Our prediction for this Gold Cup match:
After impressing in the group stages, El Salvador will be looking to give fans yet another reason for celebration when they take on Honduras in the Gold Cup quarter-finals. Qatar have been scoring goals for fun at the 2021 CONCACAF championship, and they are likely to stick to their attacking style of play in Sunday’s clash. Spanish tactician Felix Sanchez is unlikely to make changes to the team that outplayed Honduras in the last group game.
El Salvador, on the other hand, booked their place in the Gold Cup quarter-finals despite losing their last group game to Mexico. La Selecta are likely to rely on their solid defence in Sunday’s showdown, but given Qatar’s attacking potential, we do not believe that the underdogs are going to keep a clean sheet in the quarter-final. Narciso Orellana is sidelined through suspension for the nominal visitors.
Highlighted Player (Abdelkarim Hassan):
Abdelkarim Hassan is a Qatar international who plays for domestic club Al-Sadd as a defender. Hassan is a product of Al-Sadd football academy, but it has to be noted that he played for Belgian side Eupen during the 2017/2018 season. The 186-cm-tall footballer has five caps for Qatar U20 and 17 caps for Qatar U23 national team respectively and he made his senior debut for the Maroons on November 18, 2010 against Haiti.
Abdelkarim Hassan was the youngest footballer to appear in the 2011 Asian Cup preliminary squad (17 years and 123 days old). Hassan scored one goal in six appearances for Qatar at the 2019 Asian Cup where the Maroons won the title thanks to a routine win over Japan in the final of the tournament. Left-back is considered his main position, but the Al-Sadd footballer plays as both left midfielder and right-back as well. His preferred foot is left.
Highlighted Team (El Salvador):
El Salvador are a national football team that play their home games at Estadio Cuscatlan. La Azul y Blanco turned down an invitation from Brazil to take part in the 1950 World Cup finals, but in 1970 they made it to the finals of the showpiece tournament in Mexico 20 years later.
They participated at the 1982 World Cup finals as well, but they have yet to advance the first round of the finals competition. El Salvador hosted the first CONCACAF Championship, but they failed to win the trophy, with the team suffering a loss to Costa Rica in the title game. Speaking of the Central American and Carribean Games, la Selecta won the trophy on two occasions (1954, 2002) and in 1968 they booked their place at the Olympic Games in Mexico.
The likes of Magico Gonzales, Rodolfo Zelaya, Arturo Alvarez, Mauricio Cienfuegos, Ronald Cerritos, Raul Diaz Arce, Alexander Larin, Eliseo Quintanilla, Jaime Alas and Alfredo Pacheco are some of the notable footballers who played for El Salvador.