The Mexicans have four titles of the Gold Cup and are the favorites to make it to the final and fight for a title they last won in 2003, against Brazil.
Against Cuba, they have everything in their side, unless they become arrogant.
Although Hugo Sanchez says that he respects all his rivals, before flying to New York he said that Cuba’s level is not up to par and hoped to not get kicked a lot by them. That does not seem to correlate with the fact that Cuba almost eliminated Costa Rica from the last qualifiers.
Cuba sits on the 71st spot on the FIFA rankings, but during the last qualifiers they lost to Costa Rica because of the away goal, and five years ago in the 2002 Gold Cup they lost 1-0 to the US, and tied Korea, whom later eliminated Mexico and, months later, finished 4th on the World Cup.
Cuba hasn’t had many chances to prepare the Gold Cup. They toured Chile and beat a local club, then tied another game and lost two more matches, but some players were praised by the critics. Tomorrow, coach Raul Rodriguez will need to defend the 0-0 with all he’s got if he wants to survive against Mexico.
Mexico, 20th on the FIFA rankings, will face his first real test with a 4-4-2, which will transform into a 3-4-3 when they attack.
The Cubans have mentioned that they will play carelessly since they have nothing to lose, but some Mexican players, including Oswaldo Sanchez, have made a big effort to tell their teammates that they need not be arrogant in order to win this match.
Mexico will play with Oswaldo Sanchez, Salcido, Osorio, Pardo, Guardado, Nery Castillo y Cuauhtemoc Blanco, among others, so the high level of playing is secured.
If they play the way they know how to, Mexico should have no problem getting the three points in order to reach the game against Honduras on Sunday with chances of making it to the next round.
Line ups:
Mexico: Oswaldo Sanchez, Ricardo Osorio, Carlos Salcido, Johnny Magallon, Ramon Morales, Alberto Medina, Pavel Pardo, Gerardo Torrado, Andres Guardado, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Nery Castillo.
Coach: Hugo Sánchez.
Cuba: Odelín Molina, Jaime Colomé, Reysander Fernández, Yenier Márquez, Silvio Miñoso, Gisbel Morales, Enrique Villaurrutia, Reinier Alcántara, Alaín Cervantes, Pedro Adriani, Lester Moré.
Coach: Raúl González.
