USA, Panama, Jamaica, and Mexico are all through to the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup semi-finals following last weekend’s results.
Panama, Mexico, and Jamaica were all able to secure clean sheets against Qatar, Costa Rica, and Guatemala, respectively, while USA had a much harder route as they needed to win the penalty shootout to dispatch Canada.
The final four are set, and you can read more about them here in our SBOTOP preview. But for today, we’ll go on a different route, as we will pay homage to the stars of these four nations left standing.
Matt Turner, Ismael Diaz, Demarai Gray, and Edson Alvarez have been key to the success of USA, Panama, Jamaica, and Mexico in this competition, respectively, and here are the reasons why.
Matt Turner, USA
Matt Turner emerged as USA’s hero in this tournament, especially against Canada in the semi-finals.
In what was a wild match that saw four goals being scored late, Turner, who conceded two of them, redeemed himself at the penalty shootout by saving Canada’s two penalty kicks by Steven Vitoria and Liam Fraser to essentially seal the deal for the Stars and Stripes.
Before the quarter-finals, Turner had back-to-back 6-0 clean sheets against Trinidad and Tobago and Saint Kitts and Nevis. He also played decently in their opening 1-1 draw against Jamaica.
Turner has come a long way in his football career. He actually never played in USA’s youth system and went undrafted in the 2015 MLS Draft.
But through sheer perseverance, he eventually won the 2021 MLS GK of the Year, the Nations League and Gold Cup Golden Glove, and the MLS ASG MVP before transferring to Arsenal as their backup goalkeeper.
USA’s repeat bid is only going to get harder from here, so Turner has to continue to step up between the sticks, especially if they face Mexico again in the final, which is very likely according to the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2023 odds.
Ismael Diaz, Panama
Panama are through to the semis, primarily because of Ismael Diaz. The 26-year-old winger made history for his team, becoming the first Panamanian to score a Gold Cup hat-trick, and he did it at a record-breaking time.
Diaz has now scored in back-to-back games for Los Canaleros. He scored his first goal of the tournament in their 2-2 draw against El Salvador last Wednesday, and then he followed it up with a hat-trick in their 4-0 rout over Qatar.
Los Canaleros pushed ahead in the 19th minute when Edgar Yoel Barcenas Herrera headed in a goal. Qatar felt like they had a chance up until the 56th minute, when Ismael Diaz notched three goals in just a span of nine minutes.
Diaz’s first two goals were with Adalberto Carrasquilla. For the first, Carrasquilla found Diaz with a through ball, and the latter only needed one touch to find the back of the net.
Diaz then scored on a rebound following Carrasquilla’s deflected attempt during the 63rd minute before completing his hat-trick two minutes later via another long pass by Jose Fajardo on a counterattack.
Those rapid-fire goals should definitely be included in the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2023 highlights reel.
Demarai Gray, Jamaica
Demarai Gray’s debut tournament run with Jamaica is going according to plan, as he’s been one of their most important players in the Gold Cup.
He is the team’s top scorer currently with two goals, which came in their 4-1 rout of Trinidad and Tobago in the group stage.
Gray made the winning play against Guatemala in the quarter-finals, finding Amari’i Bell with his through ball inside the penalty box for the marginal goal in the 54th minute.
Despite not scoring a goal himself against Guatemala, Gray proved to be a handful, as he created four chances, completed 90-per cent of his passes and two dribbles, and won seven of his 11 individual duels.
The 27-year-old has been linked with a potential exit from Everton this summer, with rival clubs from the Premier League and Saudi Arabia reportedly vying for his signature.
Edson Alvarez, Mexico
Even if he has yet to register a goal in this tournament, Edson Alvarez has proven to be an important cog for Mexico.
The Ajax man has shown his versatility in this tournament. Alvarez primarily operates as a no. 6, but he was mostly deployed as a centre-half given the team’s lack of backline depth.
There are concerns about his health after he sustained a knock against Costa Rica, but Mexican fans can breathe a sigh of relief that Alvarez will play through it.
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