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Upcoming Copa Centroamericana to take place in USA

AlvaroSaborioCostaRica1-Honduras2013 (EFE)

By DAN KARELL

International soccer will be heading to the U.S. even after the World Cup ends.

The Union of Central American Football (UNCAF) confirmed on Tuesday that it will play the 2014 Copa Centroamericana tournament in the United States between Sept. 1-14. Matches are expected to take place in Washington D.C., Houston, Dallas, and Los Angeles.

Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama will take part in the tournament, with the top five finishers earning a place in the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup. According to a report by Spanish news agency EFE, one of the main reasons for moving the tournament to the U.S. was the financial incentive of playing games in front of big crowds of expatriates.

The previous edition of the Copa Centroamericana took place in Costa Rica in January 2013. Los Ticos prevailed in the final, 1-0, against Honduras.

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What do you think of this news? Glad to see more international soccer here in the USA? Do you think these games will draw fans to the stadium?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Kinda feel bad for the people in their home countries. “You, as a Central American, won’t see your national team play live in your country’s stadiums because more money can be made en el norte. Tune into the game on Univision or Telemundo, where the commentators will only talk about Mexico even though Mexico’s not in the tournament.” But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised — soccer’s more a business than a sport these days.

    That said, speaking as a neutral fan in this…VAMOS BELIZE!

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  2. i suppose its good for the $$ they’ll make but for me, as someone who believes UNCAF should host a gold cup someday, this seems to be a step away from that.

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  3. does this make any sense at all? do they play with their B teams?

    why can’t Canada host it or Costa Rica? The USA is stealing all their monies

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    • It looks like all the matches will be in MLS stadiums so the MLS is going to take their money and probably a lot of their best players. A lot the players on these National teams are mostly from their domestic leagues.

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    • Dude,
      Stop that attitude this instant or you are going to piss of all your Belizianosto friends if you don’t share in their joy with them.

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  4. before you know it the Hexagonal will also be played entirely in the U.S. The USMNT will play home games in Seattle and Columbus crowd and “away” games in every other major city

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    • Isn’t that the case already? Seattle, Denver, Kansas City, and Columbus really go all out for the home team to their great credit, but few cities elsewhere do.

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  5. concacaf should just let 2 more Caribbean teams and the 2 CA teams eliminated by this tournament into the Gold Cup giving us a full 16 team Gold Cup… no more third place teams advancing..

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    • LOL, Somehow I don’t think FIFA will leave any money on the table for long! Qatar will bid to host the next Copa Centroamericana.

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    • If you look at the last tournament, the fans turned out in droves for Costa Rica but not much of anyone else. By moving it to the US where most of the teams will have expat fan bases it’s like having multiple hosts with excited fans.

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    • I think we can amend this.

      Everyone is cashing in on playing games in the US. Except FIFA…yet.

      Let’s never underestimate the money-grubbing colossus that is FIFA. They’ll get their fingers in the pies soon enough.

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