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Sports

Sunday July 26, 2009

The usual cast to slug it out for Gold Cup title

NEW YORK: This was the perfect Gold Cup for an outsider to steal. Honduras, perhaps. Or Canada.

Instead, today’s final at the Meadowlands in New Jersey will have that familiar if not comfortable look when the United States and Mexico, by far the most dominant nations in Concacaf, meet for the title.

Neither country sent their best team to the biennial event.

Among the Americans’ unproven players on the international scene, Stuart Holden, Kyle Beckerman and Heath Pearce have performed well after the big boys lost in the Confederations Cup final to Brazil last month.

Mexico are missing some key players, too, and they have been struggling in World Cup qualifying, sitting fourth behind leaders Costa Rica, the Americans and Hondurans. Yet Mexico survived a difficult group stage in the Gold Cup, beat Costa Rica on penalty kicks in the semi-finals, and have every reason to believe they can walk off with the trophy for the fifth time in their sixth trip to the finals.

“The United States are always a very difficult opponent and it will be a challenge for us,” said Guillermo Ochoa, whose penalty-kick save was the difference against Costa Rica. “But we played well (in the semi-finals) and it gives us a lot of confidence for the final.”

Ochoa was a backup when the Americans beat the Mexicans for the 2007 Gold Cup. With Mexico in dire straits in World Cup qualifying, and facing an Aug 12 match in Mexico City against the US – with all of their top players – Ochoa could do some positive for his career and his nation’s chances to make the South Africa 2010 field by beating the hosts.

But winning in the United States has been impossible for El Tri this decade: The Americans have won nine of the 11 games and drawn the others, with some of the games getting downright nasty in one of Concacaf’s most heated rivalries.

“We need to be looking at this final, not the other match,” Mexico coach Javier Aguirre said.

Still, a win on Sunday, even with a vastly different lineup than each side will field at Aztec Stadium next month, would be huge for El Tri.

“I don’t think it sets a tone,” US forward Brian Ching said.

Ching is a rare veteran of international play on this US squad, and wore the captain’s band in the semi-final.

“But on a personal level, we’ve done well against them in the US and you don’t want to be the team that let them win at home.” — AP

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