Earlier in the day Panama trashed four-nil the weakest side in the group to qualify as the second-best third place (odd isn't it?). In the same group the "impressive" (to call it in some way) team from Guadaloupe faced in one of the dullest and less impressive games of the tournament, (again, in the plethora of boredom that CONCACAF can offer) to give both teams the qualification. Mexico improved in some way the dismal and languid displays shown in the two previous matches. Obviously someone in the highest ranks of the FEMEXFUT talked with the players to brake with the difficult tension that the ramble brought. In any case the expected final, yet again, would be between the US team and the Mexican team.
Tournament's quarterfinals ended in the following order:
Canada-Honduras (21.00 GMT)
EE.UU.-Panama (00.00 GMT)
Guadeloupe-Costa Rica (19.00 GMT)
México-Haití (22.00 GMT).
One would have expected the Guadeloupe squad (again it seems that I need a genitive dictionary) to show more heart or at least to contend in what appeared to be the weakest Mexican side in the history of the illustrious and flamboyant Gold Cup. Last time both sides clashed was in the same tournament two years ago, in the semifinals. In that game Pardo gave Mexico a lonesome goal deep in the match. It was expected that the Caribbean team offered at least some degree of resistance as that day but we were left rather with what the Mexican side failed to offer rather than what the Guadeloupeans did.
Instead Mexico initiated the game in a quite cheerful mood; a shot in the first minute by Medina and another by Esquivel in the 12th. The efforts made by the Caribbean side were deployed by Fluerival while for Mexico from Chivas striker Medina. The match went on as daft and numb as any Gold Cup assembly, with the Mexican team showing "the best display" made throughout the tournament. If that can tell you something of the horrid and dreary time I spent watching the futile attempts of Juárez to make a cross you could imagine the rest of the match. The lead, curiously enough, came three minutes before halftime when Torrado controlled another loose ball from Juárez and fired past Fausta to give Mexico the confidence needed to search for the second.
Guadeloupe pressed mainly because the absence of resistance in the first twenty minutes. The effort made by the Mexicans was by far the sparkless and graceless I have seen in ages (wait, the whole tournament if I am not wrong). Fausta denied in some occasions Bravo and Medina, with some bookings and substitutions amongst the highlights. As if it were a cameo of the first half, the second goal came after a corner dully defended by the Caribbeans, by Barrera, who set Sabah to give the "visitors" the safe passage to quarterfinals.
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