So far so good for the United States Men's National soccer team in their quest for a second consecutive Gold Cup trophy. After an undefeated round of Group play, team USA begins the quarterfinals on Saturday with a favorable opponent in Cuba.
The United States finished with the top overall seed in Group A after victories against Honduras (2-1) and Haiti (1-0) saw them clinch the top spot early on. A 1-1 draw with Panama was irrelevant by the time the match took place, but still showed cause for concern as the Stars and Stripes were significantly favored in that match.
After the conclusion of Group play, USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann made three significant changes in the U.S. roster, most notably sending striker Jozy Altidore home and recalling LA Galaxy super sub, Alan Gordon, as well as the "retired" DeMarcus Beasley.
Despite the new arrivals, Klinsmann hopes that team USA will have more cohesiveness on the pitch now that they have been together for two weeks straight.
"Being together for more than two woeeks, hopefully we can get more and more into that phase where we combine better," Klinsmann told the media on Friday. "We're shifting better and doing certain things better that only come with time."
USA gets a relatively easy opponent in Cuba to open up the quarterfinals. Cuba is often considered to be the minnow of the CONCACAF region, and was a surprise to advance to the knockout stages after an early 6-0 loss to Mexico in their opening game.
The team has already seen four players defect since arriving in the United States for the 2015 edition of the Gold Cup and have allowed eight goals, and scored one thus far in the tournament.
"We have a lot of respect for them," Klinsmann said about Cuba. "Obviously we know what they are going through on and off the field, so we have a huge admiration for how they've dealt with everything."
Keller Garcia, Arael Arguellez, Dario Suarez, and Ariel Martinez have all left the team, but Cuban coach Raul Gonzalez won't allow the defections to deter him from the task at hand.
"For us, the most important thing is the players that are here," Gonzalez said. "With this group we will continue."
Klinsmann's move to bring back Beasley to bolster the back four should pay dividends for USA. It will allow Fabian Johnson to shift over to right-back, or to the midfield if need be. John Brooks will miss the match with two yellow cards and we could see Omar Gonzalez start in the back for the United States.
Prediction: 4-0 USA
Betting Favorite: USA – 2.5 goals
Over/Under 3.5 goals
The quarterfinal match will kick off on Saturday, July 18, 2015 at 5:00PM EST from M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, MD. It will air live on Fox and on UniMas in Spanish. It can be live streamed here. If you prefer to watch the game on your mobile device, download the Fox Sports Go app from your app store.
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