Mexico, Costa Rica face unexpected quarterfinal test
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. --
Costa Rica and Mexico anticipated this meeting from the moment CONCACAF unveiled the Gold Cup bracket earlier this year. They never expected it to take place at this stage, though.
Their own failures constructed this implausible quarterfinal on Sunday (live, 7:30p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports Go). Costa Rica stumbled through Group B and settled for second place behind Jamaica. Mexico tied Guatemala and threw away a two-goal lead against Trinidad and Tobago to somehow mirror that woeful fate in Group C.
Instead of confronting manageable quarterfinal tasks as group winners, these two nations must wrestle with this difficult assignment. Neither country planned for an exit at this stage. Both of them must confront it now as they meet once more with their Gold Cup dreams hanging in the balance.
It is not just about the present, though. Both managers face considerable pressure to deliver a victory in this match or suffer the potential consequences. The scrutiny in the buildup -- Costa Rica coach Paulo Wanchope batting away questions about his future, Mexico manager Miguel Herrera waving away an ill-timed report about discontent within the team -- reflected the tension in both camps heading into this affair.
“The coach must get results,” Herrera told reporters during a press conference on Saturday. “If they are not there, then the decision will come from there. If you support the coach [and his direction], you think he will do better things to reach the World Cup solidly. Right now, I just think about going to Philadelphia and winning the Gold Cup.”
Mexico can at least point to decent spells over the course of the three Group C matches to take confidence ahead of this decisive affair. Oribe Peralta scored a hat trick in the 6-0 opening victory over Cuba. El Tri smashed four past T&T in the group finale. There were stretches in all three games where Mexico enjoyed dominion over the proceedings and looked the part of a team whirring to life.
If only those moments produced the desired results. Mexico flailed around in possession against Guatemala to squander three certain points. This group followed up that debacle by losing any semblance of defensive shape in the second half when T&T pushed forward on the break.
Those frailties -- the inability to break down compact opposition, the struggles to form a cohesive back three with Héctor Moreno ruled out through injury before the tournament -- did not dissipate in a couple of days. Herrera must accommodate for the injury to Giovani dos Santos (Peralta is expected to return in his place to complete the otherwise unchanged starting XI) and try to coax his side into submitting a comprehensive display. It is not a brief beyond his players, Herrera insists.
“We did 60 minutes of what we thought about and what we planned, and we did it almost perfectly,” Herrera said. “We had 13 corner kicks. We shot more than 20 times toward goal. Then the mistakes arrived from both teams. I see that we have a strong team and we must prove it against Costa Rica.”
The burden extends to the Ticos as well after they failed to impress at any point during group play. Wanchope’s side lacks the firm, well-drilled structure instilled during Jorge Luis Pinto’s regime. The shift from that familiar 5-4-1 formation to a 4-2-3-1 setup removed some of the familiarity treasured last summer and shunted more of the burden on the group to produce going forward. The altered balance never quite worked out as planned with the defensive issues leading to a 2-2 draw against Jamaica and the offensive woes yielding just one goal from two matches against El Salvador and Canada.
Wanchope attempted to spark life into his side by dropping Joel Campbell and José Miguel Cubero for the stalemate against Canada, but he watched his team muddle through against the Canadians anyways. His players must produce at a significantly higher standard to expose El Tri’s vulnerabilities in defense (T&T and Kenwyne Jones ruthlessly exploited the debutant Yasser Corona in the second half on Wednesday) and weather the inevitable onslaught. The back four is in better shape now to cope with those demands (the decision to play Roy Miller at center back in the first two games is still puzzling), but the midfield presents some concerns and the lack of support for captain Bryan Ruiz remains somewhat troublesome.
Those realities reflect the state of a team in transition, but they do not relieve the pressure to produce results, according to Wanchope.
“We need to win the game on [Sunday] to gain confidence,” Wanchope told La Nacion. “We want to win the Gold Cup. Yes, there is tension. There is great concern from many fans and the media, but this is normal at the start of a process. The Gold Cup has never been easy for us. Even though this is true, the people want to see their team scoring goals. The people need to know that that we do understand this. I have spent many years in football. This is not easy, but I hope God wants us to play a better match and move us closer to our objective.”
Only one team can inch closer toward the ultimate goal of securing the trophy in Philadelphia next weekend. Neither side truly envisioned confronting such a stern test at this stage of the proceedings. Both teams can blame their own missteps for creating this awkward scenario. It is now incumbent on them to extricate themselves from it and secure a place in the last four nevertheless.
