Mexico was drawn on Friday with Qatar, an invited team, and Honduras in the group stage of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, in a draw that also paired Costa Rica with Panama.
Mexico and Costa Rica were seeded, as were the United States and Canada, in the draw that took place at the brand-new SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, California, which will host the final on July 16.
El Tri, which is hoping to avenge its defeat to the United States in the last edition in 2021, will face Qatar, Honduras and Haiti in Group B.
The United States, meanwhile, will face Jamaica, Nicaragua and an opponent from the preliminary round in Group A, which will be drawn from the clashes between Curaçao, St. Kitts and Nevis, French Guiana and St. Maarten.
Costa Rica will play in Group C against Panama, El Salvador and another team from the preliminary round to be decided between Martinique, Saint Lucia, Suriname and Puerto Rico.
Finally, Group D will be made up of Canada, Guatemala, Cuba and another opponent to be decided in the preliminary phase between Trinidad and Tobago, Guadeloupe, Guyana and Grenada.
Former players Jared Borgetti (Mexico), Carlos Pavón (Honduras), Cobi Jones (United States) and former player Tashana Vincent (Jamaica) were in charge of drawing the names of the players.
The main Concacaf (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) tournament will kick off with two preliminary rounds to be held between June 16 and 20.
The group stage will be played from June 24 to July 4, followed by the quarterfinals (8-9), semifinals (12) and final (16) at the 70,000-seat SoFi Stadium, home of the NFL’s Rams and Chargers.
The games will be distributed in this edition among a total of 14 cities in the United States and one in Canada.
The event will be preceded by the Concacaf Nations League Final Four, which the United States, Mexico, Canada and Panama will play between June 15 and 18 in Las Vegas (Nevada).
Both events serve as a prelude to the Copa America to be held in 2024 in the United States and the 2026 World Cup, to be co-hosted by this country together with its neighbors Mexico and Canada.
Preparing for the World Cup
The ceremony at SoFi Stadium, a state-of-the-art stadium opened in 2020 with a budget of more than $5 billion, was attended by the coaches of the participating teams.
Argentina’s Diego Cocca, appointed in February as Mexico’s coach, flatly rejected the label of favorites to advance from their group. “We came to see what we were up against and we are going to prepare ourselves to face this in the best way,” he declared. “All opponents are to be respected.”
“We are in a privileged place, which is to play a Gold Cup with strong opponents in a country where a World Cup is going to be played,” he recalled. “We are happy but we have to work hard because we are just starting and we have to transmit an idea of play that we lack.”
“I am aware of the responsibility of this position and I want to give the maximum of myself day by day (…) to take the Mexican national team to another level,” stressed Cocca, who is trying to revive ‘El Tri’ after elimination in the first phase of the Qatar-2022 World Cup.
The former Atlas and Tigres coach was pleased with the opportunity to face Qatar, who will be trying to restore their image after their disappointing performance in front of their home crowd at the World Cup.
“Qatar is good for us as we prepare for the 2026 World Cup,” said Cocca.
“There we will face teams of this hierarchy,” recalled the Mexico coach, who, like the United States, depends on these tournaments to gain experience ahead of the World Cup, from whose qualification they are exempt as hosts.
El Tri leads the Gold Cup record with eight victories, but in the last 2021 edition they lost in the final to the United States, which has seven trophies to Canada’s one.
