Caribbean soccer fans will have a lot to root for in this summer's Gold Cup, CONCACAF’s biennial tournament, as Jamaica, Grenada, Suriname, Martinique, Trinidad and Tobago, Martinique, and Guadeloupe all qualified. The tournament will be played in the United States and will kick off on Saturday.
The teams will play three games each over the next 10 days as they hope to qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament. The countries were split into four groups of four teams and the top two teams in each group will advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament. The groups are as follows:
Group A: Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico
Group B: Martinique, Haiti, USA, Canada
Group C: Jamaica, Suriname, Guadeloupe Costa Rica
Group D: Grenada, Panama, Honduras, Qatar
Curacao qualified for the Gold Cup but was forced to withdraw due to a Covid-19 outbreak among players and staff. In a statement from CONCACAF, The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, it was announced on Friday night that Guatemala would replace Curacao just one day before the tournament’s start. While the date of their first game has been confirmed neither the time of that match nor the dates of their games against Trinidad and Tobago and Mexico was announced at the time of writing.
Full Schedule of Group Games (TV Schedule)
Saturday July 10th
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El Salvador vs. Guatemala at 5:00 p.m. (Fox Sports 2)
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Trinidad and Tobago vs. Mexico at 10:00 p.m.
Sunday July 11
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Canada vs. Martinique at 6:30 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
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USA vs. Haiti at 8:30 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
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El Salvador vs. Guatemala (TBD)
Monday July 12
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Jamaica vs. Suriname at 6:30 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
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Costa Rica vs. Guadeloupe at 9:00 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
Tuesday July 13
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Qatar vs. Panama at 7:00 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
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Honduras vs. Grenada at 9:00 p.m.(Fox Sports 1)
Wednesday July 14
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Trinidad and Tobago vs. El Salvador at 7:30 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
Thursday July 15
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Haiti vs. Canada at 7:30 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
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Martinique vs. USA at 9:30 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
Friday July 16
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Guadeloupe vs. Jamaica at 6:30 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
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Suriname vs. Costa Rica at 8:30 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
Saturday July 17
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Grenada vs. Qatar at 7:30 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
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Panama vs. Honduras at 9:30 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
Sunday July 18
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Haiti vs. Martinique at 5:00 p.m (Fox Sports 2)
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USA vs. Canada at 5:00 p.m. (Fox)
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Mexico vs. El. Salvador at 10:00 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
Tuesday July 20
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Suriname vs. Guadalupe at 7:00 p.m. (Fox Sports 2)
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Costa Rica vs. Jamaica at 7:00 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
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Honduras vs. Qatar at 9:00 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
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Panama vs. Grenada at 9:00 p.m. (Fox Sports 2)
The quarter finals will be played on July 24 or July 25, semifinal on July 29 and the final will be played on August 1.
How Each Team Qualified
The teams in the tournament were determined based on results from the 2019-20 CONCACAF Nation League.
The United States, Mexico, Costa Rica and Honduras, Jamaica, El Salvador, Grenada and Suriname qualified by winning their groups. Canada, Curacao, Martinique and Panama qualified by placing second in League A.
Guadalupe, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago need to compete in Gold Cup Preliminary games that took place last weekend to qualify for the tournament. Teams qualified for the preliminary games by finishing either third place in League A, second place in Group B, or were the first place team in League C.
Haiti was the highest scoring team in the Gold Cup preliminary rounds as they blew out St. Vincent and the Grenadines 6-1 in their first game and flew past Bermuda 4-1 in their second game to qualify.
Guadeloupe beat the Bahamas 2-0 in the first preliminary game and after they tied Guatemala 1-1 in regulation they won a thrilling penalty shootout, 10-9 , in their second round.
Trinidad and Tobago beat Montserrat 6-1 and beat French Guiana 8-7 in a dramatic penalty shootout after the teams also tied 1-1.
Qatar is a guest participant in the tournament.
Players To Watch:
Leon Bailey of Jamaica and Sherlando Becker of Suriname were two players highlighted on the Bundesliga’s, Germany’s Professional League, website as some of the top players to watch in the tournament.
During their club seasons, Bailey is a winger that plays for Bayer Leverkusen and Becker is also winger and plays for Union Berlin.
The full article can be found here.
CONCACAF’s official website made a “Best XI” for the Gold Cup Preliminary and 10 Caribbean players featured on that list.
Trinidad and Tobago had the most players, 4, on the list: Goalkeeper Nicklas Frenderup, defender Aubrey David, midfielder Ryan Telfer, midfielder Kevin Molino.
Frenderup made the deceive save in the penalty shootout against French Guiana and Molino scored in both the game against French Guiana and Montserrat.
Haiti had 3 players on the list: forward Duckens Nazon,forward Frantzdy Pierrot, winger Derrick Etienne Jr. Pierrot had four goals, Nazon scored three goals and had an assist and Etienne Jr. scored twice during the teams preliminary games.
Guadeloupe had 2 players on the list: defender Ronan Hauterville and midfielder Matthias Phaeton. Phaeton had 2 goals and “was the biggest threat for Guadeloupe” in their games against the Bahamas and Guatemala according to the CONCACAF story.
While not qualifying for the event Bermuda’s Nahki Wells made this list as well with four goals in the two preliminary games.
Fifa Rankings
Coming into the tournament the FIFA Rankings of the participating teams are:
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Mexico (11)
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USA (20)
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Jamaica (45)
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Costa Rica (50)
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Qatar (58)
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Honduras (67)
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El Salvador (69)
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Canada (70)
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Panama (78)
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Haiti (83)
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Trinidad and Tobago (103)
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Guatemala (127)
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Suriname (136)
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Grenada (160)
Martinique and Guadeloupe are not listed in FIFA Rankings because the islands are part of France and are not members of FIFA but are members of CONCACAF.
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