Under maximum pressure to regain the title, Mexico faces Costa Rica on Saturday in the start of the Gold Cup quarterfinals, in which the champion United States will face a revenge-hungry Canada.
In addition to these four teams, representatives of CONCACAF at the last World Cup in Qatar, Panama and the surprising Guatemala will be looking for tickets to the semifinals against the invited Qatar and the powerful Jamaica.
At the AT&T Stadium in Arlington (Texas), Mexico wants to honor history and once again subdue Costa Rica in the highest regional tournament.
El Tri has never lost to the Costa Rican squad in the Gold Cup and came out alive from their five direct elimination matches. The last of these occurred in the 2019 quarterfinals, when Mexico advanced on its way to its last Gold Cup trophy.
Since then, the Aztec squad has lived through a nightmarish cycle from which it needs to wake up in this tournament, where the United States can catch them at the top of the trophy cabinet if they win their eighth title.
Surrounded by the debate over the continuity or replacement of interim coach Jaime Lozano, Mexico won the first two matches of Group B against Honduras (4-0) and Haiti (3-1) but generated doubts when they stumbled in the last match against Qatar (0-1).
“It’s good that it happened to us, we learned and we have to work on this,” qualified Mexican fullback Jesus Gallardo. “Obviously, nobody likes to lose, it hurts us, we wanted to be undefeated in the group stage but Jimmy (Lozano) has given us a lot of confidence.”
Without their leader Keylor Navas, Costa Rica left many more unknowns when they qualified as runners-up in Group C with a 6-4 win over Martinique on the last matchday.
The Tico squad has not been playing great soccer, but in the decisive moment the pupils of Colombian Luis Fernando Suarez showed once again that they cannot be left for dead.
Survivors of their golden generation, such as striker Joel Campbell and defenders Kendall Waston and Francisco Calvo, stepped up and scored goals against Martinique.
Also on Saturday, Panama, leader of Group C with 7 points, will face Qatar at the AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.
Unbeaten and showing a good image on the pitch, the team coached by Spanish-Danish Thomas Christiansen left behind the fiasco of the 2021 edition, eliminated in the group stage, and is now aiming to reach its first semifinals since 2015.
Canada wants revenge against the USA
The other two quarterfinal matches will be played on Sunday at the TQL Stadium in Cincinnati (Ohio).
The United States, competing without Christian Pulisic and the rest of its stars, will try to continue its title defense against Canada, which struggled to advance as group runner-up.
Without star player Alphonso Davies, Canada suffered unforeseen draws against Guadeloupe (2-2) and Guatemala (0-0) and barely sealed their ticket with a 4-2 win over Cuba.
The North American team must improve their performances if they want to avenge their June defeat in the final of the CONCACAF Nations League and fight for their first trophy since the 2000 Gold Cup, the only edition that eluded the United States and Mexico.
Team USA, for its part, also struggled to a 1-1 draw with Jamaica in the opening game but then reacted with thrashings of St. Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago, both by identical 6-0 scores and with hat-tricks by Colombian-American striker Jesús Ferreira.
In the last match, Guatemala will try to confirm itself as the revelation of the tournament when it faces the dangerous Jamaica and its trio of strikers who play in the Premier League: Michail Antonio (West Ham), Leon Bailey (Aston Villa) and Demarai Gray (Everton).
Facing them will be Nicholas Hagen, the best goalkeeper in the group stage with only two goals conceded and 11 saves. Hagen was a key figure in helping Guatemala, coached by Mexico’s Luis Fernando Tena, enjoy its best performance in the group stage by finishing first in Group D.
