đ How we'll Get CONCACAFed during the Gold Cup
Plus a mini-Gold Cup preview!
Welcome to Gold Cup Daily 0.5! If youâre new around here - and literally thousands of you are - the newsletter essentially goes daily during the Gold Cup, Concacafâs continental championship.
I follow the model of the great NBA newsletterer Tom Ziller, with one edition a week free for everyone. The other four (or fiveâŠor sometimes six) are for premium subscribers only. Each day I write a few hundred words with quotes about the most interesting story of the day, then embed highlights from last nightâs matches & set out that dayâs schedule.
I can promise you there is no journalist at more Gold Cup matches, in more news conferences, doing more interviews and paying more attention than I am. The support that allows me to get to those matches comes from readers like you!
I try to be frugal, but itâs not free to get to the host cities, to stay in a hotel, to eat and drink. While I am lucky enough to have some paying assignments from major media companies, a lot of those funds come out of my newsletter budget - again, a budget that is made up of contributions from you, the readers.
Just like always, itâs $5 a month for the entire Gold Cup. After the tournament, my publishing schedule is less intense but still gives lots of extra value to paying customers. Iâll explain more about the NEW newsletter setup after the Gold Cup, but the insider tip is to pay $50 for the year - or to slide me a virtual âbrown envelope of cashâ if youâre feeling really generous.
The parade of Gold Cup Daily "entrĂ©esâ starts tomorrow, but how about a quick preview appetizer?
First off, this is what the schedule looks like!
OK!
Who needs the Gold Cup the most?
The favorites going into the competition remain the three teams that already have won a Gold Cup. Mexico, the reigning champions not only of the Gold Cup but also of the Concacaf Nations League, Canada the 2000 champion that has been resurgent in the last five-ish years, and the United States.
Those three teams are hosting the World Cup next year (you may have heard) and are dealing with the weight of huge expectations within their countries. Everyone wants their team to have the best tournament ever when itâs here on home soil. All three teams have, at times, struggled to look like they will be able to deliver that.
Thatâs certainly where the U.S. is, having lost its last four contests including an embarrassing pair of friendlies that hit a low point after a fourth goal from Switzerland in the first half.
Yet, the U.S. still has the talent to win the Gold Cup even without players like Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah, Weston McKennie, Sergiño Dest, Folarin Balo- you know what? Hold on. DOES the U.S. still have the talent?
We know Mexico does, though weâre not totally sure who the team will work. The Jimenez and Gimenez law firm forward line of Raul and Santi has had matches when it looks unstoppable and others when it looks imminently stoppable. The defensive base formed by center backs Johan VĂĄsquez and Cesar Montes with Edson Alvarez in front of them, however allows Mexico to go through lulls up front. Raul can do it alone. Alexis Vega can try to take control like he did with recent Liga MX champion Toluca. There are many options.
El Tri winning would remove any doubt about the teamâs regional superiority and allow it to dream big about getting to not just a quinto partido at this World Cup but perhaps running even deeper.
Canada is missing more players than it would like but it too has multiple in-form forwards. Without Moise Bombito in the defensive line, however, Jesse Marsch will for the first time need to answer a question all his predecessors have asked far more often: Can my defense hold with these players?
Does Canada need a trophy? Itâs been a long time since they won one. The standard now needs to be to expect silverware. Yet, if the team gets close and falls short, it still can claim progress is being made - and await the full recovery of Bombito, Alphonso Davies and the players taking part in the Club World Cup.
Ultimately, my gut here is that the U.S. is the team with the biggest need. The vibes are the worst, and theyâd have the biggest turnaround. âWeâre the best team in the region WITHOUT all these guys who will join up in 2026?!â Itâs something you can say if you lift a trophy but not under any other circumstance.
Is there a spoiler lurking?
Most of the teams outside North America arrive at the Gold Cup feeling a bit rushed. I checked in on the Dominican Republic squad yesterday, and while theyâre fully focused on Saturdayâs opener against Mexico, they also do have lingering thoughts about qualification.
In the DRâs case, they were frustrated at elimination in the first match of June, falling to Guatemala in Guatemala City. Many eligible players who theyâve long waited on to wear the DR shirt committed but then were unable to play.
In some ways, though, getting that group together and working should help them in the tournament. The DR is not my most likely spoiler, however, stuck with a brutal opener in a tough group that also includes Costa Rica and Suriname.
Instead, I am once again finding my head turned by Curacao.
Talk about a group that has been together for quite some time. The same names who were aiming for the 2022 World Cup are still here. Eloy Room is in goal. The Bacuna brothers provide the creative engine. Kenji GorrĂ©, JĂŒrgen Locadia and Gervane Kastaneer cycle through in attack. Yet, that familiarity seems to be a strength.
While group rivals Honduras and El Salvador left a lot to be desired in the June WCQ matches, Curacao smashed Saint Lucia, then beat Haiti 5-1 in a game that was a dead rubber but saw both teams field strong lineups as Curacao jumped Haiti into Pot 2 for the final round.
Good enough to make noise with a semifinal slot? I wouldnât go that far. The smart play in the Gold Cup is basically always to choose chalk. But when I look at teams who casual fans wouldnât expect to advance but have a great shot to get out of the group, Iâm looking at La Familia Azul.
Elsewhere
For ESPNFC, I provided one thing you MUST know about every team participating in the Gold Cup
On Bleacher Report, five questions for Mauricio Pochettino
Humbled to have been profiled by Soccer America
Correction for the ESPN article, Ravel is not in the Jamaica Gold Cup squad. Was only named for the WCQs.
it is the worse mexican team in decades .