Gold Cup Quarters Set + Some Thoughts on 'Em

A week ago Tuesday, I took a stab at predicting the quarterfinals for the Gold Cup. Here's what I came up with:

Costa Rica v. Guatemala
U.S.A. v. Canada
Mexico v. El Salvador
Haiti v. Panama

So, how'd I do? Here's what how things panned out:

Canada v. Guatemala
U.S.A. v. Panama
Honduras v. Guadeloupe
Mexico v. Costa Rica

Obviously, I missed a few, especially when it came to who would face whom. Then again, I got - let's see - six of the eight teams placed...not so hard, I suppose, given only twelve teams in the hat.

Seeing as my first stab at predictions went so swimmingly, I'll just confine myself to some observations. Taking it by bullet points:

- I don't envy Canada the game against Guatemala. Still, I hope our neighbors to the north beat the Central Americans. It's not that I'm nervous about meeting the latter again, so much as I'm not relishing the idea of watching a second U.S. v. Guatemala (which, unless I'm misreading things - again - is what would happen; but semifinal #1 pits the winner of quarterfinals #1 and #2, right?).

- Speaking of, Panama won't be a walk in the park either. But I'm thinking it will be a good game.

- Honduras looks hot, or at least that's one possible reading of the 5-0 drubbing they meted out on Cuba in their final group game. Guadeloupe looked a lot better after the win over Canada than they do after letting a seemingly lackluster Costa Rica into the quarters.

- It's this last detail that makes me think Mexico got the biggest kiss for the quarters.

All right, then. Nothing to do now but peruse some previews and wait for the weekend's action. Good stuff.

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