Gold Cup Opponents

my understanding is mexico will bring a bunch of 2nd line guys...

I suspect colombia will do similarly....

 

I heard rumors that Mexico will not bring the same team as the Confed Cup but won't believe it until I see it. Don't blame them for being burned out though after June WCQs and Confed Cup.

 

its true, Lavolpe wants to see different players, so the squad that will be playing GC its going to be very different. I dont think those guys are going to be pushovers, they are experienced players from good teams, but they have never played together, and against experienced teams, like the US, it may make the difference.

on the other hand, those players want a spot on the team thats going to Germany next year and may give a few surprizes, but dont count on it, it may sound like an excuse to our USNT fans but I dont think Lavolpe consider the GC a priority

 

The Mexican coaching staff has a heck of a job to do turning around and then getting a (new) team ready for the Gold Cup

 

As I outlined in another thread, expect the South African team to be missing quite a few of their best players. They're having difficulting getting European (not that there are many) and several of the domestic players are preferring to stay for preseason with their new club/coach.

They would struggle against the U.S. and Mexico first teams. Against the second-line players both the US and Mex will bring to the GC, I expect they'll still struggle using their second-line players. I base this on my impression that SA are not that deep compared to the U.S. and Mex. who both have played well missing a few players. SA has struggled against weaker teams when missing only a few key players.