No one can argue that 2020 has been an awful year that we all want to put behind us. But before we look ahead 2021, we have to take a minute to appreciate how sports have provided something resembling normality in recent months.
Considering the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been incredibly lucky to have soccer leagues playing regularly since June.
The first ever Gold Cup Group Stage Draw has pitted the USMNT against the foes from up north, Canada. Joining the U.S. and Canada in Group B is Martinique and the winner of a play-in round that will be one of the following teams: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Bermuda, Barbados or Haiti.
In case you are unfamiliar with the structure of the 2021 Gold Cup, I refer you here.
In 2019, Concacaf held the largest-ever Gold Cup, with 16 teams creating an event that was actually pretty exciting. For the 2021 Gold Cup format, Concacaf is doubling down on the 16-team field but adding some weird new spice to the tournament — and for some reason an odd choice for its first guest participant in over a decade.
Ever since Christian Pulisic torched the Premier League after the restart, many people have been wondering when he will be playing for the red, white and blue again. When is the next USMNT game anyway? Gregg Berhalter said in an interview with USSoccer.com the next USMNT game could be a friendly in October.
Before clicking play on the video above, you obviously know what goal comes in at number one in this countdown. One could argue that Giovani dos Santos’ chip in the 2011 Gold Cup Final is still, to this day, setting the USMNT back further and further. We’ll never truly know the lasting repercussions of Tim Howard, Eric Lichaj, Michael Bradley, Carlos Bocanegra and Jermaine Jones being simultaneously ruined by Dos Santos, but I’ll tell you one thing, the United States still hasn’t recovered.
According to a press release from FOX Sports, the network has landed an exclusive multi-year English-language rights deal with CONCACAF for coverage of the 2021 and 2023 Gold Cups as well as men’s and women’s Olympic qualifiers and the CONCACAF Champions League.
It’s been just over eight years since Giovani dos Santos scored one of the greatest goals in Gold Cup history, putting the finishing touches on a 4-2 Mexico victory over the USMNT during the 2011 final. Fast forward to the present day and it’s his younger brother, Jonathan, who’s cemented El Tri’s continental dominance.
Anyone who has been to or even just watched on TV one of Mexico’s 2019 Gold Cup matches this summer knows it to be true: El Tri fans are still using the anti-gay chant during opposition goal kicks. Fans don’t seem to care that it is indisputably anti-gay and continue to use it despite tame, failed attempts from the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) to stop them.