Trindad & Tobago vs. Guatemala
2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup
Thursday, July 9 | 7 pm ET | Soldier Field, Chicago, Ill.
TV: Fox Sports 2, UDN in US, Sportsnet World in Canada
The assumption – and a reasonably safe one – is that Mexico will win the group without dropping a point. That means any game that doesn't involved El Tri takes on massive importance since the fight for second and third position in Group C will decide who moves on to the quarterfinals.
Trinidad & Tobago have a whopping 40-place edge in the latest edition of the FIFA rankings, but Guatemala flexed their muscles in the 2014 Copa Centroamericana, falling to Costa Rica in the final as Seattle Sounders midfielder Marco Pappa tore up the field. With Cuba in turmoil, this match could decide who gets Group C's second automatic spot.
BIG PAPPA: There's no debate who Guatemala's best player is at this point. Pappa dropped four goals in four games at last summer's Copa Centroamericana, basically willing his side to the final. Los Chapines need more of that in Group C to have a chance of making the knockout stages.
Should the fact that he hasn't scored for his country since concern Guatemala fans? Maybe, but a return to his old MLS stomping grounds in Chicago should be just the thing to get the 27-year-old going.
LONG LIVE PESCADITO: To call Carlos Ruiz anything but a CONCACAF legend would be disingenuous. His place in history is two-fold. First, there are his goals: He's scored 57 in 118 games for Guatemala, including seven in the Gold Cup. After that, though, there's his personality. You might remember this infamous MLS moment (think Ricardo Clark dropkick), and it seems Ruiz is now clubless after Guatemala City giants Municipal declined to bring him back following contentious negotiations. CCL fans weep -- for now.
LOW EXPECTATIONS FOR T&T: Brian Williams, former national team fullback and current coach of island club United Petrotrin, doesn't have high hopes for the Gold Cup, and he isn't afraid to say it.
“To be honest, my expectation is not all that high for the Trinidad team presently," Williams told Trinidad & Tobago Newsday, "seeing that the situation where our football is in, and I don’t think that the guys, from what I observed, get the right type of preparation to go into the Gold Cup. I’m not all that optimistic.”
Perhaps a trio of MLSers -- Chicago's Joevin Jones, Crew SC's Kevan George and San Jose's Cordell Cato -- can buck those expectations.
