Gold Cup Favorites
The Gold Cup is getting ready to start and the question always is who will take it this year, Mexico or the USA? Since the beginning of this tournament it has only been dominated by these two teams. These two teams have won a combined 12 out of the 13 tournaments. The only team that was able to break the dominance of USA and Mexico was Canada back in 2000 when they ended up winning the whole thing. Even though the playing field has evened out in the past years USA and Mexico are still the super giants of the CONCACAF. This year could be different though because there has been a team that has been on the rise since the World Cup 2014 and is looking to give the giants a fight. So, for a very long time, there are three favorites to win the Gold Cup.
Mexico
Like stated before, Mexico is always a favorite to win it. Being one of the soccer giants here in the CONCACAF there is no surprise that Mexico is always a favorite. They are the nation with the most gold cups in their trophy room with 7 of them out of the 13 tournaments. So again they are a heavy contender to be champions and claim their 8th gold cup. There is a chance that they could slip though, and that’s because Mexico is taking their B team to the gold cup. Their A team just finished the Confederation Cup a few days ago, and they decided to give them a rest and brought the B team. This may give other teams the chance to pull out an upset, but either way Mexico’s B team is still very good and they will be fighting to win the trophy. Mexico is in group C with Jamaica, El Salvador, and Curacao. They will make their debut on Sunday the 9th against El Salvador at 8 P.M central time.
USA
USA is the other soccer giant in the CONCACAF, and they also have had their fair share of Gold Cup wins, winning 5 out of the 13. This makes them the second most successful team, only being behind Mexico for the most tournament wins. So the expectation for the USA is to come out of the Gold Cup as champions and nothing else, and they definitely are in position to do so. The only problem is that they have to attempt to do this without a lot of their regular stars: stars like Tim Howard, Michael Bradley, and Christian Pulisic. Coach Bruce Arena has also decided to take USA’s B team to the Gold Cup to give some new players a chance to prove themselves. Players like Kellyn Acosta, Gyasi Zardes, Dom Dwyer, and Jordan Morris compose this young squad and will try to win it all to prove to coach Bruce Arena that they deserve a spot on the A team. USA is in group B with Panama, Nicaragua, and Martinique and will be make their debut on Saturday 8th at 3:30 P.M central time against Panama.
Costa Rica
Costa Rica has been on the rise since their surprising run in Brazil's World Cup in 2014 when they won the group they were in that included Italy and Uruguay and made it all the way to the quarter-finals. They are also second place on the qualifiers for World Cup 2018 only behind Mexico, and they are in front of the USA. Making them a very solid team that can surprise the two giants and win the Gold Cup this year. Without their superstar goalkeeper a regular starter for Real Madrid Keylor Navas, Costa Rica has brought their A team. This is another reason to make them favorites, especially because the two giants decided to bring their B teams. They are determined to win the trophy for the first time in Los Ticos history and stop the dominance of Mexico and USA. Costa Rica will be playing in group A with Honduras, Canada, and French Guiana. They will be making their debut on Friday 7th at 8 P.M central time, against Honduras.
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