| Continental Divisions by Greg Seltzer - June 6, 2007 |
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| The bell rings on the 2007 edition of CONCACAF's title fight Wednesday in Miami with a pair of Group A
clashes, but as usual, most eyes will be on the other two group favorites: Mexico and the United States.
The continental frontrunners are both expecting to win, and you'd find precious few observers to pick a dark horse champion. Apart from Canada's shock 2000 win, one of the two regional powers have won each crown since the 90's began - and you'd have to go back to 1985 to find a final that didn't include either the USMNT or Mexico. Factor in that Trinidad & Tobago will arrive without most of their World Cup 2006 darlings due to player disputes with the federation over bonus money, and predicting anything less than "the usual" is going to pay some long odds. The host Americans will kick off play on Thursday against Guatemala, their most likely top Group B competition. La Azul y Blanco scraped a scoreless draw in Texas recently, and any team with Dwight Pezzarossi and Carlos Ruiz lurking up top has a counter-puncher's chance. El Salvador will try admirably to play tight and create the odd danger to get in position for a quarterfinal place, but T'n'T look to be duds without the likes of Chris Birchall, Stern John, Dennis Lawrence, Brent Sancho and Dwight Yorke. Sparta Rotterdam fast fan favorite Darryl Roberts is the Soca Warrior on the spot for a goal infusion. Let's face it: even another lazy share with Guatemala is unlikely to keep the 'Nats from topping this group. Bob Bradley arrives with practically a top choice midfield, great strength in central defense and goalkeeping to burn. Many of the players will be in midseason form, and the newly-formed central midfield combo of Benny Feilhaber and Michael Bradley looks a real winner. El Tri, meanwhile, come into the competition with perhaps their strongest "on paper" team in years. No longer reticent to move abroad, Mexican stars are excelling in club play on both sides of the Atlantic. All the usual suspects will be present, including Chicago Fire man-to-be Cuauhtémoc Blanco. Hugo Sánchez has targeted the title publicly, and it would be a big story if Mexico didn't also win their pool. Honduras - led by the midfield magic of MLS standouts Ivan Guerrero and Amado Guevara - have not fared well in recent weeks. A 3-1 win over Trinidad & Tobago on Saturday only inspires so much confidence, and an injury to Cagliari star David Suazo arguably has cost the team CONCACAF's best striker. Colorado Rapids forward Roberto Brown and Panama have been very inconsistent in 2007, but they should hope to make the knockouts. Cuba won't have Chivas USA sensation Maykel Galindo to play pressure valve, so expect them to get blasted once or twice and go home. With so many challengers dealt bad cards, the last team to interrupt the championship chain may well be the one with the best chance to crash any all-NAFTA final this time around. New Canada coach Dale Mitchell has two big Gold Cup tasks: make sure his talented approach players tactically blend well behind able target man Rob Friend, while maintaining a sound defensive shape without veteran hands Jim Brennan and Jason de Vos. Costa Rica will surely tussle with the Maple Leaf bunch for Group A honors. The Ticos, however, area team in transition and dealing with a few absences. Walter Centeno and Rolando Fonseca will be in uniform to give the offense a veteran sheen, but national luminaries such as Rónald Gómez, Carlos Hernandez, Douglas Sequeira, Mauricio Solis and Paulo Wanchope will not. A punch-less and disorganized Haiti are my favorite to be the third place team left out of the second round. At least I know enough about their meager attributes to comment - I can only aspire to speak about Guadalupe, who will do well just to go home with a point. When all is said and done, another border battle royale between the USMNT and Mexico seems the safe bet. It will be up to Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras to increase the drama, to prevent the CONCACAF gap from widening. |
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