By Samindra Kunti in Fort Lauderdale
June 27 – Guatemala sank Cuba with a second-half strike from Darwin Lom to kickstart their Gold Cup marketing campaign in profitable style.
A substitute, Lom’s Forty eighth-minute cool end proved to be the distinction between the 2 Group D sides after a cagey first half. Cuba lived as much as their nickname because the ‘Lions of the Caribbean’ with organised play and staunch defending, however they supplied too little in assault, managing only one try on track.
Backed by a fiercely partisan crowd in Florida, the Guatemalans suffered an early setback with star striker Rubio Mendez, answerable for three targets within the Nations League, limping off within the tenth minute.
They retained the higher hand barely however with out their fundamental marksman alternatives got here at a premium.
Cuba, returning to the Gold Cup after their 2021 visa points, had been watchful and dealt properly with the opening exchanges, even when Alejandro Galindo’s spectacular Twentieth-minute bicycle kick rippled the roof of the web.
The Cubans lurked on the counter however struggled to string collectively a significant assault. As an alternative, they ran up the fouls, 13 within the first half alone. Their opponents didn’t exploit that defensive mindset and Oscar Castellanos’s freekick was Los Chapines’s solely try on track earlier than the pause.
The Cuban defending grew to become more and more determined with last-gasp tackles and lunges and on the stroke of half-time all of that grit was virtually was in useless after the Guatemalans had been awarded a penalty however Raiko Arozarena, the Tampa Bay Rowdies goalkeeper with a small body of 1.81m, touched the ball on to the woodwork, prompting wild celebrations from the Cubans.
With one of many first assaults of the second half, Guatemala broke Cuba’s resolve, the towering Nathaniel Méndez-Laing of Derby County holding off three defenders to help Lom, 1-0.
The match lastly sprang to life, Galindo blasting a half volley over and Mendez meekly driving at objective. On the hour mark, Cuba had their finest sight of objective when substitute Yasniel Matos’s thunderous strike from the sting of the field met Nicholas Hagen’s spectacular save. Trailing, Cuba, nonetheless, mustered little or no within the ultimate third, with no significant possession on Guatemala’s half and gradual transitions. On the different finish, Arozarena demonstrated his agility once more with a fingertip save to forestall Lom’s second.
Ultimately, Guatemala’s victory mirrored the pure order in a match the Central Individuals mastered towards a stable however restricted Cuba. Los Chapines will search to construct on their opening victory towards Canada on Saturday.
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