Gold Cup draw was announced:
Group A: USA, Panama, Haiti, Honduras/French Guyana
Group B: Costa Rica, Canada, Jamaica, EL Salvador
Group C: Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, Cuba, Guatemala
11 of the 12 national teams scheduled to participate have qualified for this year’s tournament, including Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago, and the United States. These teams will compete for the Confederation Crown in July along with a final team, which will be determined in late March through a play-in series between the fifth-place finisher of the 2014 UNCAF Central American Cup (Honduras) and the 2014 Caribbean Football Union Caribbean Cup (French Guiana). French Guiana will be the home team for the first leg on March 25, while Honduras will host the return leg on March 29.
USA head coach Jurgen Klinsmann shared his thoughts:
“Right away it puts you on your toes and you have to start the competition focused, concentrated and determined from the first game on. Having Panama in there – who we played the final against in the last Gold Cup – and most likely Honduras are very strong teams. We also have a close look at Haiti. We badly want to win this tournament because we want to qualify for Russia 2017. This is huge to us. The best way to do this is to win this summer so we avoid a playoff game in October.”
