Gold Cup Groups

[socluis90]

2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup™ Groups Announcement on Wednesday March 2

1.3.05 -
NEW YORK (Tuesday, March 1, 2005) Media are advised that on Wednesday March 2 CONCACAF will announce from its offices in New York City the final groups and schedule for the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup™. CONCACAF will also be confirming the second of two guest teams to have accepted an invitation to participate in the event.
The announcement of teams and the full tournament match schedule will be made available online at www.CONCACAF.com starting at 12.00pm on Wednesday, March 2.

This will be followed at 2pm by a Media Teleconference call with CONCACAF General Secretary, Chuck Blazer.

CONCACAF will also be making available video footage from the announcement of the groups through a video news release on Wednesday, with details listed below.

PLEASE NOTE: These announcements replace the previously scheduled press conference that was to be held at Giants Stadium on March 2. These plans had to be rearranged due to the travel problems caused by the expected adverse weather conditions in the area.

Twelve teams will compete for the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup™ including Canada, USA and Mexico from North America; Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama from Central America; and Caribbean representatives Cuba, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago. They will be joined by two guest teams; South Africa and one to be announced on March 2.


http://www.concacaf.com/view_article.asp?id=2963

[pasoccerdave]

Quoting CONCACAF Press release:

PLEASE NOTE: These announcements replace the previously scheduled press conference that was to be held at Giants Stadium on March 2. These plans had to be rearranged due to the travel problems caused by the expected adverse weather conditions in the area.


Expected adverse weather conditions? Maybe we should give these guys a little more respect? :D

[GPK]

Schedule

http://www.concacaf.com/competitions/goldcup/2005/downloads/GC2005_english_scheduleV4.pdf

[Davids26]

So with that we can confirm the second guest team is Colombia.

Group A:
Honduras
Panama
Trinidad & Tobago
Colombia

7/6 Colombia-Panama 7PM @ Miami
7/6 Honduras-Trinidad 9PM @ Miami
7/9 Panama-Trinidad 7PM @ Miami
7/9 Colombia-Honduras 9PM @ Miami
7/11 Colombia-Trinidad 7PM @ Miami
7/11 Honduras-Panama 9PM @ Miami

Group B:
USA
Cuba
Costa Rica
Canada

7/7 Costa Rica - Canada 5:30PM @ Seattle
7/7 USA-Cuba 7:30PM @ Seattle
7/9 Costa Rica-Cuba 11:30AM @ Seattle
7/9 USA-Canada 1:30 PM @ Seattle
7/12 USA-Costa Rica 7PM @ Foxboro
7/12 Canada-Cuba 9PM @ Foxboro

Group C:
Mexico
Jamaica
South Africa
Guatemala

7/8 South Africa-Mexico 7PM @ Home Depot
7/8 Jamaica-Guatemala 9PM @ Home Depot
7/10 Mexico-Guatemala 12PM @ Coliseum
7/10 Jamaica-South Africa 2PM @ Coliseum
7/13 Guatemala-South Africa 7PM @ Houston
7/13 Jamaica-Mexico 9PM @ Houston

All Times are Local

[Captain Canuck]

That Group A seems to be a little weird. Is anyone considered the top seed, and if so, on what basis?

[sidspaceman]

Colombia, they won their group last time and they are playing in Miami.

[picaraza]

Pretty clever scheduling:

USA and Canada up north in Seattle.
Mexico and Guatemala in Los Angeles.
Colombia, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago in Florida. (But no Cuba!)

The "luck of the draw", I suppose. Attendence ought to be pretty good.

-----
I'm disappointed with the groupings. I'd rather we had a tougher group. Why does Mexico have all the fun?

[Davids26]

Pretty clever scheduling:

USA and Canada up north in Seattle.
Mexico and Guatemala in Los Angeles.
Colombia, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago in Florida. (But no Cuba!)

The "luck of the draw", I suppose. Attendence ought to be pretty good.

-----
I'm disappointed with the groupings. I'd rather we had a tougher group. Why does Mexico have all the fun?

Cuba in Florida wouldn't go over well... If you look at past Gold Cups it has been a point to keep Cuba as far away from Miami as possible.

