If the United States knows what is good for it, it will waste little time in dismissing Cuba from the Gold Cup in the quarterfinals of this tournament on Saturday.
ODDS ANALYSIS
Understandably, the Americans are the massive favorites in this match. Cuba was a tremendous surprise of a team to get into the knockout rounds, and the US shouldn't have much problem moving on from here.
The Stars and Stripes are favored by three-goals on the Asian handicap, which of course makes the total significantly higher than usual at 3.5 (over -135). For all intents and purposes, Cuba is lined at something around 0.5 goals in this game at -150 vig on the under.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"You see his quality, his capability to keep the ball, to shield it and make runs and surprise the opponent. Overall, his game was very positive for the fact that he hasn't played in quite some time. We keep him building, give him a rest tomorrow and keep building him going forward." – United States manager Jurgen Klinsmann on Alejandro Bedoya, who played for the first time in two months after suffering a knee injury which kept him out of action
RECENT FORM
The 1-1 draw the United States played against Panama in the third group stage match really wasn't a big deal. The Americans had already procured a spot in the quarterfinals by winning matches against Haiti and Honduras.
None of those matches were all that impressive for the Group A winners though, which is either proof that this isn't a still there for the taking or the rest of CONCACAF is starting to catch up.
Considering the fact that Cuba was beaten by a combined eight goals by Mexico and Trinidad & Tobago in its first two matches, it was a huge stunner to see it get into the knockout rounds.
Maikel Reyes though, made himself a hero in his homeland. The Cubans were playing four men short, mostly via defection from the squad, but Reyes proved to be the difference, making no mistakes in his chance in the 73rd minute to take the three points and the spot in the quarterfinals which went along with it.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
Tactically speaking here, we think that Cuba is actually setup well to cover the three goal spread in this match. A 4-2-3-1 is generally a defensive formation, and that has proven to really frustrate the Americans thus far in this tournament.
The Cubans will likely be able to work some counterattacks, the likes of which the US has been prone to, and that will at least keep the Americans on the back foot for a bit.
Still, in the end, sending home Jozy Altidore and not trying to fit a round peg into a square hole any longer is only going to help out the United States. Clint Dempsey can work up top with just about any of the other American strikers, and it wouldn't be surprising if he ended up working alone with a stacked midfield behind him with Michael Bradley, Bedoya and DeAndre Yedlin perhaps all capable of making big time runs into the area.
The Americans will advance, but the thin Cubans will represent themselves well in Baltimore.
United States 2, Cuba 0
BookMaker has Gold Cup lines for every match of the season. The United States is lined as a -1365 moneyline favorite, while the total is set at 3.5 (over -135). You can make a futures bet and predict the champion, wager on head-to-head matchups or use BookMaker’s live betting feature to gamble while the match is happening.
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