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Description
This is series 30: A preview of the groups, teams and players of the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
This episode is part 2 of the players mediacast. We reveal the final squad selection and compare it to the list of candidates that we created in part 1.
We also try to predict the starting players.
Time Stamps
Musical Intro – 0:00
Spoken Intro – 0:29
Section 1: Team Information – 2:26
Section 2: Selection of candidates – 8:38
– Manager – 8:42
– Goalkeepers – 8:55
– Defenders – 12:11
– Defensive and Central Midfielders – 23:55
– Attacking Midfielders – 30:36
– Forwards – 45:46
Section 3: Concluding matters – 51:48
– Review of selection and predicted starter – 52:18
– Surprises in the roster – 1:02:39
– Injuries – 1:04:39
Outro – 1:07:18
it’s the International Soccer Preview we are Soccer Files Canada welcome to series 30 looking at the players of the 2025 Gold Cup this episode is looking at the players of Guatemala part two the selection here we go hello and welcome to the international soccer preview by soccer Canada i’m Kevin and this is series 30 on the players of the 2025 Conquer Calf Gold Cup this episode is the second part of our coverage of Guatemala’s players the final roster is released and we are looking at the selections in part one we compiled a list of players and their likelihood of reaching the final squad uh that was based mostly on their participation since the 2023 Gold Cup uh but we did consider a few other factors as well and for the main players we also gave some uh career and biographical information there in part one uh in part two here our focus is the final squad uh this media cast is divided into three sections in section one we give some preliminary information uh on the team we repeat some of what we said in part one uh but more quickly uh we want to create a narrative for the position uh for the position summaries that we give in sector in section two so uh the information in section one provides a framework for that section two though is the main part of the media cast we review the list that we compiled in part one uh we’re going to tell you who made the final squad and the preliminary squad and we’re also going to try to predict the starters so to do that we examine each position and tell the story of who has played in the role since the last Gold Cup and we also look at the lineups for the warm-up games to see if they give any clues uh any further clues as to who will start and in section three we will start with our spotlight review that is a very quick summary of the players who made the squad and our predicted starters and then we will review surprise selections and non- selections as well as any new players and finally we will update on injuries so let’s jump right into uh section one and some information on the team so the uh squad is uh 26 players and uh they’re allowed to bring 26 players to the cup and uh they put out a 60-man preliminary squad guatemala and most other teams and so uh 34 sad faces had to be told that they’re uh not selected for the final squad that’s more than the players on the squad so wouldn’t like to be the manager giving out that news uh okay so that is the squad uh for games as I said we looked uh closely in part one uh at the games over the period we’re going to review that here in section two uh of the previous media cast we looked also at the managerial situation over the period so we’re going to combine those two here because again it sets up a framework for the position summaries in part two and we’re going to take a quick look at more at the uh formations used over the period because that’ll help as well but uh in general we’re going to go a lot faster than part one well the manager situation is very straightforward uh in uh for Guatemala it’s Lewis Fernando Tena he has been there since 2021 his contract goes until December 2025 so he has led them through this uh whole period uh but our uh concerns start with the 2023 Gold Cup uh in June of 2023 that’s four games for uh um uh Guatemala there they reached the uh the quarterfinals um in September they had one friendly uh before kind of launching into their conquer calf business that was in September 2023 and the conquer business was the nation’s league group stage for the 2023 24 season so that was four games in September and October uh they didn’t reach the quarterfinals there in November so had no kind of conquer calf business uh over the winter uh but they did play five friendly matches uh between November 2023 and May of 2024 uh the next conquer business was World Cup 2026 qualifying uh that was in June of 2024 conquer began uh round two of three actually round one was just a a couple of preliminary games uh round two in June of 2024 and the first two games played there the last two games played in June of 2025 so they are going to act as our warm-up games uh here uh Guatemala also played three friendlies between June and September of 2024 while other teams were uh the top teams were kind of playing in the uh Copa America there uh and then in in September and October 2025 we get the 202425 uh Nations League group stage uh sorry I think I made a mistake there somewhere it it was in September and October 2024 again uh they didn’t reach the quarterfinals so had no uh uh uh kind of official games to play in November uh they did play a friendly at the beginning of March of 2025 and they did have a conquer calf business in March 2025 that was gold cup qualifying uh playoff games uh two games there in March of 2025 that’s what earned them passage to this cup so that is uh uh uh the games that we’re kind of looking at uh in this period let’s take a look at the formations so uh 26 games there and uh the formation that they used the most was the 4231 uh formation they used that in uh 15 of the 26 games or 58% and they used a 442 formation in five games or 19% of games uh in the other six games they uh used a different formation every time we won’t get into those details uh what we will do is kind of analyze and summarize here so uh Guatemala used a twoman central defense in uh 88% of their game so uh as we’re going through section two think in terms of a fourman uh defense that’s two central defenders a left back and a right back uh uh again in 88% of their games uh in 12% of their games they did use uh a three-man central defense there that’s where the left and right backs push up to become wingers all right and in 75% of the games it is a single forward and in 25% of games it’s a twoman forward line so generally it’s a a single forward so again I would kind of keep the 4231 formation in mind uh for Guatemala uh and you’ll be pretty