The 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup groups are officially set.
Monday’s draw saw all 12 qualified teams learn their fate for the group stage which kicks off in July 10th. 12 additional teams will kick off preliminary round play on July 2nd, with the three winners of the stage clinching the final three spots in the group stage.
The U.S. Men’s National Team was paired with Canada and Martinique in Group B, and will also be joined by the winner of preliminary group 8. Among the teams that could clinch the final spot are Haiti, Bermuda, Barbados, or St. Vincent & the Grenadines.
It will be the continued recent rivalry between the USMNT and Canada after meeting in the Concacaf Nations League last year. Canada defeated the USMNT for the first time in 24 years in Toronto before the Americans exacted revenge in November in Orlando.
“It’s a good group,” Berhalter said. “Canada has a great generation coming through and the other opponents we’ll see who gets in the four spot but it’s definitely a good group.”
Your Gold Cup 2021 Groups are set! ?
What is the toughest group? #ThisIsOurs pic.twitter.com/885MxSvzri
— Gold Cup (@GoldCup) September 29, 2020
Defending Gold Cup winners Mexico will be joined by El Salvador, Curacao and the preliminary group 9 winners. Trinidad & Tobago and and Cuba are among the four possible teams for that spot.
Asian winners Qatar are a special guest for the competition and will be in Group D with Honduras, Panama, and Grenada. The 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts should bring a new test for the other Concacaf sides.
The United States will host the competition, but venues have not yet been chosen due to the COVID-19 pandemic still impacting the country.
Here are all of the four groups for the Concacaf Gold Cup:
Group A: Mexico, El Salvador, Curacao, [Cuba, French Guyana, Montserrat, or Trinidad and Tobago].
Group B: United States, Canada, Martinique, [Haiti, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Bermuda, or Barbados].
Group C: Costa Rica, Jamaica, Suriname, [Guadeloupe, Bahamas, Guatemala, or Guyana].
Group D: Honduras, Panama, Grenada, Qatar.
Oh and I love how SBI trolls MB haters by using his picture so much on general USMNT posts. So funny…
Did anyone else watch this draw live? It was soooooooooo CONCCACAF. Very painful to watch but I just couldn’t turn it off – proverbial trainwreck or car crash or whatever (and partially because my remote control batteries conked out during it). The music for “highlights” reminded me of a bad ketamine trip. It was beyond bad.
Uggggh I almost forgot that Berhalter was still coach. If not for this pandemic, I think he would have been gone by now. We have a lot of young stars now and I for one am anxious to see how and if they are included in the next USMNT outing. Berholder should forget many that he was calling before things went bad. Including Bradley and Jozy. Lets see if he’s learned anything during these months off
i agree with your concerns. i think the US program has lost their way. if we were objectively about wins instead of this ephemeral missionary “identity change” stuff, berhalter would be long gone based on how bad we look and what concrete results we’ve achieved. part of how you decide how well a system “works” is do the results improve. i feel like they have regressed to like 80s or 90s quality. we’re back to “will we beat canada” and “beating mexico” is almost out of the question. even sarachan got more done than this, and he sucked. so if we were objective he’d be gone. interestingly, a lot changed in the front office last year, parlow replaced cordeiro, jay berhalter left, stewart got punted upstairs, and mcbride is now the one directly over the NT. i would like to believe parlow and mcbride, while wanting the team to grow, would be more skeptical and concrete about how we are doing. one of my concerns has been the lack of objective expectations and milestones to test whether the system changes are working. that we test whether the system is of value or the coach is effective, by wanting us to reach certain quality or win demands by set dates. so my hope is with more serious and less “religious” leadership, they will be tougher about whether this is actually going anyplace.
personally i think dutch soccer is pretty bridesmaid soccer, to which we are ill suited at present. i think the germans, italians, and french have more grasp on what wins world cups. if we are going to mimic fashionable styles there are better templates with more balanced approaches to soccer. i personally would like to see a split between trying to improve child technique versus maximizing adult results by melding current pool to system. i also think berhalter is not a sharp eye for talent, and slow walks the prospects he does bring in, which holds back a team where the talent is in the younger end of the pool……pulisic, mckennie, reyna. if you name an older player, you typically trip over a running debate on who should be playing there instead. if qualifying re-starts i hope we are more rigorous and tough minded going forward. berhalter either produces or should go. i am disinterested in blowing another world cup we should easily make on some sort of missionary dutch soccer obsession. we were a regional power and top 16 team before and anything that doesn’t immediately get us at least that competitive is a bill of goods.
