International
2025-06-16 - Jamaica vs Guatemala
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: CONCACAF Gold Cup Group C
Monday 16th June 2025 - Kick Off 10pm (EST)
3am (British Time)
Preview
The Confederation is hosting the World Cup Finals in 2026 and that means there is room for three Qualifiers for the main tournament without having to get through the United States, Mexico and Canada. Those World Cup Qualifiers have been taking place over several months and the final three Groups have been drawn out with the top three in each earning their spot at the World Cup Finals.
With that in mind, the 2025 Gold Cup may be seen as the last bit of preparation for the last run towards the World Cup Finals.
It remains an important competition to build up tournament experience and Jamaica are expected to make it through to the Quarter Final out of Group C.
They are one of the leading contenders to make the World Cup Finals as one of the three highest ranked teams in the Qualifying campaign and Jamaica made short work of their last Group. This has been rewarded with a decent four team Group to determine one of the places at the World Cup Finals and one of the opponents that was beaten in the latest Group was Guatemala.
This is the opponent that provides the opening test for Jamaica at the Gold Cup, who have made the tournament for the sixth straight year and progressed out of the Group Stage in each of the last five editions. They have been Semi Finalists four times, including in 2023, and Jamaica beat Guatemala 3-0 just last week in a World Cup Qualifier.
Jamaica are unbeaten in competitive action since getting thumped 5-2 on aggregate by the United States in the Nations League and they will be looking for a strong start in this section. Qualifying before the final fixture to be played against Panama has to be the ambition, but Jamaica will have a respect for Guatemala, even after the big win over them earlier this month.
That will come from the fact that Guatemala finished above Canada in the Group Stage two years ago at the Gold Cup and they have progressed to the final Group Stage of the World Cup Qualifiers too. In the last Nations League Guatemala earned a draw with Costa Rica, although failed to progress out of the Group Stage, and they will look to make things much more difficult for Jamaica in this meeting.
In reality Guatemala are ranked significantly lower than the likes of Jamaica and Panama, who they face in the Gold Cup Group Stage, and facing the stronger nations in this Confederation has been challenging for them.
2023 was the first time Guatemala made it through to the Knock Out Rounds of the Gold Cup since 2011 and matching that achievement would be considered a big success.
Jamaica's win over Guatemala last week means they have won 8 of the last 10 matches between these nations and suffered just a single loss in that time. They beat Guatemala at the last Gold Cup in the Quarter Final and that should give one of the favourites in this section the confidence to open the 2025 Gold Cup with a positive performance.
Prediction
The Gold Cup remains an important tournament, but there is a feeling that some of those nations still involved in World Cup Qualifying action are thinking down the line.
This may feel like an opportunity to try out some things and help players pick up tournament experience, but both Jamaica and Guatemala have been in competitive action this month.
A 3-0 win for Jamaica helped them top out a World Cup Qualifying Group above Guatemala and the feeling is that the former can edge to the victory in this Gold Cup fixture. This should give Jamaica the edge to progress to yet another Quarter Final at this tournament having done that in five previous editions in succession.
The Pick :
Jamaica 2-0 Guatemala