good to go with that let’s look at their uh warm-up games here so they did have a friendly uh as Guatemala often seems to do that was with El Salvador played in the USA and that was on May 31st and then they had their two uh World Cup qualifying matches uh the first of those on June 6th where they beat uh Dominican Republic 4-2 at home and uh again on June 10th uh where they played Jamaica away so both teams uh there uh both of their opponents in this gold cup they lost to Jamaica uh 3-0 we’re not really interested in the results though uh we’re interested in the lineups and what information they uh give us uh in being able to predict the starters uh in this cup all right uh we go into section two the candidates and uh again the manager we’ll just consider him as having been selected uh for the final squad uh once again that is Lewis Fernando Tena and um he will be leading them through this cup let’s go on to goalkeepers we had no definite candidates here but three likely candidates the first was Nicholas Hagen he was selected for the final squad the second was Freddy Perez he only made the preliminary squad there so that was a bit of a surprise uh the third one Kenderson Navaro also h made the preliminary squad so teams usually bring three keepers who’s the next one does he come from among our possible candidates well he is not our first candidate Kevin Mscoko only making the preliminary squad there it is lewis Morand uh has no uh cup experience and came back after a five and a half year absence during this uh period uh Lewis Moran um selected for the final squad we also had two players seemingly off the squad Ricardo Jirez and Jordi Cuente jerez was a starter uh in the past but uh was not selected even for the preliminary squad here and uh Gordi uh sorry Jordi Cuentes also not selected for the preliminary squad let’s go back and look at how this position played out over the period and uh we have Nicholas Hagen playing all important games up until the last two games where he broke his finger so uh Freddy Freddy Perez had played a couple of friendlies early on in the period and um Kevin Muskoko also uh uh also played two games um Perez uh returned from a year-long absence to play the friendly in March of 2025 and was all all but confirmed as a backup keeper uh when he uh replaced injured Hagen for the March 2025 Gold Cup qualifying games uh Hagen had had a broken finger for those March 2025 games uh that problem was cleared up we talked about it in injuries in part one but he was back playing in late April so uh we consider well what did we think after uh uh what did we think after uh uh part one we thought Nicholas Ham was the definite starter having recovered from his injuries and then we thought um Freddy Perez was a possible starter and probably the backup let’s see if that held true in the uh in the warm-up games well Freddy Perez uh to our surprise was not selected for the squad at all so he’s going to be uh off the list there uh not the backup player that we thought he was uh Kenderson Navaro h started the May friendly there and Nicholas Hagen started both World Cup qualifiers so it looks to us like uh uh uh Navaro Kenderson um sorry Kenderson Navaro is the uh backup keeper there so we’ll stick with Nicholas Hagen as a definite starter and then we’ll change our prediction for the backup keeper uh we think now it’ll be Kenderson Navaro okay that is it for goalkeepers let’s move on to central defenders and we have a definite candidate in uh Jose Carlos Pinto and he was selected for the final squad uh a likely candidate Nicholas Samayoa he also was selected for the final squad however our possible candidate Kevin Ruiz h not even selected for the preliminary squad there uh so that was a bit of a surprise possible but unlikely candidate Carlos Estrada also not making even the preliminary squad nor to either of our seemingly off the squad players uh Gerardo Gordo and Matias Gayton uh so we just have the two uh uh main candidates Joseé Carlo Pinto and Nicholas Samoa uh selected for the final squad i got to say that is uh a little bit thin uh there in central defense let’s see how that played out then over the period surely they didn’t have just two defend central defenders all the way through uh it was though Carlos Pinto and Nicholas Samayoa uh pairing throughout the 2023 World Cup and really that partnership persisted throughout the season however uh whereas Pinto rarely missed a game even playing most of the many friendlies throughout the period samayoya I knew I would get that wrong at some point samayoa uh played only about 75% of the important games and not many of the friendlies so the main replacements were uh out of position players uh uh out of position player left back Jose Ardan and Kevin Ruiz who we saw here was not even selected for the uh for the um preliminary squad few players were used besides and apart from Gordo in one early game uh only uh in experimental friendlies were new faces seen it was Pinto playing both March friendlies alongside Ardan again left back Joseé Ardan in the first game and Samoa Samayoa in the second game so yeah it just looks like they haven’t needed much uh beyond these two and uh obviously they’re relying on out of position players uh to cover these positions well uh we concluded uh uh after part one that um uh Pinto was a definite starter and uh Samay Yoa was a likely starter and we think uh Jose Ardan uh played enough that he could be a starter himself maybe a bit generous putting him as a likely starter uh but there we have it let’s look at the warm-up games to see if this uh uh remained the situation uh Jose Carlos Pinto did start all three games there and uh Samayoa started the main friend uh the May friendly and the first World Cup qualifier uh Ardan his uh Ardan though was the partner of Pinto in the first World Cup qualifier so in several positions uh the World Cup qualifier does seem a bit more experimental uh so we’ll actually be giving the first one uh a bit more weight uh throughout this media cast uh that uh may uh maybe adds a little bit of strength to uh Jose Ardan’s claim of being a starter uh in central defense but we’ll stick with what we got uh definite starter Jose Carlos Pinto and then uh likely starter firstly Nicholas Samayoa and then secondarily left back Jose Arden okay that is it for central defense amazing they’re getting by with so few uh candidates there let’s look at the left back and um uh we have a definite part uh uh uh candidate in the play we’ve just been talking about Jose uh Ardan um yes he uh did play half of his games in central defense during this period and half as a left back so uh that’s why we left him in his coded position as a left back uh