Sometimes, the early rounds of the Concacaf Gold Cup are a bit of a snooze, as the region’s two powerhouse teams, the United States and Mexico, stomp their opponents on the way to the final.
That has not been the case this year, when there have been enough strange incidents and upsets to set up some intriguing knockout games, beginning on Saturday.
The United States or Mexico has won the last seven editions of the Gold Cup, the regional championship of North and Central America and the Caribbean. Despite the rise of Costa Rica, which made the quarterfinals of last year’s World Cup in Brazil, most were predicting another United States-Mexico final in Philadelphia on July 26.