I INTRODUCTION The Technical Study Group (TSG) was integrated by: 1. Luis Hernández Herez (Cuba), member of CONCACAF´s Executive Committee, Head of TSG. 2. Keith Look Loy (Trinidad and Tobago) Specialist 3. Ramón Enrique Madariaga Chávez (Honduras) Specialist 4. Juan Carlos Chávez (Mexico) Specialist 5. Javier Delgado Prado (Costa Rica) Specialist 6. José Mauricio Cienfuegos (USA) Specialist 7. Luis Manuel Hernández Valdivia (Cuba), Coordinator of TSG. The TSG performed the following duties: -Prepared a technical/ tactical analysis and a report for each of the games. -Interviewed each Team’s coach through a questionnaire. -Collected game statistics. -Selected the Fair Play Team for each match and for the Tournament. -Selected the Most Valuable Player for each match and the MVPs in each team. -Selected the Tournament’s Most Valuable Goalkeeper. -Selected the All-Star Team. -Drafted the Preliminary and Final Tournament Reports. -Prepared a performance analysis for each of the players that participated in the event. With half qualification to the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 as an additional incentive to the already prestigious title of CONCACAF Champion, 12 participant teams that had different expectations and objectives played the Gold Cup 2013. Honduras, Martinique, Mexico and the USA excluded several of their best players from the teams due to different causes (injuries, commitments with their clubs, need to rest for the World Cup’s qualifying rounds in September and to try-out new developing star players). Panama and Costa Rica, which are included in the qualification for Brazil 2014, had teams with a mix of youth and experience, and great ambition to win the title. El Salvador and Canada, two teams that are not participating in the qualifying rounds for the World Cup after being eliminated, faced this tournament with renewed air, ready to develop new star players. Cuba was affected by the lack of preparation time and by not having played international friendly pre-tournaments. Haiti, another Caribbean team, entered the tournament with the weight of expectations on their shoulders after playing two interesting international matches (a loss 2-1 with Spain and a draw with Italy 2-2). The newly arrived Belize, with its team of semi-professionals, and Trinidad and Tobago, a team that had not participated in the tournament since 2007 and which had not scored a goal in seven matches before the beginning of the tournament, were unknown teams. In fact, both teams changed their technical directors after their respective qualifications in their region to the Gold Cup 2013.
7