our second definite candidate is Joseé Morales or Jose Alfredo Morales H and he was selected for the squad we had no candidates at the likely level h but at the possible level Carlos Aguar who was selected for the final squad and possible but unlikely uh Jesua uh Urisar uh only making the preliminary squad there and then both of our seemingly off the squad players uh are still in the picture to some degree because they were named at least to the preliminary squad uh that is Sees uh Cesar Arya and Antonio Lopez however uh none of those players making the final squad so we have three candidates here ardan Morales and Aguar let’s look at the position over the period and um we have uh Jose Ardan playing as a left back in all four games of the 2023 Gold Cup and he was the main player in the position uh throughout however especially in the second half of the period as we saw Ardan played in uh central defense and Jose Morales was his replacement so um we are going to say uh or our predictions after part one here were uh Jose Ardan provided that he’s not playing in central defense and particularly if he is playing in central defense we thought we’d see Jose Morales so we’ll call him the first backup uh for the position let’s see if this held in the uh in the warm-up games uh Jose Ardan did play in the May friendly uh there but did not appear at all in the first World Cup qualifier h Morales started as left back there and in the second World Cup qualifier Ardan started as a central defender and so we see Morales starting as a uh oh well it says here Morales started as a right back okay and that’s the case thus our third name here Carlos Aguia did get his first start for the national team playing in his coded position as a left back okay so all three of our players uh there does that change our thinking on the uh prediction uh no we would still view Jose Ardan as the starting left back if he’s not playing in central defense and Jose Morales uh remains the second choice in our opinion okay over to the right uh side of the field and here we had a definite candidate in Allan uh Yaines or it could be Giannes uh however he was not selected even for the preliminary squad that’s due to an injury uh a broken tibia that he suffered in early April we reported on it in part one uh but there was no change uh when we kind of looked for updated information and so uh Alan Janis the definite candidate not available to them that’s a big loss because they don’t have a likely candidate in this position they just have a possible candidate h that’s Aaron Herrera and he was selected for the final squad h obviously it’s related that our seemingly off the squad’s thieven Roles uh Steven Robles uh selected for the final squad uh obviously to cover Alan Yains’s absence uh Steven Robles was uh uh a bigger player on the team he was a starter in the 2021 Gold Cup and a substitute in the 2023 Gold Cup he had uh uh been off the team though since October 2023 but here he is uh back uh on the team and he’s primarily coded as a right midfielder only secondarily as a right defender uh but um uh his only start of the period was in right defense so we have placed him here in part one uh the second seemingly off the squad uh player is Christian Gimenez uh he was not selected even for the preliminary squad all right let us look at the situation over the uh uh period we’re looking at it was Aaron Herrera playing the position in all four games of the 2023 Gold Cup however he was injured for the September 2023 games and really never uh recovered his position here uh he seemed to recover it in stops and starts for example he started two friendlies in a row in March 2024 and then started all four of the fall 2024 Nations League group stage games uh but otherwise he was not called up so replacing him uh did seem to be a struggle uh for Guatemala three players uh getting just one start there including Steven Robles who uh as we said a few years earlier had commanded the position um although uh October 2023 was his last appearance until named to the uh preliminary squad there eventually they uh found his replacement or they didn’t they relied on left back Joe Jose Morales uh for most of the games we did see Jose Morales playing uh on the right in one of the warm-up games as well in May 2024 um Alan Yain returned from a long absence and slowly took over the position uh over the last year sharing it with Morales at first um on the bench when Herrera returned in the fall of 2024 but starting all three March 2025 games uh there that includes the uh friendly and the two 2025 gold playoffs matches so uh coming in right at the end there Aaron Herrera so what were our predictions up to that point uh well we thought Allan I’m going to say Giannis that seems more correct alan Giannis was the uh likely starter and uh possible starters Jose Morales and Aaron Herrera there um however we’ve seen now that Giannis was not selected for the uh final squad uh so we’re going to have to get rid of him he’s out injured for the cup uh it seems obviously then that Steven Roblaze was recalled to cover him uh Steven Roaz did start the May friendly and then Herrera started the first World Cup qualifier and left back Jose Morales the second as we saw uh earlier on so what does that leave us with uh well we’re going to predict uh Aaron Herrera as Aaron Herrera Jose Morales and Steven Robless as possible starters uh all in that order i don’t think we can go as far as to uh consider any of them a likely starter okay let us uh move on to the midfield we’re finished with the defense so uh we begin here with defensive midfielders we have quite a list of names uh to go through here so let’s not waste time and uh look at the definite candidates oscar Castellanos he was selected for the final squad and so was the other definite candidate uh Jonathan Franco likely candidate Rodrigo Sar Saravia also selected for the squad and then we have three candidates at the possible level uh the first one Joseé Rosales was selected for the final squad uh but the other two only made the preliminary squad that it’s Marco Dominguez and uh Jorge Aparicio and then we had one player seemingly no uh at the one player at the portable but unlikely level Carlos Santos and uh he was not selected even for the preliminary squad i think I forgot to uh keep up on the YouTube graphic with the uh highlights there so that is uh Marco Dominguez in blue just making the preliminary squad and Jorge Apario uh as well sorry to um uh waste the time of people just listening uh wondering what on earth I’m talking about we’re going to do uh the candidates for central midfield and uh right and left midfield before we do our predictions here they’re all in a