The final of the CONCACAF Gold Cup will be played out in Los Angeles on Sunday night as the champions of North America will be crowned when Mexico go up against Panama inside the SoFi Stadium.
Mexico were the favourites to win this tournament before a ball was hit in it and are a win away from justifying that status. Panama were the dark horses who are just one more victory away from elevating themselves right into the elite in CONCACAF.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Viaplay Sports 1 channel. The short build-up to the game begins at 12.30am ahead of a kick off shortly after.
Mexico
Often a team who wins this tournament will go through proceedings unbeaten in the competition but Mexico won’t be able to claim that honour because they have slipped up in their final group match against Qatar. The good thing for ‘El Tri’ is they had already won the group by then so that defeat didn’t matter but in the matches which have had a competitive edge to them on their part, they have looked every inch the tournament winners.
In those other matches, Mexico have conceded just one goal in four games and have dismissed the challenges of Costa Rica and Jamaica in the knockout stages in ruthless fashion. They have mixed excellent quality with solid game management and are a win away from achieving their aim just a few weeks after a nightmare end to their Nations League campaign. Winning this would put them in great shape ahead of the Copa America next summer.
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Panama
Given that USA and Canada chose to utilise their squad depth in this tournament, there always looked an opening for one of the unheralded nations to make it into the final and it is Panama who have taken advantage of the opening and earned their spot in the trophy game. This tournament represented the beginning of a big few years for the nation with a genuine shot at winning this, qualifying for the Copa America next year and then being one of the favourites for qualifying for the World Cup.
Unlike Mexico, were Panama to win this final they would be able to say that they won it having gone through the tournament unbeaten. They kept their unbeaten record throughout their group stage and then ruthlessly battered Qatar in the quarter final before getting the better of USA on a penalty shootout, although they would have been good value for a win had it arrived inside the original 90 minutes. There has been a clinical edge to Panama for the most part in this tournament and they look good for it.
Betting
If you have followed us throughout this tournament then you will be holding a betting slip for Panama to win this final as they were our outright pick before a ball was kicked. They have already landed the place part of the bet so there isn’t really a point in hedging our bets even though they are the outsiders for this final. We’d have to eat up too much of the potential winnings to level things out anyway so I’ll side with the girl I took to the dance once again.
I will go with one bet for this final though which comes in the form of Ismael Diaz to have a shot on target at 5/6. He has come alive in the knockout stages of this competition. The Ecuador based player has almost doubled his international tally for goals in this tournament with the four goals he has scored, and he would have done so had his late goal against USA in the semi-final not been chalked off for a narrow offside. He has had five shots on target in the quarter final and semi-final to add to the shot on target he had in both group matches that he started. Mexico might not be giving up many goals in this tournament but teams have got into their defensive third so the 5/6 on Diaz to have a shot on target looks big.
Tips
Back I.Diaz – Over 0.5 shots on target for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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