If the Nations League final four takes place I don’t see the US going for both. I think we’d go for NL because it’s supposed to be right after the season then our Euro stars could play the two matches and then recover for the next season. The Olympics could complicate things further. The depth of the pool will be tested but could benefit depth going into qualifying.
i think there is a big covid “if” on all of this schedule. however to the extent it happens, with NL now punted to june, i foresee both it and gold cup being experimental. as it stands, we would have 4 June qualifiers. you would not want to tire out your “A” team in NT when quali that month is what really matters. nor would it be wise to bring back the “A” team after 4 games in June, for the August Gold Cup. they should be rested for Fall qualifiers. personally i see the Olympics as a second rate concern and would send an experimental younger team to Gold Cup, and then remaining U23s to the Olympics — if we even qualify for that. i feel like the Olympic obsession is a distraction of no long term meaning to how good the senior team is. i think it’s a lame concern with reputation. other “good” teams struggle with the Olympics as well. it is simply an awkward age group where one does not get their first choice selection. and we graduate players like Pulisic out of the program. in any event, given the choice of playing players under serious NT consideration in Tokyo or Gold Cup, Gold Cup is the sterner and more proximate test of readiness. it would give you several adult age group games to see if players are ready. you claim there is no time to try new ideas. that’s your window right there, that and NL. several games, decent competition, sink or swim. no risk to world cup qualification. you pick the ones who shine and incorporate them into the quali “A” team. i don’t see the point of sending the “A” team to NL or Gold Cup when the schedule is so packed, rest at a premium, and certain players like Pulisic start to look bad when tired. America needs to get over the idea their reputation is at stake each piddly friendly or tournament. the bigger picture is do you win your regional tournament, do you dominate qualifying, and how do you do at the world cup. the world maybe slightly sniffles if you lose a friendly or two.
Group A is going to end up being: Mexico, El Salvador, Curacao, T&T
Group B is going to end up being: United States, Canada, Martinique, & Haiti
Group C is going to end up being: Costa Rica, Jamaica, Suriname, & Guadeloupe
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Mexico shouldn’t have any issues @ Group A.
USA will have to be careful of Canada and watch out for Haiti’s counter attack.
Group C is going to be interesting…CR is on the decline while Jamaica is on the rise w/ Guadeloupe as a dark horse.
that would be a tougher group for us than it looks like. we split with canada last year. our last haiti game at GC 15 was 1-0 after a scoreless first half. our last martinique game at GC 17 was 3-2 with the winner scored 76′ in.
for that matter, world cup qualifying when we split canada, split jamaica, lost to mexico twice, and modestly beat CR’s C team 2-0, is no guarantee either.
i do think canada would have PTSD from the last tournament if haiti popped up again.
They’ll have PTSD from a 3-2 loss that they lead after 45 minutes but not a 4-1 drubbing that they were never in? It’s almost like you leave out that we destroyed them in the return leg because it doesn’t fit your narrative.
simple, dude — they don’t have to beat us to advance. but they do have to finish second. i also think you don’t understand how a mixed bag works out psychologically versus a single game. canada had one shot at haiti and got whooped. that is one scenario. that makes you nervous. canada played us twice and won once decisively, while losing the other decisively. that is a different scenario. they would think they could beat us.
for that matter, by your theory, we should have PTSD in reverse. they made us look bad away. but having won the other game, dude, that’s now this works. one time in club we tied a good team and whooped them the other game in league. when we saw them in state they came to play the third time and we won close. i don’t know of many good teams that just fold because you have one blowout win. i know of bad teams that fold when that’s all that happens every time they remember.
sorry. i wonder sometimes if you actually played. this is the psychology when you actually played someone. if i got a result before i can get it again.
Canada led Haiti until the 70th minute, they didn’t get whipped, they had a bad six minutes. By the way they are a pretty good team led by Davies who is world class and David who is now starting ahead of Tim Weah at Lille.