Following the historic FIFA window of March 2023, in which the absolute selection de Cuba achieved its return to Level A of the Concacaf Nations League and its direct qualification to the Gold Cup, the island’s soccer and its exponents in the international arena have continued to generate news during the last week.
The most transcendental is, precisely, linked to the maximum national team tournament in our geographical area, which will begin on June 16 in various cities in the United States.
On Thursday, March 30, the governing body for soccer in the area announced the drums that will serve as the basis for the definition of the groups of the Gold Cup 2023. The draw will take place on April 14 at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood , California, where the title of the event will be discussed.
Soccer: Cuba rises in the League of Nations and achieves a direct ticket to the Gold Cup
The sixteen enrolled squads will be divided into four groups, conceived from the ranking of selections in the region. Cuba, which has 11 participations between the Gold Cup and the Concacaf Championship that was held between 1963 and 1989, is located in pot 3; section that it shares with Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua.
Taking into account that the final conformation of the keys will be made by taking one team for each drum, those led by vueltabajero strategist Pablo Elier Sánchez de facto avoid two teams that were in the last octagonal final of Concacaf, as is the case of catrachos and Salvadorans.
The first drum is made up of Mexico, the United States, Costa Rica and Canada, the four big players in the area, who will be the leaders of their respective groups. In pot 2 are the next four best-placed teams in the ranking: Panama, Haiti, Jamaica and Guatemala. Finally, in the fourth they will draw their destination Qatar (guest country for the second consecutive edition) and the three squads that survive the preliminary playoffs, which–a priori–seem to be Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname and Curaçao.
Everything is ready for the 2023 #GoldCup draw!
➡ Teams will be distributed in Pots 1-3 based on the Concacaf Men’s National Team Rankings
➡ 3 Prelims winners and Qatar will be placed in Pot 4
➡ Pot 1 teams will each be seeded into a groupMore ? https://t.co/EMJlaVtAyi pic.twitter.com/Ion2XwjEK4
—Gold Cup (@GoldCup) March 30, 2023
In its return to the Gold Cup after failing to qualify for the 2021 tournament, Cuba could face a group with at least two rivals that were in last year’s World Cup, in case the Qataris fall into their section. His other World Cup opponent will come out of the first pot.
In addition, at the individual level, some Cuban soccer players stood out during the previous week. In Costa Rica, a country that has hosted several of our best exponents in recent times, the national classic was played between Liga Deportiva Alajuelense and Deportivo Saprissa, a match in which the Cuban attacker Luis Paradela had the leading role.
With his goal to open the account in the victory of the purples in rival territory, the pride of Calimete not only scored his second goal of this tournament, but also made the “manudos” the most punished rival of his career. “El Pelón” has scored five times against those from Alajuela during his time in Tico football. Three of those goals were scored by him wearing the Santos de Guápiles jersey, the remaining two under the skin of his current club.
Marcel Hernández will not play for Cuba until conditions improve
But Paradela was not the only Cuban who stood out in the Liga Promérica during the week. Marcel Hernández and Yosel Piedra also had relevant performances with their respective teams.
In the case of the defender from Villa Clara, he scored in the victory of the San Carlos Sports Association over Municipal Grecia last Thursday. Beyond the goal, his performance in that match earned him inclusion in the ideal eleven of the day, a distinction he shared with striker Marcel Hernández, who scored the goal in Club Sport Cartaginés’ victory against Guadalupe.
Both players faced each other last Sunday, in a game that allowed Marcel Hernández’s team —after winning 4-2 at home— to sneak into the qualifying zone. In this match, Hernández converted a maximum penalty into a goal and continued to extend his own record as the top foreign scorer in the history of Costa Rican soccer, a mark that he now holds with a total of 108 perforations.
Another of the Cubans who stood out during the last week in Central American football was striker Maykel Reyes. Despite scoring a goal and an assist, his team, ART Jalapa of Nicaraguan soccer, could not take all three points in their difficult visit to the National Stadium, losing to Managua FC with a score of 3-2.
However, the moment that the striker of the national team is living is still positive. In his last four games —taking club and national team into account— the man from Viñales has dispatched 3 goals and 2 assists.
