A Look Ahead to the CONCACAF Gold Cup

23.06.23 1002

It's the seventeenth edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup this summer with the United States men's national team aiming to win their second trophy of the season after a successful Nations League campaign.

The U.S is also on home soil for this tournament, with a few games played on Canadian ground too, as they aim to win back-to-back Gold Cup trophies.

Let’s take a look ahead to the Gold Cup.

Who is at the Finals?

The Gold Cup is split into four groups with the U.S seeing Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Saint Kitts and Nevis all battling it out in Group A. Group B sees one of the favourites, Mexico, play against Haiti, Honduras and Qatar in what should be a comfortable run for them.

In Group C, things are expected to be much closer with Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador and Martinique all battling it out with one another. Over in Group D, one of the host nations, Canada, will match up against Guatemala, Cuba and Guadeloupe.

From all four groups, the top two sides in each one will advance into the knockout stages where a quarter-final will take place before the semi-finals and the final that is set to be played at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

Who Could Snatch the Trophy?

It is the host nation that we should be keeping an eye on. The U.S are the defending champions of the Gold Cup after success two years ago and they also come into this one having won the Nations League title once again.

The Yanks managed to beat Mexico in the semi-finals of the Nations League just under two weeks ago before then going on to defeat Canada in the final. Better yet, the U.S scored four goals across those games and didn’t concede a single one.

Mexico is also another side to watch out for, with Henry Martin heading into this tournament after scoring 27 times across 42 games for America in Liga MX. They are, however, without stars like Javier Hernandez and Carlos Vela these days.

Canada will give it a good go, but they see a lot of their stars head out on a break after the end of the European season. In fact, after scoring 24 Ligue 1 goals, Jonathan David won’t be in attendance for the Maple Leafs, while Alphonso Davies of Bayern Munich won’t play either.

It looks as if the U.S could rack up a second trophy this summer.