Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
This 2013 Gold Cup has turned out to be more exciting than expected as each game thus far has brought surprises.
From Mexico’s first ever loss to Panama in its history to Martinique’s injury time winner over the 2000 champs Canada, history is continuing to be written.
Tonight, we first saw El Salvador play out an entertaining 2-2 draw against Trinidad &Tobago. Now, we saw a nation that has been hurt with natural disasters play with their hearts on their sleeves against a Hispanic nation who are improving as each game passes, Haiti against Honduras.
Honduras opened the scoring just four minutes in, then struggled to maintain that lead as the Haitians continued to occupy their final third with shot after shot … but none would find the back of the net.
In the second half, their domination continued but still nothing would hit the back of the net. Their expended energy left the susceptible to counters and caused them to slow down when it came to sticking to defenders.
Well, in the 77th minute, they paid the ultimate price.
A cross from the right flank into the middle was grounded straight down the middle past the keeper who somehow saw the ball a bit too late.
The goal was scored after a decent passing sequence that left Haiti struggling for answers. The first goal was scored after a controversial no-call from the ref after a Haitian player was dropped in the midfield — the Honduran kicked him down deliberately but escaped even without a warning.
Now, Honduras sits in first place with three points while Trinidad and El Salvador occupy second and third with a point apiece. Haiti sits in last with zero points but arguably has played the best attacking soccer thus far in that group. At the end of the day, results matter, not how one team played.
The rest of these group games will be intriguing as these four nations still have it all to play for. We can expect a lot of attacking as well as defending since these teams will have learned from their opening matches.
The next games in this group will be played on Friday when Trinidad faces Haiti while Honduras battles El Salvador.
