MIAMI, Florida – Several of the teams gearing up for the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup have taken
the field recently to play an international friendly in preparation for their opening match of the
tournament.
Last week, 2021 Gold Cup Prelims side Guadeloupe, who will face Bahamas on July 2, took on a Martinique side that has already qualified for the Gold Cup Group Stage.
The two sides met in Martinique, ending with a 2-1 win for Guadeloupe.
Les Gwada Boys jumped out to an early 2-0 lead through the first 23 minutes. DF and captain Ronan Hauterville opened the scoring with a header off a corner kick in the fifth minute, followed by fellow DF Steve Solvet pouncing on a loose ball to score the second of the night in the 23 rd minute.
Les Matinino would work their way into it and managed to pull a goal back through Johnny Marajo in the 73 rd minute off an assist from Christophe Jougon, cutting the Guadeloupe lead to 2-1.
In the end, the visitors pocketed a victory that should provide a good confidence boost ahead of their Prelims showdown.
Last Saturday at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles, California, Central American rivals El Salvador and Guatemala squared off in a friendly that ended with a share of the spoils, 0-0 the final.
El Salvador, already qualified for the Group Stage, came out the more aggressive of the two sides, but after an initial wave of Salvadoran pressure, Guatemala found their footing and Luis Martinez had a trio of chances to give the Chapines a lead.
The second half saw El Salvador take more control and they were inches from finding a goal when a header struck the crossbar off a corner kick, followed by Gerson Mayen free kick that narrowly missed.
In the end, El Salvador extended their unbeaten run to seven games, while Guatemala registered a clean sheet ahead of their Prelims encounter on Saturday against Guyana.