basket and uh this is very easy for central midfielders we only have one player coded as a central midfielder and he is seemingly off the squad it’s Marlon Sequin but not as off the squad as we thought uh because he was selected for the preliminary squad there and uh that is all we have for central midfielders for left uh and right midfielders even less we have no candidates in those positions so we’re heaven heavily relying on uh players coded as defensive midfielders and uh we only have four of those so uh this midfield also uh a little thin uh but let’s look at the position over the period uh um Oscar Castellanos and Rodrigo Sarave Saravia with a pairing in the 2023 Gold Cup and uh Marlon Sequin replaced Saravia in game four there castanalos and Saravia played half of the 2023 new uh Nations League group stage games but uh for the other half it was Castellanos and George or Jorge Aparicio uh there however Appario like Sequin drifted completely off the squad after March of 2024 castellanos’s partners continued to change during the five friendlies from November 2023 to May 2024 uh the November 2023 friendly um Marcos Dominguez in the first two um uh and then after two fairly experimentive uh experimentative uh midfields we had Jonathan Franco emerging in the last one and continuing on as the partner of Castellanos into the June 2024 World Cup qualifiers uh that partnership survived through more experimentation in June and September 2024 uh through to the fall 2024 Nations League group stage where Castellano and Franco continued as partners for three of the four games uh Dominguez replacing Castellano in the other the March 2025 games were a bit muddled with Castellano playing only one of the three games Franco playing all three of them and two new names introduced uh playing uh uh two games each so Joseé Rosales and uh left attacker Rudy Munos kind of added to the fray here okay so that is uh what we have after all of that we boiled it down to uh not feeling confident to predict a definite starter but having two likely starters in Oscar Castellanos and Jonathan Franco uh the main partnership throughout the period and then a possible starter in Jose uh Rosales uh okay look at the warm-up games we have um Marco Dominguez and the recently returned Joseé Rales uh Jose Rosales started the May friendly however Dominguez was ultimately not selected for the final squad it was Rosales and Franco in the first World Cup qualifier and the familiar partnership at the beginning of the period of Castellanos and Saravia uh so Ravia had only started once in 2020 in 2024 there uh so uh kind of came back to uh seize his spot h as it were remember that those two had uh played most of the 2023 gold cup together so uh how does that change our predictions for the starters well I got to say I like the poetry of Castellanos and Saravia reunited for this cup as well that’s not a very logical basis for uh an opinion but I I I’m going to go with it uh Oscar Castellanis and uh Rodrigo Saravia as likely starters and Jose Rosales and Jonathan Franco as possible starters uh uh now in truth it uh seems uh fairly even between Saravia Rosales and Franco but Castellano a little bit more likely than those ones okay that is that is as much as I’ll equivocate and we’re moving on to the attacking midfielders and before we head to attacking midfielders we do have to confess to a mistake we made in part one uh for uh for left midfielders uh we did have a candidate at the possible level we uh somehow forgot to put him on the list it’s Kevin Ramirez and he was a possible candidate and uh he was selected for the final squad so maybe uh Kevin Ramirez joining the mix in central midfield although he did not appear in any of the warm-up games there okay we move on to uh attacking uh midfielders we begin with a definite candidate uh we begin with a versatile attacker uh who is a definite candidate it’s Oscar Santis and we’re going to see him all over the attacking midfield he’s coded as an attacking midfielder but we moved him to versatile attacking midfield because he plays in various positions up top so Oscar Santis h a definite candidate and selected for the squad so he’s our versatile player and um let’s go to left attackers then and here we have a definite candidate in Elmer Cardoza he was selected for the final squad uh we had two likely candidates carlos Media um well he was not selected the for the preliminary squad uh we um at first thought that was due to a knee injury he suffered in March but in fact he had come back in midappril and I think we reported that in uh in part one so his non- selection does not uh appear to have been because of the injury Carlos Media a likely candidate here but uh not selected for the uh preliminary squad even I have the feeling that we don’t have the whole story there but we do have the result uh that he is not on the squad the other likely candidate uh Rudy Munoz is uh selected for the squad and then uh we just have one more candidate at the No we have two more actually one at the seemingly off the squad level that’s Gabriel B Garcia he did at least make the uh preliminary squad there and uh we have a new candidate here uh Damian Rivera so let me uh tell you a bit about him because he did not come up uh in part one there in fact he had never appeared for the national team before being named to the preliminary squad um Damen Rivera is 23 years old no caps for Guatemala he plays for uh Phoenix Rising in the USA since 2025 uh he was born in the USA but actually also eligible for Costa Rica he played for their under23 team uh prior to Phoenix Rising he spent 5 years with New England Revolution uh in the USA and actually uh came through New England Revolution’s youth system so Damian Rivera uh a new candidate uh to to uh observe there and let’s go back and look at the uh uh over the period here uh we begin with Carlos Media starting three of the four games in the 2023 Gold Cup and uh three of the four 2023 Nations League uh group stage games in the fall of 2023 uh however he only appeared uh in one of the five friendlies from November 2023 to May 2024 it was Elmer Cardardoza and the versatile attacking midfielder Oscar Santis both replacing Media more than once and those two actually took over the position as Media drifted off into becoming a sub and then into absence through injury uh when Santos played he often switched flanks with right attacking midfielder Nathan Menddees Lang and um as in the midfield uh the last three games showed some confusing variations with three new players used in the position that is uh central midfielder uh I think that’s attacking midfielder Alejandro Galindo h newcomer Rudy Munoz and perennial substitute Pedro