PHOENIX, Arizona – With the beginning of the knockout round at the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup, there is always a strong chance that a penalty shootout will be required to decide a winner.
That has certainly been the case in the history of the Gold Cup quarterfinals, which begin this Saturday with El Salvador meeting Qatar and Mexico clashing with Honduras.
Since the inaugural Gold Cup in 1991, there have been eight quarterfinals that have been decided from the penalty spot.
The most recent came in the previous edition in 2019. After a hotly contested battle between Mexico and Costa Rica finished 1-1 after regulation and extra time, matters had to be decided in a shootout in which legendary Mexico GK Guillermo Ochoa came through with the decisive save to earn El Tricolor a 5-4 victory.
The first quarterfinal penalty shootout did not happen though until the 2000 tournament, when guest national Colombia eliminated the United States, 2-1, after a 2-2 draw.
Winning a quarterfinal penalty shootout has basically become a habit for Panama. In the three penalty shootouts in which the Central American nation has been involved in the final eight, they have won all three, defeating South Africa in 2005, El Salvador in 2011 and Trinidad and Tobago in 2015.
Along with Mexico’s 2019 win over Costa Rica, Colombia’s triumph against the U.S. in 2000 and Panama’s victorious trio, the other quarterfinal shootout winners were Canada over Martinique in 2002, South Korea against Mexico in 2002 and Honduras over Costa Rica in 2011.
Another interesting note that in the 13 total penalty shootouts that have taken place in Gold Cup history, the team that was first in failing to convert one of their spot kicks have only won four of the 13 shootouts.
Needless to say, should any of the four quarterfinal match-ups end up being decided from the spot, it will be crucial to not be the team that blinks first.
