Each competition day during the Gold Cup I will be providing a round-up of all that is noteworthy and interesting in our wacky little confederation championship.
Below the jump, day 7
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The Results:
Guadeloupe 15-0 Canada
Panama 2-1 USA
Wait, what? Canada won 1-0??? I wouldn’t know it from the reaction. (More in Sober Second Thoughts, part 1 above).
As for the USA result...yeah, didn’t see that coming. And it has made a mess of the group. Panama needs only a draw against Canada to win the group. The Americans are going to need to win and hope for Canada to get a result.
CONCACAF, the tricky guys they are, have arranged it so that even if the US falls to second in the group it still won’t cross over into Mexico’s side of the draw though.
It would be nice to be in a confederation that wasn’t so transparent about its motivations, wouldn’t it?
Performance of the day
Panama – the whole team.
Every aspect of the Gold Cup is set-up to ensure the best possible odds of a USA v Mexico final. That Panama put a bit of doubt in that is brilliant (unless you’re one of the 20 or so per cent of CSN readers that are American. Sorry guys.)
Thanks for the condescending attention! (Mainstream media article of the day)
We’re going a bit outside the box today.
Grab some popcorn and read the game day thread on the BigSoccer US men’s forum.
What about the Canucks? (Canadian news of the day)
Gerry Dobson sums up the despondent feeling of (the real) Canucks* Nation.
What’s on tap for today?
Group A finishes with Cuba and El Salvador up first and Mexico and Costa Rica finishing up.
The best result for Canada would be an unlikely Cuban win or draw. Actually, Canada would almost clinch a quarterfinal place if that were to happen (would only need a draw by USA against Guadeloupe regardless of its result against Panama).
If, as expected, El Salvador wins it will force Canada to get at least a draw against panama to make sure it finishes above the Central Americans. Canada is currently a -1, with El Salvador a -5 so it would seem likely that Canada would finish ahead if both end up on four points.
Or Canada could go through the front door and beat Panama. Crazy, that.
* hockey reference/Vancouver dig