Alton so uh some some uh uh changes at the end that kind of always confuses us when it comes to uh predicting um starters and in fact uh in this case because the variation has been so great uh we’re going to say that we can’t identify uh a starter in all of that however we do consider uh versatile attacking midfielder Oscar Santos a possible starter uh there okay that’s the left attackers let’s go over to the right side and and look at the situation over there so uh we’ve mentioned uh our first candidate at the he’s at the likely level we don’t have a definite candidate over here and that is Ma Nathaniel Menddees Lang and uh he is not selected for the squad just making the preliminary squad we’re sad about that because he was a Cardiff City player and uh we love Cardiff City because I grew up there h Nathaniel Mendes Lang then not making the squad but there is a weird detail that we uh want to tell you about it a little bit later the other uh likely candidate Olgar Escobar h was selected for the final spot uh beyond that we just have uh three players who seemingly uh who are seemingly off the squad uh two of them were not selected for the preliminary squad Jonathan Moran and William Fiardo uh but one of them was and that’s Jonathan Hosu uh h surprisingly making the preliminary squad but uh he’s not on the final squad so that’s as much concern as we have about that situation that sounded really cruel of me i didn’t mean it in a cruel way anyway uh that leaves us with just Olar Escobar as the only uh candidate over here we don’t have um even a new candidate so uh let’s see uh how things played out over the uh period first of all and we have Nathaniel Mendes Lang and Oscar Santis uh the main players in this position that’s the versatile attacking midfielder Oscar Santis uh Nathaniel Mendes Lang was always absent for the friendlies that’s nine games during this period and uh Oscar Santos plays most of them but he himself is replaced in half of those by other players uh although no one appears more than once so we won’t go into detail on those in 2024 both of them played uh the June 2024 World Cup qualifiers and also three of the four Nations League group stage games and by both of them I mean Nathaniel Mendes Lang and Oscar Santos and uh they kind of switched uh flanks sometimes with Mendes Lang on the left and Santos on the right uh but as we’ve seen Nathaniel Mendes Santos um not selected for the final squad uh so uh for starters uh over that uh period then um we uh figured Nathaniel Menddees Lang was a likely starter uh we didn’t have a definite starter but uh uh Menddees Lang is a likely starter and possible starter Oscar Santis now that Menddees Lang is gone what’s going to become of that uh prediction let’s take a look and see what happened in a warm-up game now brace yourself for the weird detail the uh Oh no the uh the weird detail makes me realize that I forgot to do the warm-up games on the uh left side of the midfield but actually that works out pretty well because it’s good that you know uh Menddees Lang was not selected because okay I’m going to go back to the weird detail for the uh uh left side of the midfield uh sorry the uh left attackers and uh here we go back up to left attackers uh warm-up games carlos Media drifted even further off the team as we saw not selected even for the preliminary squad and uh we had newcomer Rudy Munoz starting the May friendly and the first World Cup qualifier now here’s the weird detail curiously uh right attacker Nathaniel Mendes Lang came in for the second World Cup qualifier uh which would have been after the team was announced there um uh it had already been determined he was not on the Gold Cup squad so I thought “Oh that’s uh very weird.” So I kind of looked it up on the internet and came across an article that h did kind of confirm that or not kind of it did confirm that saying uh Nathaniel Menddees Lang not being chosen was a curveball is what the article said uh despite him training with the team for the impending World Cup qualifiers so it looks like he was part of the squad for the World Cup qualifiers but not part of the squad for the uh Gold Cup and uh that is the uh uh odd detail so Nathaniel Mendes Lang starting uh on the left side for the for the final warm-up game there and um we should actually revise our uh left attacker uh predictions there so uh with Carlos Mesia out of the picture um and the uh what we saw in the warm-up games we’re going to change possible we still can’t really identify a starter on the left attacking side we had a ver uh versatile attacking midfielder Oscar Santos now we’re going to add Rudy Munos uh to that list because he did uh play two of those three games okay let’s go back now to the right side and uh talk about the uh warm-up games so here I noted again that Nathaniel Mendes Lang was not selective at the Gold Cup squad so he’s uh no longer a consideration uh as a starter on the right side and um it was Oscar Santos playing the May friendly and the World Cup qualifier on this side while forward Eric Lemus h played the second World Cup qualifier so um we’re going to revise our uh prediction there to uh no definite starter but uh Oscar Santis as a likely starter uh on the right attacking side of the field okay I hope you followed all of that um uh but we can put that behind us now and move on to central attackers and here we have a definite candidate in uh Pedro Alton although he really is more of a substitute he only started one of their games over the uh uh from the start in 2024 onwards uh nevertheless Pedro Alton a definite candidate and named to the squad uh we have a likely candidate in Alejandro Galindo and he uh uh did not make it actually he just was selected for the uh preliminary squad so another surprise there uh possible but unlikely candidate Joseé Okoa um no sorry we have a candidate before him um Joseé Espininoza possible but unlikely uh selected for the preliminary but not the final squad jose Okcoa was seemingly off the squad but actually was selected for the preliminary squad there and the other seemingly off the squad player Neesa Cabrera h not selected even for the preliminary squad we do have a new candidate here as an attacking midfielder and that is um Matthew Evans and uh he had never appeared from the national team before being named to the preliminary and then the final squad so we’ll introduce him quickly here he is very young 19 years old and no caps for Guatemala and um Matthew Evans was born in the USA and plays uh for Los Angeles FC 2 uh to their B team in the USA if he was on their A team he might have been involved in the uh club World Cup there but he grew up through the LAFC uh youth system and is with