The United States Men's Soccer team won their group in the Gold Cup and now enter the knockout stages as a favorite team. The quarterfinals are officially set as the team will take on Cuba in the knockout stages. The US enters the game as a heavy favorite, but the players are making it clear they are not overlooking a talented Cuba team.
The US have made it clear they are not thrilled about the events playing out in the Gold Cup. The matchup between Trinidad and Tobega and Mexico saw Joevin Jones get battles and cups thrown at him from the stands displaying the mayhem that hands when five Central American teams went winless. Captain Michael Bradley told the media that the tournament is "ridiculous."
"Between the travel, the short turnaround between games, grass being laid over field turf, the weather-it's a huge challenge," Bradley said, via SI.com. "That's absolutely no excuse because it's the same for everybody. It's not like it's any different for us than it is the other teams. I want to be clear on that. That's no excuse. That's not me complaining. That's just reality. You see every game is a dogfight. Every game is close and hard and it's exactly what we expected."
The traveling has caused the team to use 21 of their 23 players on the roster in order to get everyone proper rest. Bradley and goalkeeper Brad Guzan have started all three games at this point. The US remain the favorites for the tournament simply because of their path to get there. They will play Cuba before facing either Jamaica or Hati in the semifinals.
The US does not want to overlook Cuba, but visa issues have left their five top players unable to compete in the match. They managed to get a goal against Guatemala which was considered an upset, but they are not considered better opponents for the US. Bradley told the media that the team will just continue to push tempo and play sharp. They are 8-1-1 against Cuba all time and the team simply hopes to establish the rhythm it began to develop at the end of group play.