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NederlandEl Salvador will look to maintain their advantage atop the Group A standings at the CONCACAF Gold Cup on Wednesday when they face Trinidad and Tobago from Toyota Stadium in Dallas.
La Selecta scored two late goals to blank Guatemala 2-0 in their opener, while the Soca Warriors surprised everyone by drawing with Mexico 0-0.
Match preview
© Reuters
The Soca Warriors have to be pleased with how they began their campaign, holding the defending Gold Cup champions Mexico off the scoreboard for only the fourth time in their history.
While that result must have felt like a win, manager Angus Eve will want his team to provide a little more help to their goalkeeper Marvin Phillip, who was spectacular, stopping all seven shots he faced.
Eve will know that his team dodged a bullet in their opener as they were badly outplayed from the beginning, with Mexico outshooting them 30-4, and his team were only able to muster 17% possession while failing to fire a single shot on target.
That performance should serve as a wake-up call for this team as they get set to face another solid offensive side in El Salvador, and they cannot expect to be on their heels so much once again.
Unbeaten now in their last seven fixtures, they will be feeling good about themselves going into this match against a team they have fared well against in recent history.
It took a long time, but eventually, El Salvador found a breakthrough against Guatemala, who kept the strong Salvadorian attack at bay until the 81st minute.
In the end, the better team won as El Salvador had the bulk of the possession (69%) and outshot the Guatemalans 21-6, but they could not solve goalkeeper Nicholas Hagen for much of the game.
That victory could serve as a good lesson for Hugo Perez and his team, who are likely to play another very defensive team in Trinidad and Tobago, whose confidence has to be sky-high right now.
Maintaining that high energy will be critical for El Salvador moving forward in this tournament, and that is an area that they struggled with in 2019, winning their opening match but coming away with only one point in their final two games and missing the knockout stage.
This team are used to seeing a lot of the ball with over 65% possession in four of their last five matches, but they will need to find more solutions against their opponents on Wednesday, who have only conceded twice in their previous five fixtures.
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Team News
The Soca Warriors' best scoring opportunity in their opener came courtesy of defender Radanfah Abu Bakr, who was inches away from poking home a cross in the second half.
Phillip may need to be just as good if not better against a side with a lot of offensive weapons and who tend to have a lot of the ball, while Columbus Crew striker Kevin Molino came on as a second-half substitute but was relatively ineffective with his team chasing the game throughout the 90 minutes.
Midfielder Alex Roldan made quite the impact in his El Salvador debut as the Seattle Sounders player scored his first international goal, helping his team get off to a good start at this tournament, while substitute Joaquin Rivas got an insurance goal in injury time after coming on the field with less than 10 minutes remaining of normal time.
Goalkeeper Mario Gonzalez only had to make one save as his back four of Bryan Tamacas, Eriq Zavaleta, Ronald Gomez and Alexander Larin were fantastic in defence.
Trinidad and Tobago possible starting lineup:
Phillip; Williams, Abu Bakr, Peters, David, Jones; Telfer, Fortune, Garcia, Arcia; Molino
El Salvador possible starting lineup:
Gonzalez; Tamacas, Zavaleta, Gomez, Larin; I. Portillo, Roldan, Monterroza, Ceren; Rivas, Rugamas
We say: Trinidad and Tobago 0-0 El Salvador
The confidence of Trinidad and Tobago has to be through the roof, going unbeaten in their last seven matches and shutting out arguably the best team in CONCACAF in Mexico, and they will have the belief that they can earn a result against El Salvador, who they have not lost to in their last six games.
El Salvador struggled to find a solution against a team that only got into this tournament by blind luck, and they are coming up against a goalkeeper who is at the top of his game.
