[chibchab]

Last night in a Colombian news show it was mentioned that Colombia would participate in this summers' Gold Cup. Is this news? Any info?

[Davids26]

They've been involved before (2000), this wouldn't be a surprise as CONMEBOL usually sends at least one team to the Gold Cup.

[kasai]

Nothing against Colombia, but they were just here and they will be participating in the Confederation Cup, which the US is in as well. I hope to see new teams in this Gold Cup. I hope Iran will be a guest, but I doubt it with the current political climate.

[sidspaceman]

Sorry to disappoint ya Kasi but I am pretty sure that Colombia is going to be one of the guest teams. The other guest team is probably going to be Peru.

[chappler]

Anybody heard what cities and venues will be used for the Gold Cup in July?

[sidspaceman]

I've heard Boston, D.C. and Miami.

[SocrStopr13]

How much do you think tickets will cost?

[RalRhino]

This is my pet peeve with CONCACAF (well, my main one.) Why ask nations from outside of the region to play in the regional championship? Its not like there aren't enough teams to fill out a 12 team field. Yes, Columbia might be better than the CONCACAF teams not in the Cup, but what happens if they win the whole thing? Technically, they would be inline to represent CONCACAF in the next Confederations Cup.

CONCACAF will never be taken seriously until they stop inviting outsiders to play in the Gold Cup!

I would be very interested in hearing from someone who disagrees with this opinion.



In an unrelated story, UEFA announced that, based on their strong performance at the World Cup, Senegal has been invited to play in Euro 2004.

[kasai]

Hard to get too excited over guests like Colombia and Peru. At least Colombia is a highly ranked country, but they just participated in the Gold Cup. I guess the prestige of having a South American side will help boost the tourney.

[sidspaceman]

Seems like Peru got the boot and Brazil will get the invite instead.