-final against Canada fairly confident given that they walloped Grenada 4-0 heading in their last match and haven't lost to Canada in a senior-level competitive match since the 1996 Gold Cup. As for Grenada, their two best players (and by some margin) Joseph and Roberts didn't make it to the tourney for reasons of injury and simply declining, respectively, which doomed a team that had already over-achieved just getting to the tourney. As for Haiti, they are a team that might do anything, and after a disappointing start, two positive results might have them confident enough to believe they can beat Mexico. Its the first time the two teams have played a competitive match at any level since "The Legend of Johnny Placide" match in 2008 Olympic qualifying and it should be fun.
Group C
Guadeloupe continue to prove their worth in this region. They won their first two matches comfortably, scoring the goal of the tourney thus far in the process (another screamer from David Fleurival - who scored on a similar screamer to beat Canada in 2007). They did lose to Mexico in their final group game, but having already qualified had little to play for. They should give Costa Rica quite the battle, although they haven't done themselves any favours with two sending-offs in their last match.
Nicaragua won a moral victory of sorts by holding Mexico to a 2-0 win in their first game, but ran out of steam after that and ended up as the bottom-feeders everyone thought they would be. Like Grenada they didn't score a goal, although only giving up 8 to Grenada's 10 they can at least claim to not finish dead last overall in the tourney.
Panama started slowly but improved with every game. Whether they can continue to improve to pose a challenge to the US remains to be seen. They should also be in a fairly confident mood after popping in 4 goals in their last match and holding Mexico to a draw prior to that. They lost to the US in the Quarter-finals in 2007 and should they do so again, it will probably feel like a kick in the nuts, even moreso than Ricardo Philips' testicles can testify to.
Finally we come to Mexico. What a brilliant bit of coaching genius by Javier Aguirre. Original, innovative and progressive. Understanding how irrelevant he is, and knowing that his team will probably play better without him on the bench, he takes the wise and shrewd decision to kick a Panamanian player in the nuts as he's running down the sidelines with the ball. A shoving match ensues, resulting in Aguirre taking the Panamanian player with him and giving his team a numerical advantage for the last ten minutes of the match. The move nearly paid off in that game, although he was foiled by the Referee only adding 12 minutes of injury time rather than the required amount. And it definitely paid off for the stadium vendors as the Mexican supporters seem to buy food, seemingly including entire plates of tuna casserole and chicken a la king, just to hurl at the Official for giving their team an undeserved man advantage for the last 12 minutes. But the team went on to win their final game without their coach and played their best football of the tourney so far, so everyone was a winner - Mexico, Aguirre, the peanut vendors, and most of all, the game of soccer itself.