The USMNT (U.S. Men's National Team) takes on Honduras tonight at 9:30 in the first game of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The U.S. is in a group with Honduras, Panama, and Haiti. While no team in this region is Germany or Brazil by any means, it certainly isn't the easiest group the U.S. could've drawn. Honduras made the World Cup last cycle and Panama always plays the USMNT extremely tough. To spare you the TL;DR, I've laid out the following:
Background: What's CONCACAF?
International soccer is broken up into regions which are mostly (but not entirely) based on continent. European countries and territories play in UEFA, for example. CONCACAF is the region the U.S. is in. It stands for something like the Confederation of North, Central, and Caribbean Football -- so it's all countries in North and Central America and the Caribbean Islands. South America has its own region -- CONMEBOL -- and thus is separate from CONCACAF.
Why is this tournament important?
Two main reasons and an added benefit:
1). The winner of this year's Gold Cup qualifies as CONCACAF's representative in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. As such, all participants will 'take it seriously' and deploy their best possible team of players in this tournament.
2). If the USMNT wants to be one of the best international sides in the world, it needs to consistently show it's the best in its region.
Added benefit: This is the first competitive tournament since the World Cup, so it gives Jurgen Klinsmann and his staff the opportunity to see old and new players in a competitive environment, which will help them decide which players should be called up to the team when the USMNT starts 2018 World Cup qualification in 2016. Plus, this tournament simply gives all players more experience on the national team.
What is the format?
There's (3) groups of (4) teams. Like the World Cup, you play each of the three teams in your group one time. In this round, you get 3 pts for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss. After these three games, the top two teams in each group advance to the knockout (single-elimination) round. Additionally, the two best third-place teams advance as well -- so eight teams advance to the next round. From there, it becomes a simple 8-team bracket like the Elite 8; win and advance.
Who are the scariest teams to watch out for?
Mexico (everyone knows they're, at worst, equal to the USMNT), Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama
What is the Confederations Cup and why is it important we qualify for it?
The Confederations Cup is always played the summer before the World Cup, so it will be summer 2017 this cycle. It's an 8-team tournament that features the best team (which is decided through intra-regional tournaments like the Gold Cup) from each of the 6 world regions: CONCACAF, CONMEBOL (South America), CAF (Africa), UEFA (Europe), AFC (Asia), OFC (Oceanic countries in the Pacific) + the reigning World Cup winner (Germany) and the host country of the upcoming World Cup (Russia).
So, with such a talented field, it greatly benefits the USMNT to take part in the tournament. Getting to play legitimate European and South American countries in an actual competitive setting outside the World Cup is very rare, so it's a great opportunity for us. The USMNT played in the 2009 Confederations Cup but did NOT qualify for the 2013 edition (Mexico did).
Background: What's CONCACAF?
International soccer is broken up into regions which are mostly (but not entirely) based on continent. European countries and territories play in UEFA, for example. CONCACAF is the region the U.S. is in. It stands for something like the Confederation of North, Central, and Caribbean Football -- so it's all countries in North and Central America and the Caribbean Islands. South America has its own region -- CONMEBOL -- and thus is separate from CONCACAF.
Why is this tournament important?
Two main reasons and an added benefit:
1). The winner of this year's Gold Cup qualifies as CONCACAF's representative in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. As such, all participants will 'take it seriously' and deploy their best possible team of players in this tournament.
2). If the USMNT wants to be one of the best international sides in the world, it needs to consistently show it's the best in its region.
Added benefit: This is the first competitive tournament since the World Cup, so it gives Jurgen Klinsmann and his staff the opportunity to see old and new players in a competitive environment, which will help them decide which players should be called up to the team when the USMNT starts 2018 World Cup qualification in 2016. Plus, this tournament simply gives all players more experience on the national team.
What is the format?
There's (3) groups of (4) teams. Like the World Cup, you play each of the three teams in your group one time. In this round, you get 3 pts for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss. After these three games, the top two teams in each group advance to the knockout (single-elimination) round. Additionally, the two best third-place teams advance as well -- so eight teams advance to the next round. From there, it becomes a simple 8-team bracket like the Elite 8; win and advance.
Who are the scariest teams to watch out for?
Mexico (everyone knows they're, at worst, equal to the USMNT), Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama
What is the Confederations Cup and why is it important we qualify for it?
The Confederations Cup is always played the summer before the World Cup, so it will be summer 2017 this cycle. It's an 8-team tournament that features the best team (which is decided through intra-regional tournaments like the Gold Cup) from each of the 6 world regions: CONCACAF, CONMEBOL (South America), CAF (Africa), UEFA (Europe), AFC (Asia), OFC (Oceanic countries in the Pacific) + the reigning World Cup winner (Germany) and the host country of the upcoming World Cup (Russia).
So, with such a talented field, it greatly benefits the USMNT to take part in the tournament. Getting to play legitimate European and South American countries in an actual competitive setting outside the World Cup is very rare, so it's a great opportunity for us. The USMNT played in the 2009 Confederations Cup but did NOT qualify for the 2013 edition (Mexico did).