There was some good news for Canada on Day 1 as the lopsided score lines mean that the team that finishes third in group A is likely to have a bad goal difference. That is good for Canada in case they finish third in group C since in the Gold Cup the top two teams advance and then the 2 best third place teams also make it though. So unless we get a lot more one sided scores then its not looking for great for who ever ends up third in group A, but lets not get to far ahead of ourselves with that since it was only the first day of the tournament.
The games themselves were entertaining affairs unless you are a fan of either of the losing teams in which case they were probably about as much fun as getting a root canal. The tournament opened with Costa Rica taking on Cuba in front of a decent crowd at Cowboys stadium. The crowd was no where near the kinds of record numbers that the new Cowboys Stadium is none for but at least the place was not dead and anyone who stayed to watch both matches were treated to a lot of goals. Costa Rica stole the show in the opener with their 5-0 win over Cuba thanks to getting goals from 4 different sources with
Marcos Urena, a Russian Premier League player, netting a pair. The game was fairly close, on the score sheet at least, through the first 40 minutes but that is when Costa Rica put the game out of reach. A goal just before half was followed up by a shocking 2 goals in the first 2 minutes of the second half to put this one beyond doubt. The 5-0 scoreline in the end was nothing more then Costa Rica deserved as they completely controlled the match and Cuba never even looked like a threat to score while their back line seemed completely outclassed and unable to stop the constant attacks.
The second game of the night was not much different which I sure pleased the largely pro-Mexican crowd that was in attendance. The Mexican fans would have come into the match expecting a comfortable win over the much weaker El Salvador and would probably have been very uncomfortable with their teams first half performance. At the break the match was 0-0 and Mexico was failing to make anything of the number of chances that came their way. The second half was a completely different story though as they found their stride and under the leading of Javier Hernandez, the Manchester United striker, they found their scoring boots. Chicharito scored a hat trick which was capped off with a 93rd minute penalty after Juarez and De Nigris had each scored to give Mexico a 2-0 lead. Again the 5-0 score line was probably a deserved result as the Mexicans completely dominated to run of play firing 20 shots towards the net and constantly threatening the back line of El Salvador.
Things that I will be taking away from the first round of matches is that:
- Costa Rica and Mexico are the two teams almost certainly going to be fighting it out for top spot in group A.
- Mexico are deserving of being labelled as pre-tournament favourites, along with the States, and will be a force to be reckoned with
- Javier Hernandez is going to be a force in this tournament having spent all season causing some of the world's best centre backs problems his pace is just going to be too much for most teams
- We might just be in for a treat this year in terms of the number of goals scored
Day 2 is likely to be a bit less exciting in terms of the number of goals scored but Jamaica-Grenada and Honduras-Guatemala should still be interesting matches. Honduras are probably the team to watch in group B as I would consider them the favourites to win it and the one team in the group that could provide a shock and go far in this tournament.
No comments:
Post a Comment