Curious how again we see Cuba, Costa Rica, and Canada all together in a group yet again. I think those are the three teams that CONCACAF knows won't draw big numbers, so they stick them together in the Group stage every year. Cuba will never draw big numbers anywhere in the US, as those who have come here from Cuba are not big fans of their former country. Putting Canada closer to the border will help attendence maybe a little bit. Costa Rica isn't a big draw for GC games either. I think the hope is that since they're in the US group, they'll draw a bit better.

[Captain Canuck]

Colombia, they won their group last time and they are playing in Miami.

Well, you could say the same about Costa Rica (who drew quite well in Miami when I saw them there in 2002), only for whatever reason Costa Rica has to play 2nd fiddle to the US this time round.

No disrepect to Colombia, but for the Concacaf Gold Cup I think the three seeds (since there are only three groups) should be from the region.

[MLSNHTOWN]

7/13 Guatemala-South Africa 7PM @ Houston
7/13 Jamaica-Mexico 9PM @ Houston

All Times are Local

Yuck!

[IASocFan]

Houston also gets:

Sunday, July 17
Quarterfinal 3 @ 2:00 pm
C1 v 3A or B - probably Mexico - Panama

Quarterfinal 4 @ 5:00 pm
C2 v A2 - probably South Africa - Honduras


----Hope that helps! :D

Did you expect the USA to go to Houston and Mexico to Seattle and Foxboro?

[MLSNHTOWN]

Deep down inside I am hoping the US gets third in the group and plays Mexico in the quarters.

[dayvi]

Group B:
USA
Cuba
Costa Rica
Canada

7/7 Costa Rica - Canada 5:30PM @ Seattle
7/7 USA-Cuba 7:30PM @ Seattle
7/9 Costa Rica-Cuba 11:30AM @ Seattle
7/9 USA-Canada 1:30 PM @ Seattle
7/12 USA-Costa Rica 7PM @ Foxboro
7/12 Canada-Cuba 9PM @ Foxboro


Are you inferring those match-ups from the order of teams or did you find an actual schedule. If the former, is that reliable?

[MoRado]

Well, you could say the same about Costa Rica (who drew quite well in Miami when I saw them there in 2002), only for whatever reason Costa Rica has to play 2nd fiddle to the US this time round.

No disrepect to Colombia, but for the Concacaf Gold Cup I think the three seeds (since there are only three groups) should be from the region.

I totally agree here, i was expecting either CAN or CR as group headers

[GPK]

Schedule

http://www.concacaf.com/competitions/goldcup/2005/downloads/GC2005_english_scheduleV4.pdf

I'm quoting myself. :cool:

[Captain Canuck]

I totally agree here, i was expecting either CAN or CR as group headers

I was expecting CR, myself. Canada's Gold Cup win from 5 years ago is enough to get us automatic entry into the tourney, fair enough, but that's as far as it should go - Costa Rica deserves to be a seed more than Canada does.

[MoRado]

Group B:
USA
Cuba
Costa Rica
Canada
´

No!!!!! Cuba again! i hope CR does better this time against the cubans.......CAN and US are fine, i ratter see CR playin´ US in the group stage than on the second round.

Cuba should have played in MIAMI......

[picaraza]

I see that Jamaica, Cuba, and Trinidad & Tobago have all qualified from the Caribbean. And that Barbados just missed the cut in the CFU DIGICEL CUP.

What happened to Haiti? Presumedly, they were knocked out in a preliminary round. I can only assume that Haiti was knocked out by a top team (top Caribbean team) and that Trinidad & Tobago, by sheer luck (no doubt), got an easy draw.

[Flyin Ryan]

In the Caribbean, they played down to 3 finalists with Barbados automatically in the Caribbean finals as hosts. In the last qualifying round, Jamaica trounced French Guiana, Cuba edged Haiti, and Trinidad defeated St. Vincent. So Trinidad in this case got the middle draw.

[Davids26]

I think the Cubans in Miami would have rioted had the NT played there. It is probably one of the few countries in the US where the immigrant population would show actual disdain for the country of their birth. The Cuban government is far from popular in Miami, and there is a reason why their national team has NEVER been grouped there...

But I'd be pissed if I were a CR, Canada, or Cuban fan to have the exact same group once again...