Qualification
Canada flew through qualification for the Gold Cup, finishing second in a tough Nations League group including their bitter neighbours USA. They began by running rings around Cuba in their opening game; a 6-0 thrashing lead by hat trick hero Junior Hoilett. This was followed by a less convincing 0-1 away win, inspired by Bayern Munich starlet Alphonso Davies.
The real talking point, however, lies in their back-to-back tussles with USA,
USA
How they qualified
Coming out of qualifying, USA look like the strongest team in the upcoming Concacaf Gold Cup, having finished top of their Nations League group and winning the Nations League final with an extra-time victory over arch-rivals Mexico. Over the course of the entire Nations League competition, they scored 19 goals and conceded 5; not bad for a team with an average age of 23.
Trinidad and Tobago 6 Monserrat 1
July 2 – Trinidad and Tobago’s players put the off-field soap opera of their federation’s disastrous administration behind them with an emphatic 6-1 win over Monserrat in the First Round of the 2021 Gold Cup Prelims on Friday night at the DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Jamaica
Qualification:
Jamaica qualified for the Gold Cup following a wildly successful CONCACAF Nations League debut, finishing unbeaten at the top of the group, scoring 21 goals and conceding only 1 over the span of 6 games. However, since they secured CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification in November 2019, Jamaica have suffered a series of notable defeats; losing 3-0 to Saudi Arabia, then 4-1 to Gold Cup rivals USA in what could be a telling game in predicting Jamaica’s effectiveness against the bigger sides.
Prelims Qualifier: Bermuda 8 Barbados 1
July 2 – It took just 17 seconds for Nakhi Wells to put Bermuda a goal ahead in the Gold Cup preliminary play-offs and begin what was a night of pain for Barbados as they crashed to an 8-1 defeat.
Prelims Qualifier: Haiti 6 St Vincent and the Grenadines 1:
July 2 – Haiti did what was expected of them in rolling over St Vincent and the Grenadines in the opening preliminary qualifier for the Group Stages of the Gold Cup. Duckens Nazon, Haiti’s free scoring forward was their hero. St Vincent had 13 heroes.
Mexico
Qualifying
Mexico enter the Concacaf Gold Cup after finishing top of their qualifying group, easing past Bermuda and Panama as expected, winning every game of the group stage. Their most recent outing in the Concacaf Nations League in June saw them lose out to USA following a 114th minute winner courtesy of Chelsea star Christian Pulisic. During the group stage of Nations League qualifying, they scored a convincing 13 goals in 4 games,
Curaçao
How they qualified
Curaçao booked their ticket for the finals as one of the four group runners-up in the A League of the inaugural Concacaf Nations League. In Group D, they finished behind Costa Rica, but ahead of Haiti.
Tournament Record
This is the team’s third participation. In 2017, Curaçao debuted in the tournament in group D with Mexico, El Salvador and Jamaica, but failed to garner a single point.
Suriname
How they qualified
The Surinamese progressed to the main draw as one of four group winners in the 2019-20 Concacaf Nations League B. They punched their ticket by bossing group B, even though Saint Vincent and the Grenadines proved to be tricky challengers. Suriname garnered 13 points and scored an impressive 16 goals. Gleofilo Vlijter was the League’s top scorer with ten strikes.
Tournament Record
The country returns for the first time in 36 years to the Gold Cup.
July 2 – The Concacaf Gold Cup is the kind of championship that will guarantee stories of triumph over adversity, of teams and individuals doing remarkable things to inspire countries large and small.
July 1 – At the 2019 Gold Cup, Haiti were the surprise package, battling their way to to a semi-final against the tournament’s class act Mexico, a glorious run that was ended in a penalty shoot-out.
Qatar
How they qualified
The team was invited to participate for the first time. Qatar will also feature in the 2023 Gold Cup.
Tournament Record
None.
Star Man
Akram Afif
It still has to be Afif, even though he is never reached the heights of his 2019 Asian Cup winning performances. However, he still makes Qatar tick going forward and his link-up play with Almoez Ali is unmatched.
El Salvador
How they qualified
The team sealed a finals spot as one of four group winners in the 2019-20 Concacaf Nations League B. They dominated Group B, seeing off the Dominican Republic and Saint Lucia, and Monserrat. On matchday two, El Salvador suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat to the Dominican Republic, but they still topped the group on 15 points.
June 24 – Football is one of eight sports at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics this August that will use a lottery system to decide which ticketholders can attend matches.
June 14 – Brazil defeated a depleted Venezuela 3-0 in the curtain raiser of the Copa America, a tournament that was shifted away from both Colombia and Argentina at the eleventh hour but has still been badly hit by the coronavirus.