By no means was the United States a dominating team when it kicked off its defense of its Gold Cup title on Tuesday night in Frisco. However, a win as expected over Haiti could win Group A, and it would certainly ensure qualification into the knockout round of this tournament.
ODDS ANALYSIS
The Americans were 1.5-goal favorites over Honduras and were -400 choices of the oddsmakers, so you can bet that they will be laying at least 2.5 goals against Haiti. The Haitians, of course, have nothing to lose whatsoever in a game they were already penciled in to lose before this group started, and if the US plays the way it did against Honduras, anything is possible.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"We weren't at our best tonight. We will keep growing as the tournament goes on. I liked the pressure we continued to pour on after each of our goals. We need more of that now going forward." – United States manager Jurgen Klinsmann following the 2-1 win over Honduras on Tuesday night
RECENT FORM
The Americans were 2-1 winners in their opening match against Honduras, but the sense on the pitch after things were all said and done with was more relief than anything else. There were some good stretches by Jurgen Klinsmann's men, but in no way would you have confused this team for one which was favored by a goal and a half.
The United States was, in fact dominated for much of the match, including after taking a 2-0 lead and coming oh so close time and time again to blowing it.
Duckens Nazon made a bit of history for Haiti on Tuesday night in the opening match of the Gold Cup. He scored the goal which gave his team a crucial point, and it now knows that it will have all to play for in the third and final match against Honduras even if this one is a complete and utter romp as many will expect it to be.
Haiti served itself well in the match though, and it deserved its point even though it was a firm underdog in the game against the 2013 runners up, Panama.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
We expect to see a lot of changes in this match. Klinsmann knows that that Starting XI wasn't good enough against Honduras, and this fixture should give him an opportunity to try some things out. Don't be surprised to see both Mix Diskerud and Alejandro Bedoya inserted into the Starting XI, while Graham Zusi may have done enough in his short time on the pitch late on to warrant a call up to the starting lineup.
Either way, there is a clear class differential in this one. Haiti might have gotten its point against Panama, but any result short of a 4-0 loss would probably be considered a success as well.
Playing with nine at the back was good enough for Honduras to cause the Americans some problems, but the Haitians just aren't as fast and won't be as good on the counterattack. Kervens Belfort Fils is going to be the only man forward for the most part, and that won't be good enough for Haiti.
Look for Clint Dempsey to take more steps towards already locking down the Golden Boot award in the Gold Cup. He'll tally for at least the third, if not for the fourth time in this tournament as well, as the Americans put forth a much better effort in the significantly cooler conditions in Foxboro.
United States 3, Haiti 0
BookMaker will have Gold Cup lines for every match of the tournament. 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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