The 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup will be the 14th edition of the Gold Cup organized by CONCACAF. The competition is scheduled to be played between July 7–26 and it will be hosted by United States. 12 teams are qualified for the tournament. The 12 national teams are split into three groups with the top two teams from each group and the two best third-placed teams to qualify for the knock-out stages. Mexico and USA are the teams to follow as the two teams have won 12 of the 13 Gold Cups played. Mexico won in 2015 and have won 3 of the last 4 editions.
Group A: Honduras, Costa Rica, French Guiana, Canada
Group B: United States, Panama, Martinique, Nicaragua
Group C: Mexico, El Salvador, Curacao, Jamaica
The 12 national teams have announced their final 23-players roosters. Team USA have a weak squad that lacks experience with some of their star players missing the list (Christian Pulisic, Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley) and 16 of the 23 players being from MLS. 13 of them have made eight or fewer previous appearances with the national team but they showed good team play winning 2-1 their friendly game against Ghana. This is not going to be Bruce Arena strongest team. He declared that he is going to rest the important players as he gears up for the World Cup qualifiers. USA shouldn’t have any problem to qualify in the quarter-finals but it will be interesting to see whom they will face in the knock-out stages and if they will go further. USA are priced at +170 with green listed Bet365 to win the trophy and performing on their turf with players from their domestic league represents a huge advantage.
Mexico will enter the tournament with their B team, very different from the squad they played in the Confederations Cup in Russia with all the players performing in their domestic league. Mexico\’s attack took a big hit in the friendly game against Paraguay with their main firepower, Chivas Guadalajara’s Alan Pulido suffering a fractured arm, an injury that would stop him from playing in the Gold Cup. Mexico are priced at +130 with William Hill to win the competition but they are missing a lot of their important players so we will skip this bet.
If we look at the players names and experience, Costa Rica have the best squad with Bryan Ruiz (Sporting Lisbon), Bryan Oviedo (Sunderland), Joel Campbell (Arsenal) or Christian Gamboa (Celtic) but they will still be without their star player Keylor Navas from Real Madrid. Costa Rica should easily arrive in the semi-finals, they have a trouble-free group and they should qualify in the knock-out stages from the 1st place. There is too much quality and still on this squad to not win their group. Costa Rica are priced at +700 with Betfair to win the trophy. We should give them a chance and place a small stake bet because the odds are fantastic.
Panama currently sit 4th out of six in the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying and should prove the toughest opponent for team USA in group B. Panama beat the U.S. in the previous edition of the Gold Cup and they will surely exit the group stage also this time with big chances to make it to the semi-finals. Jamaica’s Reggae Boys have an athletic squad with interesting players having plenty of speed and big potential. They will fight with Curacao for a second place finish but we expect them to be eliminated in the quarter finals. Gold Cup proves to be a great tournament for the young players to get some international experience s and teams like Martinique, Nicaragua or French Guyana will try to put their best effort and play their chance.
Best pick:
Costa Rica to win the trophy at +700 with Betfair
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