Home / Match Previews / 2015 Gold Cup quarterfinal: United States v Cuba preview

2015 Gold Cup quarterfinal: United States v Cuba preview

Kick-off: July 18 @ 5.00 pm EST

Venue: M&T Bank Stadium (Baltimore, Maryland)

Past meetings

USA v Cuba 4-1 (2013 Gold Cup)
Cuba v USA 1-4 (2005 Gold Cup)
USA v Cuba 5-0 (2003 Gold Cup)
Cuba v USA 0-1 (2002 Gold Cup)
USA v Cuba 3-0 (1998 Gold Cup)

United States

Last 5 matches:

Germany v USA 1-2 (International friendly)
USA v Guatemala 4-0 (International friendly)
USA v Honduras 2-1 (2015 Gold Cup)
USA v Haiti 1-0 (2015 Gold Cup)
Panama v USA 1-1 (2015 Gold Cup)

Team News:

USMNT coach Jurgen Klinsmann made three changes to his roster ahead of the quarter-finals, dropping Jozy Altidore (83/27), Greg Garza (9/0) and Alfredo Morales (12/0), and replacing them with DaMarcus Beasley (121/17), Joe Corona (15/2) and Alan Gordon (1/0).

Sources close to the team claim that the return of DaMarcus Beasley to the side had a very positive effect on the dressing room atmosphere, and the veteran full-back is even in line to start against Cuba.

Central defender John Brooks (15/2) is suspended for the clash, with Omar Gonzalez and Ventura Alvarado expected to form the centre-back pairing in his absence.

Players to watch: Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Gyasi Zardes.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Guzan – Johnson, Alvarado, Gonzalez, Beasley – Beckerman, Bradley – Yedlin, Johannsson, Zardes – Dempsey.

Cuba

Last 5 matches:

Curacao v Cuba 0-0 (2018 World Cup qualifier)
Cuba v Curacao 1-1 (2018 World Cup qualifier)
Mexico v Cuba 6-0 (2015 Gold Cup)
Trinidad v Cuba 2-0 (2015 Gold Cup)
Cuba v Guatemala 1-0 (2015 Gold Cup)

Team News:

Cuba long looked like the whipping boys of Group C, but the well-deserved victory over Guatemala saw them clinch surprise qualification to the quarter-finals in spite of all their problems over the past couple of weeks.

Coach Raul Gonzalez Triana has already confirmed that the likes of Keiler Garcia (5/0), Arael Arguellez (1/0), Dario Suarez (2/0) and Arichel Hernandez (7/1) have abandoned the national team, but the latest reports suggest that star midfielder Ariel Martinez (54/11) has left as well.

This means that the boss will only have 18 players available for the game against the United States seeing as he was not in a position to call new footballers to the squad even if he had the opportunity to do so.

Players to watch: Maykel Reyes, Daniel Luis.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): D. Guerra – Vaquero, Diz, Marquez, Napoles – Luis, Clavelo, Cervantes, Gomez, Corrales – Reyes.

United States v Cuba betting odds & tips

*Seeing as USMNT will want to quickly prove they are the better team here, you should know that they are 1.35 (7/20) for a half-time/full-time win.

*USA won the last five meetings between the two sides, scoring 17 and conceding 2 goals, so bear in mind the Yankees are 1.99 (99/100) to win with -3 AH.

*The United States have so far shown the most out of all title contenders and they can be backed at 1.83 (5/6) to lift the 2015 Gold Cup title.

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