Canada get their second test of the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup against Guatemala, Group D's surprise leader heading into Saturday night's clash at Shell Energy Stadium.
How to watch and stream
- English: OneSoccer (in Canada), FS1 (in United States)
- Spanish: Univision
When
- Saturday, July 1 | 9:30 pm ET/6:30 pm PT
Where
- Shell Energy Stadium | Houston, Texas
Few would've envisioned Canada (1) trailing Guatemala (3) on points in the lead-up to Saturday's match. But that's where things stand after Les Rouges' surprise 2-2 draw to Guadeloupe, coupled with Los Chapines' 1-0 win over Cuba, in their respective Group D openers.
Luis Fernando Tena's side would all but secure a spot in the knockout stages with a second-straight win, while CanMNT's margins for error are slim if they want to move on and make a serious run toward the July 16 final at California's SoFi Stadium.
While not quite time to panic, the pressure is certainly on Canada to step it up following their disappointing debut. Chief among the areas to address is game/clock management, considering they were seconds away from taking all three points before conceding a last-gasp equalizer in the third minute of second-half stoppage time.
Les Rouges also fell behind early against their lesser-known opponents, another indictment of John Herdman's largely experimental lineup.
But there were positives to take from Tuesday's performance as well, especially the national team debuts of Vancouver Whitecaps FC midfielder Ali Ahmed and Colorado Rapids defender Moïse Bombito. Also earning their first senior caps were Portland Timbers defender Zac McGraw, Columbus Crew striker Jacen Russell-Rowe and defender Dominick Zator, all of whom have at least two more games to make their case to Herdman as Canada look to win their third-ever Gold Cup title.
Guatemala are Group D's early leader thanks to a 1-0 victory over Cuba that came courtesy of Darwin Lom's lone goal. Lom, who also missed a penalty kick, started Tuesday's match at DRV PNK Stadium on the bench, but came on as a forced substitute after Real Salt Lake forward Rubio RubÃn went down in the 11th minute with a right leg injury.
Initial reports suggested RubÃn would have to be dropped from the tournament, but he's now been ruled out just for Saturday's Canada match and is expected to recover in time for Los Chapines' group stage finale against Guadeloupe.
CF Montréal fullback Aaron Herrera went the full 90 minutes versus Cuba and should feature once again for Guatemala, whose best-ever showing at the Gold Cup was their fourth-place finish in the 1996 edition of the tournament.
