BALTIMORE – This year’s edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup has had its share of twists, turns and surprises.
Far from the typical recipe in previous editions of the tourney – where Mexico and the United States have typically trampled their way into the knockout rounds – this year’s group stage yielded a bumper crop of interesting performances, culminating in Wednesday night’s thrilling 4-4 draw between Trinidad & Tobago and El Tri, which some are calling the wildest match in the tournament’s history.
The US find themselves facing one of the tournament’s more surprising sides on Saturday night, when they’ll welcome upstarts Cuba to M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore for a quarterfinal encounter. For USMNT captain Michael Bradley, the matchup isn’t exactly a surprise.
In the Gold Cup – in CONCACAF in general – anything is possible.
"I say this with total endearment,” Bradley said before training on Friday morning, “It’s ridiculous. Between the travel, the short turnaround between games, the grass being laid over turf, the weather, it’s a huge challenge.
"Again, that’s no excuse, because it’s the same for everybody. It’s not like it’s any different for us than the other teams, so again, I want to be clear in that … You see that every game is a dogfight. Every game is close and hard. It’s exactly what we expected."
The Cubans were eviscerated 6-0 by Mexico in their group opener, then fell 2-0 to Trinidad & Tobago. But Los Leones del Caribe managed to sneak into the knockout round of the tournament via their 1-0 victory over Guatemala, which qualified them as one of the two best third-place sides. Add in the fact that the Cuban roster has suffered from a series of defections and travel issues, and Saturday’s quarterfinal seems like a cakewalk for the USMNT.
But in this region, and in this tournament, anything is possible. On Friday, Bradley’s fellow midfielder Alejandro Bedoya seemed keenly aware of that, as well as other erratic factors in this tournament.
"It’s so unpredictable in general,” said Bedoya. “Teams have all gotten a lot stronger – these nations have all progressed. It’s not just us, or Mexico or Costa Rica anymore, these countries have all gotten better and they’re not as easy to play against as they were maybe in the past. Of course you mix in some bad calls here and there; it’s part of the game. I had one of the clear fouls [committed against me, in the Panama game] that could’ve been a red card, we’ll say orange card. Everybody could see that that was a foul.
"We have to be on our toes, because one bad call goes against us, it’s 1-0 and they bunker and its hard to break them down and there you go. Part of it is a part of the game. The refs are human too, and they make mistakes ... We all make mistakes, but it all makes CONCACAF a little more interesting, I guess."
Whatever the case, Bedoya isn’t counting on the pendulum to swing back in favor of the US as far as officiating goes.
"Eventually, they say it does,” the midfielder concluded. “But we’ll see. I think the calls haven’t been in our favor, so to speak, in terms of the way fouls have been called, or calls our way that could make a difference in the game."
Two CONCACAF teams dominate the Gold Cup: the United States and Mexico. Read our interactive presentation about five matches that helped shaped soccer in the region.
