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Gold Cup Matchday Four (Group A): Match Night Commentary

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Amid a cloud of controversy over five Mexican players being removed from Mexico's Gold Cup team due to failed drug tests, Gold Cup Group A continues to play tonight, with Costa Rica taking on El Salvador and Mexico facing Cuba.

Costa Rica is coming off a 5-0 thrashing of Cuba in its tournament opener, a result made more impressive by the fact it came without star striker Bryan Ruiz, who is expected to play tonight.

Mexico will look to put the drug test distraction in the rearview mirror and clinch a place in the knockout rounds with a win against Cuba tonight.

SBI will be providing commentary on tonight's match so please feel free to follow along here. As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action (Commentary is after the jump):

 

Comments

  1. Thanks Rob. Sometimes when this blog gets into politics, it becomes pretty ridiculous. Political topics are a huge part of the game. I’d just like to see us show some restraint when we get into these discussions, and not make bad jokes about some really sensitive topics that I’m sure a lot of the followers of this blog are very close to. I only know from the perspective of Cuban friends that fled for powerful reasons and have to live with very little contact with the people that they care about most. When I said “the country that they DO LOVE” I wasn’t talking about politics or the regime, but everything else that makes them very proud to be Cuban.

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  2. Unfortunately, baseball players have and still come to the US on makeshift rafts, communism is still in this hemesphier, and people do try to escape it.

    People do risk not only their lives by coming to the US, but also their families lives, as at least in F Castro’s Cuba family members were arrested for the actions of the asylum seekers. I have very good friends that tell me horror stories of Cuba, and they were glad that they and/or their parents made the journey. Not many defectors tend to put Cuba in a good light.

    Now I didn’t read:
    “or just the fact that they’re ashamed to represent their politically backwards country? ha”

    “I think that the Cubanos should have tryouts before the last match to fill the squad. Winers get a free boat ride and all the cigars they care to smoke….”

    Until you posted it, and I agree they are over the top and not necessary.

    Now the US is partially at fault, as we couldn’t keep our noses out of Cuba’s affairs leading to the communist revolution, as we corrupted the county in it’s infancy. Very sad, if we just let Cuba have it’s independence untouched, Cuba may be in a vastly different situation.

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  3. “Can’t believe commies still exist in thie hemishpere.”

    “The baseball players who “play abroad” get their in makeshift rafts under the cover of night.”

    “or just the fact that they’re ashamed to represent their politically backwards country? ha”

    “I think that the Cubanos should have tryouts before the last match to fill the squad. Winers get a free boat ride and all the cigars they care to smoke….”

    Yes, defecting from Cuba is a part of Cuban sports and a part of Cuban life Rob. It is also heartbreaking for those that do defect and for those that they leave behind. To hear people comment and make jokes about this with such blatant disregard for the impact that this has on the lives of the players and their families, is quite offensive to me. The US and our impact on the lives of the Cuban people dating back to before the Spanish American War has not been positive – far, far from it, and has had a serious hand in the terrible conditions that the Cuban people find themselves in today, and that is all that I will say about that. To make jokes about people deciding to leave their families and the country that THEY DO LOVE is ignorant and offensive.

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  4. Please enlighten me as to what is offensive? Unfortunately defecting is part of Cuban sports, soccer included. This is part of the game.

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  5. The history of Cuba and its relationship with the U.S. is far more complicated than you could ever begin to understand, not that you would ever try. The political commentary offered up on this blog would be comical if it weren’t so completely offensive. We should stick to soccer.

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  6. Cubans have been defecting from every sport for a half century. It’s natural result when residents of a poor dictatorship have a chance to escape to a wealthy free society. It probably happens more frequently with soccer because the sport was not favored by Castro, so the players are treated much more like average citizens than boxing or baseball stars.

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  7. I think that the Cubanos should have tryouts before the last match to fill the squad. Winers get a free boat ride and all the cigars they care to smoke….

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  8. Being able to call in Galindo and Alonso would be huge for them. Can’t believe commies still exist in thie hemisphere.

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  9. Why are you assuming that they have players good enough to play in other countries? The team I’m watching right now does not. Second… don’t know if you’ve paid much attention to the last… oh, 60 years of history, but Cuba is a pretty closed society. The baseball players who “play abroad” get their in makeshift rafts under the cover of night.

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  10. El Salvador should be ashamed of themselves for all the second half time-wasting. Worst I’ve ever seen. Happy to see Costa Rica get the draw at the very end. Vamos Ticos

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  11. Costa Rica with a deserved goal at 5+ of the 4:00 stoppage. I hate to see that time wasting/fake injury tactic that El Salvador used. Ugly, boring, and makes your team look pathetic. Good that they got stung. If they would have tried to play it out, they may have won.

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  12. First of all, you might consider that qwerty might not be writing from an American perspective.

    Secondly, I don’t think qwerty is criticizing the Mexican federation – more like CONCACAF for not testing other federations as stringently as the FMF.

    This had nothing to do with the US-Mexico rivalry and throwing cups of piss on US players in the Azteca, my friend, until you brought it up.

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  13. mexico basically ratted themselves out. This make mexico look like the good guy but at the wrong time. Imagine the central american teams where there no such thing as a doping test.

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  14. Does anyone know why the entire Cuban national team is composed of domestic-based players? Do they not let their footballers play outside the country? That would be kind of surprising, but I can’t see how they can’t have ONE player that isn’t playing in a foreign competition. That certainly explains why there’s so many defections …

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  15. Cubans who defect either don’t like where they are from and/or want to be able to make money on their own. Under US law, if a person from Cuba is on US soil they are allowed to seek asylum and stay in country legally. The easiest way to do this is through sports. When a Cuban team (baseball, soccer) plays on US soil, you always get a handful of players that defect to stay in the US.

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  16. excuse the ignorance.. what’s the deal with this “epidemic” of Cuban players defecting?? you guys make it sound like it’s a routine thing. Explain? Issues between players/management?

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  17. Mexico has the best offense, they lost none of there superstars, Ochoa is overrated (coming fromn an America fan), Maza might of been there best defender but there is not much offensive power in the concacaf to worry about.

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  18. The guy was upset about the ban. I actually am pissed that the most stand up guy on the Mex National team, Ochoa, got caught. I respect the hell out of him, and wish him nothing but the best. Hopefully he will be cleared of wrong doing and still make it in Europe.

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  19. Sorry, but nothing can ever justify the act of throwing sh*t or p*ss at someone. Ever. And wouldn’t Landon have to say something along these lines to make that justification legit in the first place? Nice try though.

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  20. Mexico’s 5 missing players arent really key players, exept ochoa because “maza” can be replaced by Marquez and the other 3 are just subs…mexico should still be good in midfield and at foward positions, defense is ok still…cuba should stop “participating” in this tournament, just send Trinidad and tobago or invite someone

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  21. Anytime Mexico does the right thing Americans have to find a problem with it!

    Mexico just can’t win with the gringos…

    And then you wonder why Landon Donovan get’s sh#t thrown at him at Azteca…Jeez!

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  22. Why dont others national teams test there players since concacaf doesnt do there job. mexico basically ratted themselves out. This make mexico look like the good guy but at the wrong time. Imagine the central american teams where there no such thing as a doping test.

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  23. They lose three starter’s and a depleted bench…not sure they were more than co-favorites ot begin with anyway…will be tough to overcome that if they are not allowed ot replace those players

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