2015 Gold Cup Betting – Trinidad & Tobago vs. Panama

Trinidad & Tobago (+229) vs. Panama (+137, 2.5 o/u), Draw (+190)

A place in the last four will be at stake when Trinidad & Tobago take on Panama in the quarterfinals of the 2015 Gold Cup today at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey (3:30 PM Eastern).

Trinidad & Tobago exceeded all expectations in the Group Stage, finishing atop Group C (ahead of heavily favored Mexico). The “Soca Warriors” picked up seven of a possible nine points thanks to wins over Guatemala (3-1) and Cuba (2-0), and a thrilling draw against Mexico (4-4). Averaging three goals per game, Trinidad are the second-highest scoring team in the tourney (just behind Mexico).

Manager Stephen Hart sees his team’s impressive results as a boon for the country of just 1.3 million people.

“I think it’s important for us to have qualified. No one gave us any chance back home to even [win] a game. That’s what they were saying,” said Hart according to Goal.com. “So, I think it’s important. It’s important for the people, it’s important for the young players at home, it’s important for football”.

Panama, on the other hand, finished third in Group A (behind the United States and Haiti) after drawing all three games, 1-1. The Panamanians haven’t played well, but they showed improvement in their draw against the Americans, even dominating portions of the game. Sloppy play late was the downfall for Panama. The team lead 1-0 in all three Group Stage games, but surrendered an equalizer each time – including dying-minute goals to Haiti and Honduras.

In the head-to-head, Trinidad & Tobago and Panama have split their last four meetings, but they haven’t met at all in the last five years. Panama won the last matchup 3-0 back in 2010.

Panama have the stronger roster, but Trinidad are playing better at the moment, which should make for a fairly even match. In light of the aggressive style T&T have shown in the tournament – and the fact that Panama has both scored and conceded in all three games to date – taking the over (2.5) looks like the best play on the board.

Pick: OVER 2.5 goals.

(Photo credit: hallighuepfer (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)