Costa Rica is the reigning champion of Central America, having beaten Honduras in penalty kicks in the final of the UNCAF Cup in February.
Key player defender Michael Umaña scored one of Costa Rica's eight penalty kicks in that shootout. He currently plays with the Los Angeles Galaxy in MLS on loan from his Costa Rican club. Last August, he played every minute of Costa Rica's four games in the Athens Olympic tournament, leading his side to the quarterfinals.
Alexandre Guimaraes, who coached the Ticos to the World Cup finals in 2002, has his team in third place in CONCACAF qualifying behind Mexico and the United States.
Costa Rica will be without defender Carlos Castro, who is sick with an intestinal ailment, while other stars, like Paulo Wanchope, are not on the roster.
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After failing to advance past the semifinal round of World Cup qualifying, Canada brings a young roster to the Gold Cup in an attempt to build for 2010.
The majority of coach Frank Yallop's roster comes from the United Soccer Leagues First Division, including several from the defending champion Montreal Impact. Several Europe-based veterans will not be participating.
Kevin McKenna, who played for Hearts in Scotland last year, but signed with Energie Cottbus in Germany in the offseason, will anchor the Canadian defense. Midfielder Jim Brennan is the most capped player on the roster with 39.
Back in 2000, Canada needed to win a coin flip to advance out of the group stage after ties against South Korea and Costa Rica. The Canadians then upset Mexico in overtime in the quarterfinals, beat Trinidad in the semis, then stunned Colombia 2-0 in the final to win the Gold Cup.
Forward Dwayne DeRosario is the key player for Canada.
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Costa Rica form in their WCQ group is 2-1-2 F6 A8. Their last WCQ, they won Guatemala 3-2 at home. Before that lost 3-0 to USA, draw Trinidad 0-0 and win Panama 2-1 last 4 WCQ games. Canada is not involved in any WCQ.
Costa Rica won't have their top scorer Paulo Wanchope and defender Carlos Castro. Wanchope is their source of goals and without him, Costa Rica will not find goals coming easy. Canada will bring a young roaster to the Gold Cup in an attempt to build for 2010. However defender Kevin McKenna and midfielder Jim Brennan will be around to guide the young inexperience players.
Costa Rica can be considered the 3rd best team after USA and Mexico in the North/ Central America and Carribean zone. They won the UNCAF Cup in Feb 05. Even without Wanchope, I'm sure with their experience playing in competitive games in the WCQ group, they should win an inexperience young Canada team that had not played together in a competitive match. Canada even lost to Honduras 2-1 in a friendly in preparation for the Gold Cup.
Canada will be without 4 experience players, those who decided to stay with their respective European outfits....they are: Daniel Imhof, Julián de Guzmán, Mike Klukowski and Tam Nsaliwa....meanwhile Costa Rica will be without: Pablo Cesar Wanchope, Ronald "La Bala" Goméz and Walter Centeno, trust me...the only player i miss out of these three is Goméz, the other two....well, Wanchope is totally out of form and Centeno is just OVER-RATED...!!!!, so if you are able to place a bet on anyone to score from C.R., i'll totally back Bryan Ruiz, this kiddo was pretended by PSV Eindhoven but since he's a bit young (20) could not adjust overseas, but this guy is got the goal touch, watch him...!!!!
cuba are undoubtedly crap but strange results happen in this comp, as was shown last night.
usa without a lot of first teamers, but they'll very likely win. however, cuba will be looking to keep the score down and that +2.5 looks ok for a (very)small bet.
CONCACAF Gold Cup - 7-9th July Matches
