CONCACAF Gold Cup 2009

The CONCACAF Gold Cup 2009 will begin on July 3 in the United States, just one day before Independence Day. It will end on 26 July which hopefully will see the USA crowned as the champions, about a month after their appearance in the Confederations Cup 2009 final. This will be the tenth time the football competition is being held and is a chance for the federations in Central America, North America and the Caribbean to earn bragging rights in the region. Unlike earlier editions, the competition has also matured to an extent that teams from other federations are no longer invited to take part.

The USA will try to lift the trophy for the fifth time. Apart from being the current champions, USA are also the nation with the most titles from the CONCACAF Gold Cup after Mexico. The 2009 edition will give them the opportunity to make further inroads into bridging that gap and eventually become the most successful team in the region, not that their World Cup exploits have already put them in that bracket. There will be a total of 12 countries taking part through various qualifying means and privileges, grouped into 3 groups of four teams. They will play round robin style before typically complicated qualifying requirements are applied to determine the quarter finalists.

The CONCACAF Gold Cup 2009 qualifying rules are that the top 2 teams from each group will progress to the quarterfinals on the 18 and 19 July 2009. The two best third placed teams from any of the three groups will also join the other 6. The total of 8 qualifiers will then go on to play for the semi finals to be held on the 23 July 2009. The final will then be held on the 26 July 2009.

The 12 countries taking part in the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2009 will be:

• United States
• Mexico
• Canada
• Panama
• Costa Rica
• Honduras
• El Salvador
• Nicaragua
• Jamaica
• Grenada
• Guadeloupe
• Haiti

The tournament should not only be a showcase of the USA's dominance in the region, but also the various stadiums they have for the sport of football which they call soccer. Most of them are used by teams in the Major League Soccer although a couple are not. These include:

• Home Depot Center
• Gillette Stadium
• Reliant Stadium
• Columbus Crew Stadium
• RFK Stadium
• Qwest Field
• FIU Stadium
• University of Phoenix Stadium
• Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
• Soldier Field
• Lincoln Financial Field
• Giants Stadium
• Cowboys Stadium

Nice to see American football lending a hand to soccer.

Judging from the groups, USA and Mexico have easy routes to the knockout rounds while Group A could be called the popular "Group of Death", borrowing a term now used widely for the most competitive groups in the World Cup and Euro Championship. Group A will consist of Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Jamaica, which apart from the former, all the other three are on relatively equal footing and have the talent at their disposal to make it through. The USA have the really easy group of Grenada, Haiti and Honduras, with the latter the only real challenger to their throne. Mexico will have to deal primarily with Panama in Group C and their match will probably determine who finishes top and second in the group.

So after the Confederations Cup in South Africa, fans of football in North and Central America plus the Caribbean will continue to have a feast of live football right in their own backyard. Well not nearly, but games will still be broadcast mainly in these three regions although the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2009 live streaming online will also be available. Whatever happens, there is bound to be much excitement, and if the USA meets Mexico once again at some stage, hopefully the final, it will be one game to stir the imagination of soccer fans in both countries. Our rivalry is legendary and in recent years the USA have mostly dominated their neighbors, as evidenced in the currently running World Cup qualifiers where we are coasting while the Mexicans could miss out on South Africa. Still, it is hoped that they can do well in the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2009 (but losing to us in the final) and go on to make it to World Cup 2010 with us.

The opening games of the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2009 will be between Canada and Jamaica, and Costa Rica and El Salvador. Expect Costa Rica to make an early statement of intent. We have broken with tradition once again as normally, the host country will play the opening games for international football tournaments. The USA will play on Independence Day instead,not insignificantly, and we will be up against Grenada. Could be a number of goals scored there although I expect some fatigue from the players after their exploits in South Africa during the Confederations Cup. Bear in mind they will only have had a few days of rest prior to starting here again. Here's looking forward to the games ahead!