Yep, there was a premature announcement a few weeks back I guess. Or maybe someone in the press misinterpreted something. Final in Philly, semis in New York and QFs in Atlanta/Baltimore was certainly released by someone. But that's cool. Atlanta is definitely more accessible to me anyway. ; )
So according to Grant Wahl on Twitter, if the one game playoff is needed the playoff will be in the US in October
A little bummed to only see 1 network game but oh well. FS1 and FS2 are far better than Fox Soccer Channel
The times of the Dallas games are listed (the page that comes up when you go to the Concacaf home page) are 7:00 PM (EST) / 6:00 PM (LOCAL) then 9:30 PM (EST) / 8:30 PM (LOCAL). Your picture lists 5:00 and 7:30, which doesn't match either the EST or LOCAL time for either game. Either (once again) they screwed up the time zones in one listing or another, or these are actually new game times.
Summary by TV network: Fox: 1 Quarterfinal (1 game) Fox Sports 1: 7 Group Stage, 2 Quarterfinals, 1 Semifinal, and Final (11 games) Fox Sports 2: 11 Group Stage, 1 Quarterfinal, 1 Semifinal, and Third Place (14 games) Total: 26 games
If it is Mexico, they make more money from "Home" matches in the US than they do in Mexico. Look back at their schedule and you will see that the majority of their "home" friendlies are in the United States.
Sure but all the official home games are in Mexico. Besides even though Mexico is the clear favorite a country like Costa Rica could also win it and they would be at a huge disadvantage having to play the extra game in the USA. Since that game will determine the Confederations cup participant if it had to be a one off a neutral country should have been the choice. Unfortunately Webb and co are following the tradition of maximizing money over fair competition.
I don't have an issue with only doing one game, but I do agree it shouldn't be in the US. Money talks though, and US-Mexico in the Rose Bowl will make a hell of a lot more than US-Mexico in Kingston, Jamaica
As a "neutral site" game, it will almost certainly be in LA/Texas/Chicago where it will get at least half Mexico fans. If anything, the US is at a disadvantage from not getting to schedule a home game somewhere it will get a very pro-US crowd (Columbus or similar). While the crowd isn't the only factor in home-field advantage, Mexico plays in the US so often that the familiarity factors are pretty much a push. If someone other than Mexico wins, though, it certainly will be unfair.
Gold Cup Regulations: (ISSUU) http://www.concacaf.com/category/gold-cup/regulations (PDF) http://www.concacaf.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Gold-Cup-Regulations-2015-ENG.pdf Now there has been some questions on whether the Copa Centennial 2016 would get played, but here are the reg's on the qualifiers for this tournament. (I had not before seen that the Gold Cup champion gets a bid without having to go through a playoff). [Note that Mexico not only gets an auto-bid, but the claim here is that they get a seed.] (By the way, section 5 does say that a Confederations Cup playoff between USA and the 2015 winner would be a single match): GENERAL PROVISIONS I. THE CONCACAF GOLD CUP[TM] 6. The Gold Cup 2015 will also serve as the qualifying tournament for the special edition 2016 Copa America Centenario as follows: -- The automatic berths for the 2016 Copa America Centenario are as follows: < Team 1: USA (Host) < Team 2: Mexico (Seeded) < Team 3: Winner of the 2014 UNCAF Nations Cup < Team 4: Winner of the 2014 CFU Caribbean Cup -- The winner of the 2015 Gold Cup, if different from the automatic berth stated above shall also have automatic berth to the 2016 Copa America Centenario. If this is the case, then the next two best performing teams that do not have an automatic berth, shall define the final spot in a single PLAY-OFF game on a date to be determined by CONCACAF, for the final qualifying spot to the Copa America Centenario -- Should the 2015 Gold Cup winner already BE one of the teams with automatic berth to the 2016 Copa America Centenario mentioned above, the next best four performers that do not have automatic berths shall be ranked and paired for a single play-off game in a double header on a date to be determined by CONCACAF -- The ranking of the teams shall be done in accordance with their overall performance at the 2015 Gold Cup with the highest ranked pairing with the lowest ranked and second pairing with third.
Pretty weird knockout matchups it seems the first place team in group B will have a much tougher game than the second place team in group B. First place has to play second in group A which will probably be Panama or Honduras where as second place has to play second in group c which will probably be Guatemala or Trinidad.
Given how many first, second, and third place teams advance, it's guaranteed that two first place teams will face third place teams, one first place team will face a second place team, and two second place teams will play each other in the Quarterfinals. When the bracket is made the groups are treated as equally difficult even if that isn't the case. The World Cup also treats the groups as equals in the bracket. A team that finishes second in its World Cup group with 6 points could get a harder Round of 16 matchup than a team that finishes second in its World Cup group with 4 points. One alternative would be to rank the teams that finished in the same spot in their group by points and goal differential and make a bracket from 1 to 8 like the CONCACAF Champions League. The 1 through 3 seeds would automatically be first place teams, the 4 through 6 seeds would automatically be second place teams, and the 7 and 8 seeds would automatically be third place teams. The problems with that is that two teams from the same group could meet in the Quarterfinals. Another alternative would be 4 groups of 3.
I understand that JCC was trying to predict the group placings, and comparing the relative strengths of the QF matchups, but the main reason the matchups were done this way, was so that if USA and MEX finish 1 or 2 in their groups, then they would be bracketed to match up in the Final. If either finish third, the matchup could occur sooner.
United States definitely sending their A-team. Goalkeepers (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake), William Yarbrough (Club Leon) Defenders (7): Ventura Alvarado (Club America), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Timmy Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Fabian Johnson (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Tim Ream (Bolton Wanderers) Midfielders (9): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Mix Diskerud (New York City FC), Alfredo Morales (FC Ingolstadt), DeAndre Yedlin (Tottenham Hotspur), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City) Forwards (4): Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders), Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)
Wasn't that obvious? http://www.concacaf.com/article/concacaf-gold-cup-2015-final-23-player-rosters-announced has all the rosters.
BSMX posters say that we never admit that we have an A team. So I'm just putting that out of the way right now. Also, some here claimed that last GC squad was an A team (because Donovan) so I don't think everyone knows in this forum.
I agree that 16 teams would make the format better, but Guyana allowed 4 goals per game in the WCQ Semifinals for World Cup 2014, and Cuba scored 1 goal in 6 games. There will be too many games with big margins of victory if the Gold Cup expands. If I had to make a qualifying format for a 16 team Gold Cup, here is who I would include: USA Mexico Canada UNCAF 1 UNCAF 2 UNCAF 3 UNCAF 4 UNCAF 5 CFU 1 CFU 2 CFU 3 CFU 4 CFU 5 CFU 6 Playoff between UNCAF 6 or 7 and CFU 7 or 8 Playoff between UNCAF 6 or 7 and CFU 7 or 8 All 7 UNCAF countries and all 8 countries in the Caribbean Cup would get into at least a playoff. CFU 7 and 8 would be the bottom teams in the 2 groups of 4 in the Caribbean Cup Group Stage.