their B team right now named to the squad here and um let’s go and look at the situation for central attacking midfielders over the position well Guatemala uses position uses this position much more than most teams uh their favorite 4231 formation which they use in 58% of games uh calls for this position and a couple of other formations uh potentially call for the central attacking midfielder in a summary of the uh players in this position Alejandro Galindo is almost always in the position when it’s used and when it’s not he often becomes a co-forward uh Pedro Alan replaced him twice in the early going but as we said Alan only started one game uh from 2024 onwards uh Galindo did appear less towards the end and Guatemala used the position less uh during this time although it’s not clear which is the cause and which is the effect there um when they did use um that formation towards the end it was left attacker Elmer Cardo and Olgar Escobar h each filling the position one time uh and Alejandro Kindo was not selected for the squad he had been our likely starter uh in the position uh but obviously we have to change that uh now that he’s not uh selected let’s look at the uh warm-up games um uh over the uh period and the position was used in all three games um all three warm-up games but as we see Alejandro Galindo was not selected for the squad uh Pedro Alton got a rare start in the May friendly and he also started the first World Cup qualifier so finally getting a starting position uh Pedro Alan however in the second uh World Cup qualifying game it was right attacker uh Olgar Escobar who also rarely starts actually uh starting the second one so uh we’re a bit unsure as to um the situation here i actually think they probably may not use the position uh because um uh Escobar and Olgar um oh sorry Alan and older Escobar are not really starters but maybe they’ll become one uh so we’ll just go with possible starters uh Pedro Alan and right winger Olar Escobar uh in this position here okay that’s the end of the attacking uh midfield and we move on to forwards no uh secondary strikers to speak of there so we go directly to the main forwards where we start with definite candidate uh uh Rubio uh Mendes or Rudio Rubin and um uh he was selected for the final squad there and then we had two likely candidates joseé Carlos Martinez uh he actually was on the preliminary squad but he is out due to injury we’ll talk about that more in section three uh but the key point here is that he is not selected uh but our second likely candidate Eric Lemus was selected for the final squad and then we had a possible candidate in Darwin Lom um kind of a um uh anyway Darwin Long a possible candidate he was uh uh in the 2023 Gold Cup uh last time but didn’t play so much during this period uh nevertheless selected possible but unlikely Jose Franco or Jose Daniel Franco not selected even for the preliminary squad and um however two of our seemingly off the squad players did make the preliminary squad um they are Dwinder Bradley and uh Jeffrey Bantes however neither of them were selected for the final squad uh the other player seemingly off the squad Robin Benton Corf uh not selected even for the preliminary squad and we have a a new candidate added here and that is uh Arimedes or ordon uh and actually not a completely new candidate he was in our files uh but we only put players on the list who had appeared in 2023 or later um Ordinez uh got his uh uh two caps in 2022 uh but he’s still very young uh he’s 22 years old he’s currently playing uh for a club in Malddova uh but previously he did play for FC Cincinnati in the USA anyway his only two appearances had been a pair of caps in uh September of 2022 uh and he was selected for the preliminary squad for the 2023 Gold Cup but didn’t make the final cut uh nevertheless here he is back in the fray and uh this time selected for the squad so um Arimedes Ordonz um on the final squad let’s look at the situation among forwards uh over the Breton period and um actually Darwin Long subbed in for Rubio Rubin uh 10 minutes uh sorry 11 minutes into game one of the 2023 Gold Cup and went on to start the second match uh Rubin returned for the third and has dominated the position over the period uh Darwin Lom did start two friendlies after that uh but then drifted out of the picture after November 2023 and uh was absent for the last three games so drifted out of the picture as a starter and then absent for the last three games uh completely uh Rubio Rubin started all four of the 2023 Nations League group stage games and he was accompanied uh by attacking midfielder Alejandro Kalindo twice uh in a twoman forward line there uh that was the pairing in two of the five friendlies actually from November 2023 to May 2024 and Joseé Carlos Martinos got uh got two starts in that set uh as well ruben played as a sole forward in the June 2024 World Cup qualifiers and in the four fall 2024 Nations League group stage games he played one of the three friendlies in between uh with Martinez getting another start the versatile Oscar Santos played center forward in the March 2025 friendly um and Martinez started the first of the two March 2025 Gold Cup playoff matches uh and Reuben having subbed into the previous two March games at Halime uh now returned to the starting position for the uh last game in March of 2025 so all of that boils down to uh Rubio Mendes or Rubio Rubin uh being a definite starter in our predictions and uh we have several players or no two players as possible starters uh after part one joseé Carlos Martinez who seemed to play more and more as the period went on um and attacking midfielder Alejandro Galindo however we do know Galindo was not selected for the squad um and uh we’ll have to change our predictions let’s look at the warm-up games uh we do have after a long time uh Darwin Long starting a game he started the May friendly there and then uh Rubio Rubin started the first World Cup qualifier and the newly named uh to the squad Arimedes Ordin Ordin starting the second warm-up game there so perhaps he will be in the mix uh we’re going to uh revise our prediction then to no definite starter and uh a likely starter in Rubio Rubin and um uh Darwin Lom and Arimedes Ordin as possible starters however uh we still think Rubio Rubin will be the starter we just have less of a basis to say that uh okay that is it uh we have finished uh section two and our look at the candidates we move on to uh section three and um section three begins with uh our uh spotlight review and this is a race through uh uh a race through the squad uh it’s a review for people who listen to uh section two but for section three uh it is a motorcycle ride uh through