The resumption of the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup begins tomorrow as the United States take on Cuba to open up the knockout stages at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. The Stars and Stripes come in as resounding favorites as they topped Group A despite some subpar performances in their victory over Haiti and draw with Panama.

Meanwhile, Cuba was supposed to be the Group C “whipping boys” but shocked everyone with their 1-0 win over Guatemala thanks to a header by Maikel Reyes with just 17 minutes left. The victory knocked out Guatemala and was just enough to get Cuba through as the second-best third placed team finishing behind Panama on goal differential.

Roster Changes

The Cubans made no roster changes while the Americans made three. The one that really created waves was swapping out Jozy Altidore for Alan Gordon of the Los Angeles Galaxy. In an interview, Jurgen Klinsmann said that Altidore was still nursing a hamstring injury picked up from his time with Toronto FC and claimed he looked unfit. That should really set the alarm off in the Altidore camp from being one of the top scorers of the team to being labelled as unfit and getting replaced for the Gold Cup. The other two changes were Greg Garza leaving for DaMarcus Beasley and Alfredo Morales leaving for Joe Corona.

American Breakdown

By the looks of things, the United States should roll over Cuba. Despite their star power however, their shakiness against the teams they should have beaten gives the Cubans some hope.

In the States’ opener against Honduras, Los Catrachos deployed a five-man back line and used their pace on the counterattack to overwhelm the US midfield. In the other games, it was more that the USMNT played down to the level of their opposition rather than those opponents outplaying the States.

The United States had struggles creating offense, but Clint Dempsey certainly has not had shown any signs of slowing down as the joint top goalscorer of the tournament with three goals with Oribe Peralta. Other than that though, USA has to pick it up or Cuba could shock the world once again.

Cuban Breakdown

Although the Cubans made no “official” changes to their rosters, defections from players on the team and the inability for other players to get to the country has left the team down to 14 men in their final game against Guatemala. The team has been very secretive up to this point so it’s a mystery at this moment in time with how many players they have.

In terms of how to attack the United States, Cuba just has to play smart football yet play like they have nothing to lose, because they don’t have anything to lose, all the pressure is on the United States.

Like Honduras did against the United States, Cuba should try and see if they can get five at the back and then exploit the lack of speed in the midfield for the United States to try and grab a goal. Cuba’s really going to have to push with that tactic or they’ll be in trouble as they don’t have the strength or talent that the United States have.

Prediction

Despite all their struggles, the United States will kick it into another gear for the knockout stages. The lack of players (for now), will come back to haunt Cuba as they’ll find it hard to cope with the United States’ experience and talent.

3-0 United States

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Noel John Alberto
Filipino-American sports journalist from Toms River, NJ. UMBC Graduate and aspiring physical therapist. Tennis editor and multi-sport coordinator for VAVEL USA. Writer for Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Serie A sections of VAVEL UK. Sports aficionado. Host of the On The Line tennis podcast.