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Surprising Gold Cup final between USA and Panama. Not so surprising giving the fact that Mexico came here with the reserves, but there still were teams arguably better than Panama, mainly Costa Rica and maybe Honduras. USA is a logical finalist, they have the best squad in the competition and they play at home. There is a big interest for this game in the USA and we will see a sold-out arena with a great atmosphere. Everybody expects the hosts to win, but they have to earn it on the pitch.
Panama didn`t play unbelievable football to reach this final, they just played their game, knew when to push, and took advantage of Mexico`s situation. They are a good team, pretty good tactically, but overall they are not at USA`s level. Not too close either. In the group stages they won against Mexico (2-1), Martinique (1-0) and finished 0-0 with Canada. In the knockout stages Panama beat a 10 men Cuba with 6-1 before outplaying Mexico again, winning in the same fashion as in the group stages (2-1). The visitors have the joint top scorer of the competition, Torres, who has 5 goals and is a main reason for their trip to the final. He`s tied with USA`s Donovan and Wondolowski as top-scorer.
USA was great in this tournament. Great roster, great form, Mexico didn`t care, the tournament is held in USA … they look good. I see no reason why USA will not lift the trophy in convincing fashion tonight. They won all their games (against Belize, Cuba, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras), and only one of those games was close – against Costa Rica, but Klinsmann sent some reserves on the pitch as it was the last group game. Speaking about Klinsmann, he really made a good job with this team. He had a rough start, but now the team is starting to show cohesion. The german implemented a very offensive style, so USA scores a lot of goals. In this tournament they scored 19 goals in 5 games! Donovan was absolutely stunning in the knockout stages, he raised his level, and probably he will be a big difference maker tonight. This man has the experience and quality to perform in the biggest games. A blow for US will be that Klinsmann is suspended for the final. How much could that count? I don`t think it will count, we`ll see.
Probable line-ups for the final:
United States: Rimando, Parkhurst, Goodson, Besler, Beasley, Holden, Beckerman, Corona, J. Torres, Donovan, Wondolowski.
Panama: Penedo, Chen, Parris, R. Torres, Rodriguez, Gomez, Godoy, Sanchez, Quintero, G. Torres, Perez.
Panama will keep this game close, but USA will finally outplay them, and if the hosts are just one goal ahead in the latter stages of the game, Panama will open up and USA can score some more. USA to win with Asian Handicap -1.
Pick: USA (-1 A.H.)
Odds: 1.78 @ Sbobet
Stake: 10
Possible profit: 7.8
Event date: 28 July
