When you have a team that's demolished every opponent in every game of the Gold Cup thus far going up against one who earned a grand total of four points in the group (three of which came against Grenada), one might be forgiven for thinking the quarterfinal match between Mexico and Guatemala is a foregone conclusion. With the players El Tri can field vs. what Guatemala have to offer, it seems unfair to pit them against one another.
Huge Gap Between Mexico And Guatemala - FMF State Of Mind
And that's because it is unfair. Eben Lehmenn of SB Nation's Mexican futbol blog FMF State of Mind agrees. There's an insane gap in quality between the two, especially when it comes to goal scoring, where Manchester United hitman Chicharito leads a prolific Mexican attack while Guatemala counter with... Carlos Ruiz.
The large gap in quality between the two teams is best illustrated by individual scoring numbers. Mexico have four players that have scored multiple goals in this year’s Gold Cup: Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez (5), Aldo De Nigris (2), Giovani Dos Santos (2), and Andres Guardado (2). Guatemala players with multiple goals? That would be zero.
Guatemala will have their hands full and then some trying to contain Chicharito up front, along with the attacking midfield trio of Guardado, Dos Santos, and Pablo Barrera. Those four players have already scored an impressive 10 goals combined in three games. It almost becomes a game of pick your poison for opposing teams. Even when Gold Cup scoring leader Chicharito doesn't find the back of the net, such as against Costa Rica, the team still has more than enough weapons to dominate play in the attacking third.
That’s not even mentioning Mexico’s strong defence vs. Guatemala’s... not so strong defence. All signs are pointing to another massacre in El Tri’s favour. It’ll be very interesting to see what exactly the underdogs do about that.
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