🏆 Shock and Panama
PLUS: A look ahead to the USMNT & Canada's QFs + Mexico's problematic pattern
Today in Gold Cup Daily, a glance back at Honduras shocking Panama to make the semifinals, a look ahead to the U.S. and Canada hoping to avoid upset today & the problematic pattern Mexico has fallen into.
Maybe Reinaldo Rueda still has some magic in him.
Since his return to Honduras, the country he led to the 2010 World Cup, the veteran manager looked not only like he couldn’t be taught any new tricks but that he also had forgotten how to perform the old ones.
Honduras slumped through matches, rallying from two goals down to get past Bermuda in Gold Cup qualification, lollygagging to a 1-0 win over the Cayman Islands in World Cup qualification thanks to an own goal and most recently suffering the embarrassing 6-0 defeat to Canada in the first match of the Gold Cup.
Then, out of nowhere, there was Saturday, in which Los Catrachos were able to find a goal from a set piece, their goalkeeper went from horrendous to heroic and things bounced their way.
Honduras is into the semifinal of the Gold Cup for the first time since 2013, snapping a run of five tournaments in which they exited in the quarterfinals or sooner.
Rather than take credit for a magic trick, after the match Rueda highlighted “the psychological and on-field reaction to maybe get over that very difficult moment we had at the start of the tournament and continue on the path toward what we want. This tournament, this game and all the games we played have given us many lessons to keep getting stronger.
“That’s where everything happens, because of the desire of these young Honduras to make up for all those difficult months and years we’ve gone through,” he continued. “This tournament is really going to strengthen the self-esteem … to be able to achieve the big goal.”
There were moments of good fortune. Panama goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera seemed to have stopped a poor penalty from Joseph Rosales only for VAR to find him an inch off the line and the kick be taken again.
But there also was tremendous mental fortitude, as Rueda highlighted, needed to shock Panama.
The penalty conceded just before the halftime break could’ve sent the underdogs into a spiral, thinking about the last time they conceded and how it was followed-up immediately by many more goals.
Instead, goalkeeper Edrick Menjivar delivered a five-save performance, just days after punching the ball into his own net when he came out for a corner kick against Curacao.
A Panama team missing many of its best weapons - and perhaps jinxed by a certain Concacaf writer - still put in a solid performance and now turns … or keeps … its focus on getting to World Cup qualification.
Honduras’ focus is there as well, with anything else it achieves in this tournament a bonus. With this victory, they look to have overcome the psychological hurdles they’ve labored to leap over.
Rueda is confident his squad now can challenge group-favorite Costa Rica in qualification and fend off Haiti and Nicaragua as well.
First, though, the team will prepare for a midweek Gold Cup semifinal against Mexico.
The old magician still has a few tricks up his sleeve.
Avoiding the shock
Honduras’ passage should be another reminder in a tournament that has several for both Canada and the United States - today’s favorites - that nothing is guaranteed.
“Obviously we’re not the favorites, and we perfectly understand that. Look at the betting lines, and Canada is way, way up there,” said Guatemala manager Luis Fernando Tena, perhaps boosting Concacaf’s new gambling partnership with a Mexican sportsbook. “But surprises happen in soccer. We have faith and confidence.”
That said, both underdogs’ task looks a lot tougher now than it did a few days ago.
