Gold Cup 2017: Honduras vs Costa Rica Preview

The 2017 Gold Cup kicks off on Friday with Honduras and Costa Rica facing off for control of Group A.

Along with Mexico and the United States, Costa Rica is one of the favorites to win the 2017 Gold Cup. The Central American side has a strong roster with plenty of international experience and star power.

Honduras, a team with underrated talent, stands in the way of Costa Rica in its opening game. Although Los Catrachos have struggled to pick up wins recently, don’t count them out.

In most tournaments, Honduras is a physical competitor, capable of giving any team a hard time. Therefore, fans should expect a close and intense game.

Costa Rica

With players like Bryan Ruiz (Sporting CP) and Joel Campbell (Arsenal), Costa Rica have a lot of firepower. One other key difference maker for Costa Rica is its backline.

Usual starters like Bryan Oviedo (Sunderland), Cristian Gamboa (Celtic) and Michael Umaña (C.S. Cartaginés) will be available. These are players that have a lot of experience playing together.

Opponents like Honduras will have a hard time breaking this backline. As a result, Costa Rica’s goalkeepers will likely have little to do, which is fortunate as starting goalkeeper Keylor Navas will not be available.

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Navas will be taking time off to rest after a long season with Real Madrid. It is also worth mentioning that Esteban Alvarado, the usual backup behind Navas, is not on the roster.

Head coach Óscar Ramírez will have to rely on either Patrick Pemberton (Alajuelense), Leonel Moreira (Herediano) or Danny Carvajal (Albacete) to fulfill the starting goalkeeper role. Ramírez will likely select Pemberton as the starter, as he has the most international experience out of the three.

Outside of the goalkeeping issue, Costa Rica has very few problems. The Ticos should perform well against Honduras and the rest of Group A.

Honduras

Heading into the Gold Cup, Honduras and head coach Jorge Luis Pinto ran into a few problems. First, they lost midfielder Mario Martinez and defender Johnny Palacios to injury. Then, young star Rigoberto Rivas announced he would miss out on the cup to play for Inter Milan in the preseason.

After taking those factors into account, Pinto named his roster for the cup without much controversy.

For the most part, this team is similar to the one Pinto used in recent World Cup qualifiers against Panama and Mexico. With an experienced backline led by Maynor Figueroa (F.C. Dallas) and Brayan Beckeles (Necaxa), Costa Rica may have a hard time finding the back of the net.

This proved to be the case the last two times these teams have played. The most recent game, a World Cup qualifier in March, ended in a 1-1 draw. Honduras’ aggressive and physical style of play has always given Costa Rica some trouble.

Even though Los Catrachos have not won a game in months, they seem to usually do well against Central American opponents like Costa Rica.

It’s also worth mentioning that Honduras has a trio of players from the Houston Dynamo. Midfielder Jorge Claros and strikers Romell Quioto and Alberth Elis are all on the roster.

The trio could use their chemistry to help create scoring opportunities for Honduras. After all, Honduras needs to use whatever they have to score and turn its luck around.

The Central American side has scored five goals in its last five games, but has allowed 14 goals. Fortunately, a bulk of those goals came against non-Central American opponents.

Against a team like Costa Rica, Honduras will have to play well on both sides of the ball to pull out a win. Even a draw won’t be easy.

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Prediction: Costa Rica 2 – 1 Honduras

The 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup kicks off on Friday, July 7th. Costa Rica and Honduras will be facing off at the Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey at 9:30 p.m. ET that night.