the Guatemalan squad so we’re going to go back to the top of the list here and uh take you through uh the selections really quickly and also our predicted starters uh after much mulling uh our final predictions we’re not that confident in them truth be told anyway we begin with Lewis Fernando Ten Tenya h he’s been the manager for quite a while and he will lead them through this cup we will consider him h as having been selected for the squad and then uh we move on to goalkeepers we had no definite candidate here but we had likely candidates Nicholas Hagen and Kenderson Navo h both selected for the squad but to our surprise Freddy Perez who actually seemed to be uh the backup keeper for a while there not selected for the final squad just making the preliminary squad instead our possible candidate Lewis Moran was uh selected and we had another possible candidate in Kevin Muskoko who made the preliminary squad but not the final cut and uh players who are less likely than uh that possible but unlikely or seemingly off the squad we won’t mention those uh unless there’s a specific reason to so those are our three goalkeepers Nicholas Hagen Kenderson Navaro and Lewis Moran and uh after we looked at the warm-up games the recent warm-up games we came up with our final predictions so we uh think Nicholas Hagen will definitely be the starter but the backup keeper now we think will be uh Kenderson Navo let’s go to the uh defenders and the central defense and wow teams usually bring five or six candidates here um Guatemala bringing only two that is definite candidate Joseé Carlos Pinto who was selected and Nicholas Samayoa uh also selected for the final squad we only had four other candidates besides and none of them even made the preliminary squad so very thin in this part of the field is um Guatemala nevertheless we think uh Joseé Carlos Pinto will be a definite starter and a likely starter Nicholas Samayoa and otherwise players from other positions will have to fill in if needed and we think the primary candidate there would be uh left back Jose Arden so we put him as a likely starter as well i almost ran out of breath there okay on to the left backs we had two definite candidates we just mentioned one of them it’s left back Joseé Ardan who did h make the final squad the other is Jose Morales H also making the final squad there no candidate at the likely level but we have Carlos Aguar as a possible candidate and those are our three left backs and um it’s funny because in the last game they all were on the field at the same time jose Ardan playing as a center back Jose Morales as a right back which he sometimes does and um Carlos Aguar getting a rare start in his coded position at left back anyway perhaps too much detail there we have a definite starter in Jose Arden uh if he’s not playing in the central defense and then first back up here Joseé Morales uh okay over to the right side and we had a definite candidate in Alan Yianz but uh he was not selected for the squad due to injury so a bit of a problem over here they don’t have many other candidates the next one is possible candidate Aaron Herrera he was selected and then a player seemingly off the squads Steven Roel uh Robles who actually used to be uh in this position uh pretty consistently Steven Roz brought back in uh probably to cover the absence of Alan Giannis there so just Herrera and Rob over here uh and for possible uh for our predictions uh we have just as possible starters uh Aaron Herrera uh left back Jose Morales or Steven Roles probably in that order uh okay um on we go to the midfield and defensive midfielders we have a long list of uh defensive midfielders here uh two at the definite level the first one Oscar Castellanos and uh the second Jonathan Franco both of those selected for the final squad as was our likely candidate Rodrigo Saravia uh also selected and we have a fourth candidate Jose Rosales he was at the possible level and he was selected for the final squad two other candidates at the possible level though Marco Dominguez and Jorge Apario uh those two just making the preliminary squad uh we’re going to give you the rest of the candidates in the central midfield uh here well for central midfielders we uh don’t have any candidates at the portable level or above left midfielders we do have one possible candidate Kevin Ramirez and he was chosen for the final squad and right midfielders we had no candidates uh coded that way at all so there are our five uh defensive midfield uh defensive/ central midfielders in terms of our prediction again we can’t nominate a definite starter among these but we think uh likely starters will be Oscar Castellanos and Rodrigo Saravia and possible starters Joseé Rosales and Jonathan Franco actually the last three of those probably uh fairly close uh we just think Oscar Castellanos is a bit more likely okay that is the whole uh uh defensive midfield in one gulp and let’s go on to the attacking midfielders we begin with versatile attacker Oscar Santis uh he’s all over the uh front lines and he’s a definite candidate and he is selected for the final squad uh uh with left attackers uh we have a definite candidate in Elmer Cardardoza and he was selected for the final squad uh two likely candidates Carlos Media uh not selected even for the preliminary squad uh we initially thought that was due to injury but he recovered from the injury so now we think it’s just that he wasn’t selected and uh the other likely candidate Rudy Muno is a a newcomer fairly new to the team uh selected for the final squad we also had a new candidate that they added to the preliminary list who made the final squad that was D uh Damian Rivera uh uh coded as a left winger there and uh what do we have for predictions well things were so uh kind of muddled on this side that we can’t define uh a starter and after the warm-up games we think maybe Rudy Munoz or the versatile attacking midfielder Oscar Santos uh starting on this side over to the right attacking side we had a likely candidate in Nathaniel Mendes Lang but surprisingly he was only selected for the preliminary squad despite starting one of their June uh uh World Cup qualifying games which we found a bit odd uh the other likely candidate was Olar Escobar he was selected for the final squad and uh that’s all we have uh at the possible level or above in terms of predicting starters we find it very difficult on this side too and canon put forward a versatile attacking Oscar Santis versatile attacker Oscar Santis so I think he’s going to have to start in two or three positions for them uh in this cup um uh central attackers uh they’d use this position a little more than half the time in a 4231 formation uh we have