Unlike in previous editions where entry into the Confederations Cup was on the line, offering the US valuable tune-up games against high-level opponents in a semi-competitive setting and a chance to become familiar with the World Cup setting in advance, this year’s Gold Cup and all those that follow will only offer bragging rights. Assuming no merger with CONMEBOL or a replacement for the Confederations Cup, how much do you care about this tournament going forward? Outside of blooding new young players, does it have value in your eyes? Is it a must watch tournament or simply a case of “I’ll tune in for the semifinals and final if the US is in it?”
All competitive NT games are important to me. Even before I viewed the Confed Cup as a bonus more so than the main prize. Of course, that doesn't mean it's on the same level as the World Cup (or the Copa America if the U.S. were ever to participate again), but smaller scale trophies are still celebrated the world over in soccer. Gold Cup is a interesting competition to me.
They still get to hoist that comically large trophy with the pointy handles if they win, right? I care about that.
Though the trophy is less comically huge and less pointy than it used to be since 2013, so that's a downside. Really kills the prestige.
It definitely matters. Obviously, winning the GC is no where close to winning a WC... but we are in the CONCACAF... winning the GC means you are that conference champion.
Its not a 10 thats just WC. But this Gold Cup matters because we need to see a cohesive plan in competitive setting after last cycle.
It's your continental Championship. It means much more than the Confederations Cup which was only a warm up tournament and didn't really rate much higher than a friendly.
I’ve always felt the Gold Cup to be a lose-lose for the US. US wins tournament: “So what? Big deal, who did they even beat? A bunch of nobodies” US loses tournament: “Embarrassing! The US can’t even beat these countries with not even a tenth of our population. US Soccer is terrible.”
meanwhile....as brazil is beating honuras 7-0 and norway had a single player score 9 goals vs honduras u20...... CONCACAF is a joke.....the bar for success/failure is simpy higher than whatever ends up happening in the gold cup... I'll still watch the games but they are close to meaningless in the wider world of soccer.
a lot more than people think. -no more Confederations Cup -USA is NOT participating in Copa America 2019 -According to reports doesn't seem like they will participate for the Copa America 2020, with reported Qatar and Australia being the guests in another 12 team tourney. all that leaves you is Gold Cup and Concacaf Nations League. But if you want proper tournament experience it's only your double Gold Cup.
Who doesn't want to win the Championship of their confederation? We all do. But it's not the sheer results that matter. Its the integration of new players and gelling for when the games actually matter. So yes, its important. We won the Gold Cup in 2017. People remember that right? And then we failed to qualify for the World Cup. So what did winning the Gold Cup matter...............? I don't know.
well the 2017 Gold Cup was a B one (CC is dead now) and USA didn't bother with integration of players with that one, using all 6 subs in the knockouts (one of the dumbest rules I've ever seen. Good that 2019 doesn't have it anymore).
This specific one is important. Important to get the bad taste of losing our of their mouths, get the fans energized again and just have some momentum going into the Nations League and WCQing. The one in 2021 though won't mean much to me.
With the current leadership at USSF, I can't see the US qualifying for Qatar. They're dangerously incompetent and it's destroying the men's program. Right now, it looks closer to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Qatar is a different matter and is something to think about later. Right now the focus is on the Gold Cup and we are going to have to dig deep and do some soul searching to win it.
I care a lot. It's not the world cup; but, the championship for our region should matter. Also, counts for world rankings, which are always used for seedings & pot draws. If we want to be considered a good team, have to do well, especially considering it's always at home. I'm not overly optimistic about the US chances this year though. Fortunately for the US (unfortunately for the confederation), all of CONCACAF seems to me to be somewhat down (nobody really seems to be in a 'golden generation' cycle), so the US may fare well even in its present state.
The field reminds me a lot of the 2005 cup despite not being an off cycle year. And for the US we've got a pretty rough around the edges squad but still have Pulisic and McKennie to be our Donovan and Beasley.
Beating Mexico in a competitive match is very important, so that makes the tournament important to me.
I'll still watch, and beating Mexico and the others for the Cup does still matter, but it is lousy to no longer have the potential CONCACAF Cup and Confederations Cup games. As far as I'm concerned, the more competitive games we play against good teams, and the more chances the USMNT get to be in the general sports conscious, the better. In both the 2009 Confed Cup and the 2015 CONCACAF Cup, there was considerable buzz around the team. Nothing wrong with that.
This is the 'A' team Gold Cup and ggg called in the 'A' team. At this point in time, making it to the finals is important, given the sorry performances from the team under ggg.