2019 Gold Cup field finalized; Costa Rica will host two matches

The field for the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup is set.

Costa Rica, the United States, Mexico, Honduras, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago all received automatic bids to the tournament due to their placing in the hexagonal round of regional qualifying for last year’s World Cup.

They will be joined by the top teams from CONCACAF Nations League, which concluded Sunday: Bermuda, Canada, Cuba, Curacao, El Salvador, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique and Nicaragua.

The 2019 Gold Cup — which has been expanded to include 16 teams instead of the usual 12 — will be played from June 15 to July 7, primarily in cities across the United States.

But Costa Rica will make history on June 16 when it hosts the two initial Group B matches at the National Stadium in La Sabana, San José. It will mark the first time a Central American country hosts a Gold Cup game.

The following day, a Caribbean venue will host a Group C doubleheader.

The final Gold Cup groups and schedule will be announced April 10, but Costa Rica has already been announced as the seeded team in Group B. The other seeded nations are Mexico (Group A), Honduras (Group C) and the United States (Group D).

The top two countries from each four-team group will advance to a knockout stage. The entirety of the knockout rounds will be held in the United States, with the final at Soldier Field in Chicago.

The biennial tournament, which features national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean, has been dominated by the United States and Mexico. Costa Rica’s best performance is a runners-up finish in 2002.

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