a definite candidate in Pedro Alton although he’s not much of a starter he was selected for the final squad a player who starts more was a likely candidate Alejandro Galindo uh but he was uh also surprisingly not selected uh for the final squad just on the preliminary squad there and finally we have one new candidate added here uh Matthew Evans although he didn’t appear in any of the pre-ournament games there uh so we’re a bit confused as to possible starters here we think it could be Pedro Alan or uh right attacker Olgar Escobar although those players have not really started many games uh over the period we move on to the forwards and we have a definite candidate in Rubio Mendes or Rubio Rubin uh I’ve heard him called both so I’m never sure what to call him he was selected for the final squad though we have a likely candidate in Joseé Carlos Martinez but injury prevents his selection he was just on the preliminary squad and then we have a likely candidate another one Eric Lemus who was selected for the final squad uh Darwin Lom is a fairly big name for them but he was only at the possible level but he was selected for the squad Darwin Lom and uh then we have a new candidate added to the squad uh Arimedes Ordin he actually was on the preliminary squad for the 2023 Gold Cup but uh we didn’t introduced him in part one so we’re considering him new arimedes Ordin and uh that is our uh Oh no we got to do the uh predictions for the uh forward position so I know we’re not giving you many definite starters that’s because things have been a bit unsettled so uh we think a likely starter would be uh Rubio Rubin here but possible starters especially after the warm-ups uh Darwin Lom and Arimedes Ordin all right that is the end of the spotlight review phew that’s uh uh that’s a lot uh but for um uh we still have some business here in section three and our next order of business is a review of surprises so just to sum things up here we have uh goalkeeper Freddy Perez uh we considered a likely candidate but only making the preliminary squad and perhaps the biggest surprise Nathaniel Menddees Lang the right attacker uh also just making the preliminary squad there and uh almost equally surprising actually Alejandro Galindo uh just making the preliminary squad uh so those are three uh big names and we’re going to add actually Carlos Media to this again we initially thought that was due to injury but he recovered from that injury but was nevertheless not selected even for the preliminary squad so we’re going to put Carlos Media on the notable non- selection list here surprise inclusions uh well no we are missing a player from the list because Alan Yianis uh uh the right defender uh should also have been on this list so Alan Janis uh really to cover his absence uh Steven Robles uh the uh right back was uh brought back into the squad and he is our surprise inclusion here uh otherwise uh he’s the only one so uh we go on to new players we have three new players added to the squad uh well two of them uh really new the first one is uh Damian Rivera he’s a left attacker and uh added to the squad having never appeared before the same is true uh of Matthew Evans the attacking midfielder however uh Arimedes Ordin uh the forward actually had appeared on a preliminary squad before uh but didn’t make the final cut uh for the 2023 Gold Cup there uh but we revive him here because he hadn’t been on our list in part one uh let’s go to our last order of business an update on injuries if you’re following on YouTube there you’ll see I’ve uh given a grade out list of what we arrived at at the end of part one and uh well it even says there Carro Media uh was recovered from his injury so um uh so yes uh he he was not an injury um not an injury uh not not selected due to injury not left out due to injury but but simply not selected Carlos Media so uh he’s really not on the injury list uh Alan Yiannis uh oh okay the reason we didn’t put him uh in the notable non- selections is cuz he probably would have been selected it’s an injury uh thing that kept him out so here he is uh out with a broken tibia from early April with an unknown return date but uh I noted in part one didn’t look very promising and there was no change in that status he remains on the injury list he was out for the rest of the season with his club and they seem to know that because he was not selected for the uh preliminary squad so we presume that it was due to this injury alan Janis had been a definite candidate so that’s a big loss uh for them uh over on the right defense there uh the other one is uh what Joseé Carlos Martinez and um uh he’s a forward and a likely candidate uh uh not taking into account his injury but he was out with a rib fracture since miday so that was uh pretty close to the end of the season there and his uh his status was unknown return date so we see no change in his status there uh on his international page he’s out he was out for the rest of the season although the rest of the season was just two games there h however Jose Carlos Martinez was on the preliminary squad suggesting there had been some hopes of a recovery however it was not to be and he wasn’t selected for the final squad again presumably uh due to this injury so uh drop due to injury um we have uh Alan Jiannis and Joseé Carlos Martinez um on our list here uh the good news I suppose is that they didn’t have any new injuries from the time we did uh uh part one of the media cast all right uh that brings us to the end of our look at Guatemala or really our second look at Guatemala and um we were thinking of doing a uh a kind of a bonus uh media cast because there’s always some changes between um uh when we when we do the last media cast and the actual tournament some players are uh pulled out for various reasons maybe injuries in training or a family emergency or something and we’ve never been able to cover that uh so we were thinking doing a bonus podcast to uh cover that however we found out that it’s pretty close to the cup now but we only have one player on Canada uh who that is so it doesn’t seem worth doing a media cast uh just for uh one one change so if we find that there are say five or more uh we’re going to do it but uh otherwise we will uh just um leave it at this okay well uh uh stay tuned actually in the uh uh end of the year here in the end of 2025 we’ll be once again doing an African Cup but uh right now we’re going to enjoy watching the uh Gold Cup and these teams that we’ve introduced so we hope our media cap will make your watching experience a bit richer [Music] we would like to thank Future Bates for the wonderful music you hear in this podcast the title is called Alone [Music] [Applause] [Music]
