June 23 – Mexico will headline the first Gold Cup quarter-final double header against tournament guests Saudi Arabia at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Saturday night (June 28).
The USA will top the bill at the U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota, against Costa Rica the following day.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side started strong with 5-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago but subsequently faded against Saudi Arabia and Haiti. However, they have won all three games and only conceded once.
In Costa Rica they will face a considerably more skilled opponent than they have met so far in the tournament. Under Miguel Herrera the Costa Ricans are bringing through a new generation of players and they showed in a 0-0 draw against Mexico in Las Vegas on Sunday night they can compete with the best.
Mexico by their own standards have at times been sloppy, especially in front of goal. Saudi Arabia, shorn of key players who are competing at the Club World Cup, have been improving every game and shown that they have stickability when it comes to final moments of games. Mexico will want their firepower to ignite early.
The qualifiers from groups B and C will be decided tonight.
Canada lead group B on four points and their positive five goal difference should be enough to see them through, but it isn’t guaranteed. That goal advantage came following their thrashing of Honduras 3-0.
The Hondurans rallied to beat El Salvador 2-0 and now face Curaçao who salvaged a draw against Canada in added time to keep their own quarter final hopes alive. Anyone can beat anyone in this group though on form the Canadians were clear favourites in win before they ran out of steam in Houston.
The winners of group B will meet the runners up of group C. Jamaica and Guatemala are tied for second place on three points. Jamaica meet Panama in their final game and know they need to win if they are to qualify – a tough task as the Panamanians have eased through the group to date.
Guatemala know that if Jamaica beat Panama, it will come down to goal difference if they beat bottom group team Guadeloupe who despite not having a point, are no pushover.
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