The 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup was originally scheduled to be held from July 2 through July 25 2021, will now be played from July 10 through August 1 in the U.S.. Mexico are the defending champions.
In the past, Concacaf hand-picked its Gold Cup groups based on commercial and competitive considerations. This year, however, in advance of the 16th regional championship, a proper draw was conducted for the first time. And for the USA, it delivered a tantalizing matchup with Alphonso Davies and Canada.
The road to the 2020 World Cup in Qatar for the U.S. Men’s National Team begins in Austria on March 29 when Gregg Berhalter’s side will meet Jamaica in the rematch of the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup Semifinal. The U.S. will follow up that friendly with a trip to Belfast on April 1 where they will play Northern Ireland.
The Jurgen Klinsmann era as USA national team head coach is getting off to a tough start with a draw and lose at home to two of their biggest CONCACAF rivals.
In Klinsmann’s first game as coach, the United States tied Mexico 1-1 on Aug. 10 in Philadelphia and last night at the Home Depot Center the US suffered an embarrassing loss at home to Costa Rica.
The U.S. dominated possession against a very physical Costa Rica side, but once again lacked that piece of quality in the final third to open up the Ticos defense. Too often the final pass from Donovan, Shea and Chandler were poor.
The US suffered its sixth-straight loss in Costa Rica 3-1 on Wednesday night in a game that was not as close as the score indicated!
With goals 82 seconds into the match and then in the 13th minute, this was a relatively easy World Cup qualifying victory for Costa Rica. It was the worst qualifying result for the USA since their 3-0 defeat at Costa Rica on Oct. 8. 2005. With the loss the U.S. (2-1-1, seven points) dropped into second place in the CONCACAF hexagonal behind the Ticos (3-1-1, 10). The USA will face what is now close to a must-win situation against Honduras in Chicago on Saturday.