Looking at the quarterfinal draw for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, I wonder if there’s a deeper reason why Costa Rica’s finishing was so notably ineffective in the second half of last Friday’s 2-2 draw with Canada?
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The Canucks were playing their usual grind-and-hope Gold Cup style, which ended up serving them well enough to earn top spot in the competition’s toughest grouping.
But all through the second half, the Ticos were creating chances, pumping the ball to open attackers – who wonked the ball all over South Florida, never coming close to scoring the go-ahead goal.
And look where the teams are now. Canada, by earning the draw and clinching the group, gets a tough quarterfinal with Honduras, leading to a semi against almost certainly the United States, who need only breeze by Panama.
Costa Rica, on the other hand, because they did not beat Canada, are playing Guadeloupe for the right to take on the winner of Mexico-Haiti.
With the Mexicans unraveling and self-destructing, that ain’t a bad draw at all. I can’t speak to anyone’s motives, and I sure can’t say CR was playing for no result, but the rewards for not scoring in that second half seem – considerable.
On the other hand, this is the Gold Cup, where past form gets shredded, and no one really knows what’s going to happen next.
If I had to bet, I think the U.S. is looking good to win it all. But if you really pressed me to say who’s actually going to come up aces here, my best answer would probably be “not Haiti.”
Costa Rica won’t have an easy time with Guadeloupe. As an official non-nation under a French flag, the tiny island is free to import journeyman French veterans from all over everywhere. This is a team that – if they ever got the chance – could make Major League Soccer very, very uncomfortable.
But all eyes up here are squarely on Saturday, and Canada’s renewal with hotly hated Honduras. You want a steel-cage soccer game? This rivalry has been headed that way since 2004. It’s huge for Canada, because the impossible road to World Cup qualifying holds three automatic spots for CONCACAF – which routinely go to Mexico, the Americans – and either Costa Rica or Honduras.
In other words, this is a measuring-stick game for Canada.
In recent times, Honduras has proved tougher, craftier and sneakier. Canada can play them even for most of any match, but there’s either that special bit of skill that gets Honduras a very nice goal, or that cold-blooded capacity to theatrically carve crippling calls from compliant CONCACAF refs.
Honduras is that little bit better – and bolder. Gauging the exact size of that gulf has been driving Canadian soccer fans nuts for most of the decade.
Up and down press row most nights, you can find experts who’ll tell you Canada has no chance, and others who think any Honduras game would be a coin toss if the referees called it down the middle.
To me, the truth lies somewhere in between. There’s a special spark that let the Hondurans craft two multi-player, on-the-ground goals against Canada on the shredded, clumping nightmare turf of Montreal’s Stade Saputo last September.
But that night, Dale Mitchell coached Canada like a man trying to bail out a sinking ocean liner while already in the lifeboat. Say what you will about new coach Stephen Hart in the larger global context, but these Canadian players respond to him, and go out there to make things happen.
Comes down to skill, then? Advantage Honduras, honestly. But skill alone never gets it done in this part of the soccer world.
The games are going to get tougher now – chippier. That will put more pressure on the refs. And while they haven’t done badly for the most part this time, this is not a group of officials known for ice-cool calm under boiling pressure.
Mexico is going to hammer Haiti, and the Americans will sail past Panama. After that, though, it’s all up for grabs. Let’s just hope it all gets settled cleanly on the field, with a minimum of diving, and no bar-destroying botch calls from the refs and their assistants.
And if the furious flying Frenchmen of Guadeloupe take down everyone and nab the Gold Cup for their giddy, gleeful selves? Well, at least we won’t have to throw any more effort at trying to figure out what this odd and entertaining little tournament actually means on the larger, global stage.
Canada! What the heck? Canada! Why not?
(Feel free to chant that Saturday. I’m sure you’ll know when.)
Onward!