By Paul Nicholson at the Allianz Field, Saint Paul, Minnesota
June 17 – When the US kick off their Gold Cup campaign against Guyana at the Allianz Field in Saint Paul, Minnesota, tomorrow (Tuesday) they will be marking the competitive start of a new era for the team under Gregg Berhalter.
June 17 – At the pre-match press conference at the Allianz Field in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Trinidad and Tobago coach Dennis Lawrence was asked to name his team. He responded saying “Cummings, Escobar, Torres on the right, Quintero…”, Panama’s key men minus the injured Kevin Galván.
June 17 – With Jamaica hosting the first ever round of Gold Cup matches in the Caribbean today, Concacaf have taken the opportunity to run a series of ‘safeguarding’ professional development workshops in the run-up to the matches.
June 17 – In a traditionally cricket-mad nation, football takes centre stage later today when the Reggae Boyz of Jamaica host a Gold Cup match for the first time ever, taking on Honduras in both team’s Group C opener as the tournament takes the Caribbean by storm.
June 17 – The Gold Cup breaks exciting new ground today as the Group C encounter between Curaçao and El Salvador marks the tournament debut in Kingston, Jamaica, part of Concacaf’s policy to spread the tournament around.
June 17 – The threat of another damaging FIFA suspension that would have seen them thrown them out of the forthcoming African Cup of Nations has been avoided in the nick of time by Mali after it agreed to implement fresh statutes.
June 17 – Costa Rica made Gold Cup history Sunday night, and took three points as well to kick off their 2019 Gold Cup campaign in style.
June 17 – A six-month ban meted out to Egypt’s top referee Gehad Grisha has been overturned amid the ongoing chaos and inconsistency within Africa’s football administration.
June 17 – It was an evening in uncharted Gold Cup territory. While Cost Rica were hosting matches for the first time outside North America, tiny Bermuda were creating a first of their own with their debut in the finals of the tournament.
In the three decades I’ve covered African football, I have gone through the entire gamut of emotions: exhilaration – over some of the continent’s great moments at the Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup; frustration – over the comedic errors our football governors repeatedly make; and deep despair, as one continually questions whether the custodians of a game that means so much, to Africa’s one billion people, will ever live up to their responsibilities and do their darned jobs diligently.
By Paul Nicholson
June 15 – It would not be a major football tournament these days if it wasn’t being stolen for television by a Saudi-based broadcaster. The country that doesn’t allow women in its stadiums is nevertheless taking the women’s World Cup so seriously that it is allowing the piracy of every game from France 2019 on the beoutQ channels.
June 17 – After just one season in charge, Maurizio Sarri has formally left Chelsea to return home and take over as Serie A champions Juventus, it was officially announced after weeks of reports that a deal was being concluded.
By Samindra Kunti in Rio de Janeiro
June 17 – Brazil kicked off the Copa America with a subdued 3-0 win against Bolivia. High tickets prices led to many empty seats during the opening weekend which saw Argentina’s misery continue with a 2-0 defeat by Colombia and Asian champions Qatar battle back to draw 2-2 with Paraguay.
June 16 – Mexican fans started the party at Gold Cup. A crowd of 65,536 poured itself out of the Futbol Fiesta in the grounds surrounding the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to watch a 7-goal fiesta in the stadium as an impressive Mexican dismantled Cuba.
Mexico 7 Cuba 0
By Paul Nicholson at the Rose Bowl, Pasadena
June 15 – Mexico opened their 2019 Gold Cup campaign with a bang, scoring after just two minutes against Cuba before going on to thump in six more goals to demonstrate why they are tournament favourites. They will have much harder games than this but even so it was a message emphatically delivered.