In the second game of a doubleheader in Oakland, California on July 5th, Guadeloupe opened their Group C campaign with a 2-1 win over Panama. However, Panama did the majority of attacking and outshot their opponents by a 21 to 8 margin, It was also the most physical game of the Gold Cup so far, with each team earning two yellow cards and a total of 33 fouls.

Loic Loval scored once and set up David Fleurival’s goal in the first half and that was all Panama needed to seal the win and grab the precious three points. Loval opened the scoring in the 33rd minute as Panamanian defender Armando Gun tried to chest the ball back to his keeper Jaime Penedo, but Loval intercepted the back pass and slid the ball into the net from about six yards out.

It was another example of why the back pass to the goalie should only be made as a last resort. Time and time again defenders are just too lazy and unimaginative to do anything else with the ball so they pass it back to their keeper with disastrous results. It’s one of the worst moves in football and it actually looks good on the defender when the ball ends up in the back of the net.

Loval then set up Fleurival for a cracking goal 10 minutes later to double the score at 2-0. Fleurival chipped the ball from about 35 yards out and it sailed over Penedo’s head and into the top right-hand corner of the net.

Panama got back into the game and made it 2-1 when Nelson Barahona scored in the 68th minute. He snagged the rebound after teammate Blas Perez misfired on his bicycle kick. Panama had a number of chances, but Marius Fausta was very steady in goal as he made seven saves for Guadeloupe.

Guadeloupe manager coach Roger Salnot believes his squad might be able to cause some damage in this year’s tournament and stated, “It all comes down to the players showing their talent, showing their qualities. We have the talent.”

Keeper Fausta wouldn’t have normally gotten the chance to show how good a goalie he is, but regular keeper Franck Grandel, who was the top goalie in 2007 Gold Cup, went home to France the day before the game as he’s out with a from a shoulder injury.

Even though Panama outshot Guadeloupe and created quite a few chances, their manager Gary Stempel said it wasn’t good enough. “More than anything, I’m disappointed with the way we played in the first half. In the second half it was a much, much different team. It took us a little time to settle into the game. They settled into the game much quicker than we did, that’s obvious.”

Guadeloupe is in action again on Thursday July 9th as they take on Nicaragua at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, while Panama takes on Mexico in the match right afterwards.

Mexico and Guadeloupe sit on top of the group with three points each. Mexico has a plus two goal difference to Guadeloupe’s plus one. Panama, and Nicaragua are pointless, with Nicaragua last because of goal difference.