Tonight it's for all the Concacaf marbles. The US has advanced to the final as expected, while upstart Jamaica knocked off favorite Mexico. This is Jamaica's second straight Gold Cup Final:
"I am getting sick of Jamaica being in the final. You got to have more parity in the tournament."
-- U.S. national team coach Bruce Arena, joking when asked about teams other than the USA and Mexico, winners of 12 of 13 tournaments, having success at the Gold Cup. Jamaica has advanced to the last two finals after beating the USA in 2015 and Mexico in 2017.
For the US the group stage was a bit rocky. Young players proved shaky, the defensive line was porous, but the minnows of the region couldn't take advantage. The US made it out of the group stage and Bruce Arena made six changes to his roster, bringing in grizzled veterans to replace the young guns.
In the Quarters the US outmuscled a scrappy, albeit dirty, El Salvadorian team. The Semifinals showed this US team coming into form with a much more attack-oriented gameplan. This US side was dangerous all night and defeated a good Costa Rican side 2-0.
I'll be honest I didn't watch Jamaica play, so we can skip the run through on them. They do feature several players that should be familiar to MLS fans, however. Jamaica will count on the home team US squad to be overlooking Jamaica:
"I know for sure they are going to be watching tapes of our games, but I suspect they are going to take us lightly, knowing that they are America and they think they are world giants and that's good for us. We want to go into the game as underdogs and prove to the world what we can do."
-- MLS veteran defender Jermaine Taylor, relishing the underdog status Jamaica will take into the Gold Cup final against the USA, which he added has less to offer than Mexico, which fell to the Reggae Boyz, 1-0, in the semifinals. (Jamaica Observer)
Expect this to be a fun, back and forth style match. Which US team will come out? How attack minded will Jamaica be? Will any nipples be tugged, any shoulders be bitten tonight?
Venue: Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA.
Time: 9:30pm
TV: FoxSports1
I'm writing this now because I'll be busy with kids from 5:30 until kickoff, so deal with it.
