Gold Cup Costa Rica wins Group A, Canada second
The CONCACAF Gold Cup 2017, Costa Rica wins Group A, Canada second.
Costa Rica booked a trip to Philadelphia for the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals by beating French Guiana 3-0.
The first ticket officially booked for Wednesday’s CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinal doubleheader at Lincoln Financial Field belongs to Costa Rica. The Ticos clinched the top spot in Group A with a 3-0 win over French Guiana in Friday’s early game. After that, Canada and Honduras played to a scoreless draw that gave Canada its first trip to the Gold Cup knockout rounds since 2009, and qualified Honduras as one of the tournament’s best two third place teams.
The Group A standings finished as follows:
1. Costa Rica, 7 points
2. Canada, 5 points
3. Honduras, 4 points
4. French Guiana, 0 points
Three of Honduras’ four points came via French Guiana’s forfeit because Florent Malouda played against Los Catrachos even though he was ineligible. When it comes to what actually happened on the field, Honduras played all 270 minutes plus stoppage time of the group stage without scoring a single goal. But thanks to Malouda, the Catrachos’ official goal difference (+2) is big enough to secure a place in the quarterfinals. There’s no way that both of the other two third-place finishers could surpass or tie that mark.
It’s very possible that Honduras could play the United States at the Linc if the Americans win Group B. A quartet of Costa Rica, Panama, the U.S. and Honduras would make for an electric atmosphere in South Philadelphia.
We won’t know for sure, though, until all the group stage games are finished Sunday night. The U.S.’ opponent could also be the loser of Sunday’s Jamaica-El Salvador game(6 p.m., Fox Sports 2 and Univision Deportes). Yes, that means there’s a possibility that Union goalkeeper Andre Blake could face Alejandro Bedoya just up the road from Talen Energy Stadium.
Canada, by the way, is headed to Glendale, Ariz., to face the second place team in Group B. That’s probably going to be the Jamaica-El Salvador winner.
Highlights:
Costa Rica 3, French Guiana 0-4′: Ariel Rodríguez got the scoring started early. If you’re a real MLS wonk, you might have heard his name over the years from when he played for Costa Rican powerhouse club Saprissa against American teams in the CONCACAF Champions League. He left Saprissa for Thailand last year, but he still has the same old finishing touch.
79′: You’ve certainly heard the name Rodney Wallace if you follow MLS. The veteran winger is a stalwart for New York City FC and the national team too. He put the finishing touch on a terrific build-up sequence with Marco Ureña of the the San Jose Earthquakes:
83′: David Ramírez put the hammer down, and officially put French Guiana out of the tournament.
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