Haiti vs Mexico
As far as this tournament is concerned, this has something of a David versus Goliath feel about it.
After all, Haiti have failed to qualify for the CONCACAF Gold Cup as recently as 2017 while, by contrast, Mexico have been champions a record eight times.
Yet after both enjoyed some early Gold Cup highlights by winning their opening encounters, what’s not to say the Haitians cannot maintain what is a 100 per cent record in the calendar year of 2023 to date.
Talking Points
El Tri came away with a convincing 4-0 victory over Honduras in their opener, while the Haitians won dramatically 2-1 against last year’s World Cup hosts, Qatar, thanks to a last-gasp winner.
That was the start Mexico wanted as they look to go one better than two years ago when they were defeated by the US in a repeat of the 2019 showpiece.
All the expectation is on them and their boss Jaime “Jimmy” Lozano, whose team are strongly fancied by many, especially since the United States and Canada have left key men out of their squads.
Lozano was the coach who gave Mexican football its most recent major achievement when the under-23 team won bronze in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021 due to the Covid pandemic).
During his playing days, he had a great career in Liga MX, playing for teams like the Pumas, Tigres, Morelia, and Cruz Azul, while also starring for the national team.
He never thought that he would become his country’s head coach so soon and has inherited a team supposedly in flux.
However, with a side team led by experienced campaigners Guillermo Ochoa, Luis Romo, Henry Martin, and youngsters like Santiago Gimenez and Edson Alvarez, Lozano could well have enough to lead this team back to the promised land.
El Tri have not lost to a Caribbean opponent in over four years, the last time at the 2017 Gold Cup when Jamaica scored late on to decide a semi-final encounter.
They are also unbeaten in 14 successive group stage games in this competition and were in good form to see off Honduras.
Less than a minute had elapsed when Romo netted the opener, the third-fastest goal in the history of the competition, and quickly added a second before Orbelin Pineda made it 3-0 and Luis Chavez rounded out the scoring as Ochoa recorded up a clean sheet.
As for Les Grenadiers, their victory over Qatar, secured with a late goal in each half, was the first time they had managed to win and overcome a half-time deficit since fighting back from 2-0 down to see off Canada in the 2019 Gold Cup quarter-finals.
They have also conceded the first goal in six of their last seven Gold Cup outings.
In fairness, they have won four of those encounters and scored multiple goals in the six successive matches, while conceding a goal or fewer in their last four fixtures.
Will it be enough to take something off Mexico?
For all their spirit and improvement, I just don’t see it.
History
In 12 meetings, Haiti have only beaten Mexico once.
That was a friendly in April 1971 in Port-au-Prince which they won 3-1.
There have also been three draws, although not since a World Cup qualifier in 1981 when legendary Mexican star Hugo Sanchez netted a late equaliser in Tegucigalpa after Daniel Cadet had opened the scoring.
Since then, they have met twice – both in this tournament – with the Mexicans winning 4-0 and 1-0 respectively.
The first encounter was in the quarter-finals in 2009, a tournament they went onto win, and the second was in a much closer contest in the semi-finals four years ago.
On that occasion, an extra-time Raul Jimenez penalty was all that separated the nations. Again, Mexico went onto be crowned champions.
The Mexicans have triumphed in eight of their clashes, none by as big a winning margin as their very first meeting in a World Cup qualifier in Mexico City in the summer of 1953.
Then, they hit eight without reply, courtesy of hat-tricks from Tomas Balcazar Gonzalez and Pedro ‘Picao’ Arnauda and goals from Gregorio ‘Tepa’ Gomez and Nicolas Tellez.
Betting Tip
At the time of writing, all the SBOTOP Gold Cup betting odds are not yet available but a quick glance at the overall offerings indicates why I cannot see beyond Mexico.
They are priced @ 1.10 to win Group B, compared to Haiti @ 7.00, Qatar @ 26.00 and rank outsiders Honduras @ 51.00.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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