Gold Cup 2013: Best Contenders in Each Group

In the midst of World Cup qualifying, the top teams from CONCACAF will battle in the Gold Cup to decide which is the best team in the region.

In its short history, Mexico and the United States have dominated the competition, combining to win all but one of the 11 titles. Canada won the other in 2000.

However, each of the two juggernauts have brought slightly different rosters than usual, bringing a certain amount of intrigue to the tournament. It will certainly give some of the other contenders a chance of pulling off an upset or two.

Here is a look at each group of the competition with a prediction of who will advance to the knockout stage.

Group A (Mexico, Canada, Panama, Martinique)

Mexico has had a busy summer that includes not only World Cup qualifying, but also the Confederations Cup. Unfortunately, it has not seen much success in either event.

That is why it is not necessarily a bad thing that the squad leaves out some of the top talent in favor of younger players ready to prove themselves on the big stage.

Without Giovani dos Santos and Javier Hernandez on the roster, goals might be hard to come by. Then again, Mexico was not scoring much with the talented pair on the pitch, so maybe this new group will do better. 

Interestingly, Canada also brought a younger squad than usual despite seeing limited success with the senior team. There is some talent, but the lack of experience will hurt against better squads like Mexico and Panama.

If the northern team can get a big win as expected against Martinique, it should be able to sneak into the quarterfinals as the third team in this group.

Prediction: 1. Mexico, 2. Panama, 3. Canada, 4. Martinique

Group B (Honduras, El Salvador, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago)

Honduras has been solid, yet unspectacular in World Cup qualifying. However, the team has done enough to prove that it is truly one of the better groups in CONCACAF.

With plenty of talented young players on the roster, it is clearly the best in this group and should be able to advance with ease.

As far as the rest of the group, watch out for Haiti to turn some heads in this competition. The group had two impressive performances in international friendlies in June, losing by one to Spain and drawing 2-2 against Italy.

With newfound confidence coming from strong play against some of the top teams in the world, Haiti should be able to advance to the knockout stage and could even make a deep run in the tournament.

El Salvador should remain near the bottom of the group alongside Trinidad and Tobago unless something dramatic happens.

Predictions: 1. Honduras, 2. Haiti, 3. El Salvador, 4. Trinidad and Tobago

Group C (Costa Rica, United States, Belize, Cuba)

While many teams have a "B" team full of young and inexperienced players, the United States' second squad is as veteran as they come.

Landon Donovan returns after a long absence from the national team and is looking to show that he can still contribute at a high level. Also joining the roster is Oguchi Onyewu, who has plenty to prove as well.

These stars and a few others will be playing for a roster spot in the World Cup, and their efforts should be enough for the squad to dominate the group.

Of course, Costa Rica will provide some trouble after proving that it can hang with the big boys during World Cup qualifying. Not only will this team give the United States trouble in the group stage, the squad is a threat to win it all.

This is not good news for Belize and Cuba, who will have a hard time getting any points in the group stage. With only two third-place teams advancing to the quarterfinals, this might be the odd one out.

Predictions: 1. United States, 2. Costa Rica, 3. Belize, 4. Cuba

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