Group B at the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup finishes up on Saturday in Cleveland. There are three teams that still have a chance to get to the knockout stage. Panama has a point on Martinique as they meet in the first game, while the leaders from the United States takes on last-place Nicaragua.
Panama vs. Martinique – 4:30 PM ET
Odds: Panama -159, Martinique +477, Draw +267
After drawing 1-1 against the United States in their opener, Panama fought back from a goal down to beat Nicaragua 2-1 in their second game. Ismael Diaz and Gabriel Torres scored in a second-half span immediately after Nicaragua opened the scoring, and now Panama, who have finished second twice in the Gold Cup, has a legitimate chance to top the group. However, Martinique beat Nicaragua 2-0 in their opener before losing 3-2 to the United States. Kevin Parsemain scored twice and now has three goals in the tournament for Martinique, who made a couple mistakes on the back end that really hurt them. They’ve only made it out of the group stage once in their history (they’ve been to the Gold Cup four times in total), but Martinique isn’t backing down in this event and they actually lead the standings for the third-place eams as they have three points to one for Honduras and none for El Salvador, who play Curacao on Thursday night. That would be huge for Martinique, who made it to the quarterfinals in 2002.
These two countries have met just once before as Panama edged Martinique 1-0 in the second game of the group stage.
Nicaragua vs. United States – 7:00 PM ET
Odds: United States -502, Nicaragua +1037, Draw +624
Nicaragua were blanked by Martinique, but they got out to an early lead against Panama before succumbing to a 2-1 loss. Carlos Chavarria scored in the 49th minute, but then Nicaragua allowed the equalizer one minute later and the winner just seven minutes later. With no points, Nicaragua would need a miracle to get into the knockout stage; a lot of things would have to go right, but it’s practically impossible for a team that has qualified for this event four times. Still, they could play the spoilers against the United States, who struggled to a 1-1 draw against Panama and they didn’t look good at all in a 3-2 win over Martinique. Omar Gonzalez opened the scoring in the 54th minute and then Jordan Morris scored 10 minutes later, but then the Americans gave up two scored in eight minutes. Morris’ second of the game in the 76th minute gave the Americans all three points to sit atop the group, but that is only because they’ve scored one more goal than Panama. As well as Martinique are playing, that is a game that the United States (who have won the Gold Cup five times) should have had no problem with and they need a much better performance on Saturday to win the group.
This will be the first meeting for the United States and Nicaragua,
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