We have reached the knockout stages of the CONCACAF Gold Cup with the opening two quarter finals taking place over in America on Saturday night as four teams play with the aiming of securing their spot in the first semi-final of the tournament.
The group stage went as planned which means that we have four of the better teams in the competition going at it across what should be a decent night of football now we have reached the business end of the tournament.
Panama vs Honduras (00.15 – Premier Sports 2)
The first of the two quarter finals taking place in Arizona on Saturday night sees the fancied and improved Panama going up against a Honduras side who will be looking to show that they are still relevant in this part of the world.
Panama went into the competition under a bit of a cloud in that they were without their leading two scorers and arguably their best player and there were questions about how they would cope in that situation. We have been given the answer pretty emphatically as they have looked one of the best teams in the tournament to date. Honduras haven’t looked quite as appealing on the eye but they were in a harder group with Canada in it. The problem for the Hondurans is that when they came up against Canada they were humbled 6-0 and you kind of fear that if they concede early here that they could go the same way because Panama are scoring freely and have the tournament’s top two scorers in their ranks. I’ve been a big fan of Panama ever since they made the final for me in this tournament a couple of years ago and now that we have had those concerns answered I think they are solid enough value at 1.75 in this match. Honduras have a reputation of being defensively strong but that defence hasn’t really lived up to the reputation for a while now and I don’t think it will here either. I like Panama in this opening quarter final.
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Mexico vs Saudi Arabia (03.15 – Premier Sports 2)
The second quarter final of the competition sees Mexico continuing their title defence when they go up against the invited team in the form of Saudi Arabia, who will be looking to lay their own marker down ahead of the World Cup.
Mexico were given a bit of a scare by the Dominican Republic in their opening game of the tournament but since then they have been on cruise control with a win over Suriname and then a goalless draw with Costa Rica which was just playing out time on the group with both already through. Saudi Arabia haven’t really shown anything that suggests that they are going to be the ones to stop Mexico here They edged out a disappointing Haiti in their first match, got beaten narrowly by USA in the second one and were then held by Trinidad and Tobago in their third game and unless there is a pretty dramatic improvement here then they will be heading home after this match. I’ve seen nothing to tell me that Mexico won’t win this match but at the same time I’m not convinced that they are going to do a job on Saudi Arabia here. The heat will still be a factor even with a 7.15pm local time kick off and this tournament is all about winning and moving on for Mexico. I think they will do that here so Mexico to win and under 3.5 goals at even money looks solid enough to me.
Tips
Back Panama to beat Honduras for a 3/10 stake at 1.75 with William Hill
Back them here:
Back Mexico to win and under 3.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betway
