Mexsport/Terra

Mexico

The Mexicans, four-time Gold Cup champs and last year's winner, took the lead in Group C on the last day of first round play, defeating Jamaica 1-0.Meanwhile, Colombia - after losing its first two Group A matches to Panama (0-1) and Honduras (1-2) - finally managed a 2-0 win against Trinidad and Tobago to avoid elimination and slip into the next round by the skin of its teeth.

The South American team, coached by Reinaldo Rueda, is playing in this year's competition as a special invitee, and now finds itself in the quarterfinals - along with Jamaica - as one of the two qualifying third place teams from the three groups.

The Reggae Boyz will have their work cut out for them when they go up against the powerful U.S. squad in Foxboro, Massachusetts - near Boston - on Saturday. The Americans have won the Gold Cup twice in its seven editions, and they beat the islanders 1-0 in 1993.

Playing in the other quarterfinals elimination matches will be Honduras and Costa Rica, who will rumble in Foxboro's Gillette Stadium on Saturday, and South Africa and Panama, who will play in Houston's Reliant Stadium on Sunday after the Mexico-Colombia meeting.

Honduras and Costa Rica encountered each other once before in the Gold Cup's 1991 semifinals, with the former emerging victorious 2-0.So far this year, the U.S. squad has turned in the best numbers, garnering seven points with its two wins and a tie, in which it scored six goals to just one by its three rivals.

Bruce Arena's boys ended the first round on top of Group B, easily dominating Cuba 4-1 and Canada 2-0, but battling to a scoreless tie against Costa Rica.

The Costa Ricans also racked up two wins and a tie, but lost out on total goals in the battle for the Group B lead. In addition to tying the Americans, the Central American team beat Canada 1-0 and Cuba 3-1.

Meanwhile, the Canadians - who were the Gold Cup champs in 2000 - were edged out of the quarterfinals competition this year by Colombia on goal differential, despite beating the Cubans 2-1.

In Group A, Honduras also garnered seven points, just like the U.S. and Costa Rican teams, but ended up with four goals in favor and two against in first round play. Wins over Colombia (2-1) and Panama (1-0) were nice, but insufficient overall scoring and a 1-1 tie against what proved to be a rather weak Trinidad and Tobago may not bode well for the squad in the quarterfinals.

The Panamanians wound up in second place in Group A with four points after tying Trinidad and Tobago 2-2, beating Colombia 1-0 and going down to Honduras as mentioned.

The last day of Group C opening round play passed relatively placidly and with a minimum of tension since Mexico, South Africa and Jamaica had already qualified for the quarterfinals, although it had been unclear until the end precisely in what cities and what opponents they would play in the next round.

The 1-1 tie between South Africa and Guatemala left the former in second place in the group, a result that was further confirmed by Mexico's 1-0 victory over Jamaica, which cemented the Mexicans in the top slot.

With their can-do Argentine coach, Ricardo Lavolpe, the Mexicans appear poised to defend the title they won last year against the Brazilians. But, of course, first there is the little matter of the Colombians, who - like the Mexicans - are striving to get into the 2006 World Cup to be played in Germany.