It will no doubt be one of the hottest tickets this summer and soccer fans will have the chance to purchase CONCACAF Gold Cup tickets on Friday for all 25 games in a record 13 venues from coast-to-coast.
The United States is the two-time defending champions, beating archrival Mexico 2-1 at a sold-out Soldier Field in Chicago in 2007. The region's top two squads could meet again in this year's final, July 26 at Giants Stadium, but first both teams will have to get out of their challenging groups.
"The Gold Cup is an important tournament for us," U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley said. "We have a lot of respect for the competition and the teams in our region. We are proud of having won the last two championships, and will certainly seek to defend our title. We have a challenging summer ahead of us with three major international competitions going on, so it will be an excellent opportunity to further scrutinize our player pool as we continue to build our team towards qualifying and competing in the 2010 FIFA World Cup."
While the Gold Cup begins on July 3, Bradley's squad begins its title defense with what should be an emotional game against Grenada on the Fourth of July at Seattle's Qwest Field.
"We are thrilled with the opportunity to open the Gold Cup in Seattle," Bradley said. "The city has a great soccer tradition, and it has been very exciting to how the community has embraced the Sounders. We often speak of the pride and humility we feel in representing the United States, and there is no better way to start the tournament then on a day that all Americans share in those feelings."
The USA then travel to the nation's capital to face a very strong Honduras squad at RFK Stadium on July 8.
"RFK has a tremendous history and has been an excellent host for the national team throughout the years," Bradley said. "The knowledge and passion of the fans make it one of the best soccer environments in the country, as we saw in the World Cup qualifier against Cuba last year. We know that Honduras is one of the toughest teams in the region, and it will be a difficult challenge."
The U.S. closes out group play at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., against Haiti on July 11.
"Foxborough has a long tradition of hosting the U.S. in the Gold Cup and we have been extremely successful, so we are pleased to be playing such an important game there," Bradley said. "Obviously the games in 2007 were an integral part of our team winning the championship. Haiti presents a different style than most teams in our region, which always makes for exciting matches."
While the U.S. is unbeaten in World Cup qualifying, Mexico has struggled and, after a 3-1 loss in Honduras, dismissed coach Sven-Goran Eriksson and hired Javier Aguirre as his replacement.
"This year's Gold Cup is key for the Mexican national team," Aguirre said. "Apart from being the most well-known competition in the region, it will be part of a very important summer for our team, which has not only the Gold Cup, but also two World Cup qualifier matches and friendly games, finishing with a World Cup qualifier game against our archrival, the United States, at the Estadio Azteca on August 12. Also, we know for a fact we will have a lot of fan support in the cities where we'll play in the United States."
Like the United States, Mexico will open its Gold Cup on the west coast, facing Nicaragua in Oakland on July 5.
"The game against Nicaragua on July 5 will be very important because it will be our first game," Aguirre said. "It's in the Bay Area, which has treated us very well in the recent past. Nicaragua will come very motivated, and in a tournament of this level we have to face each rival with a lot of respect."
From there, the tricolor will meet Panama at Reliant Stadium in Houston on July 9.
"We have faced Panama's national team on many occasions," Aguirre said. "This team has grown a lot in the past years, and it plays well. In a stadium like Houston, where there are a lot of fans, it will be important to get a good result in order to not leave everything up to the third game."
Mexico's final game of group play will be against Guadeloupe at the University of Phoenix Stadium on July 12.
"Guadeloupe was Gold Cup's surprise team in 2007 when it reached the semifinals," Aguirre said. "That's why we know they will come extremely motivated to repeat history in this Cup's edition. We are returning to Phoenix after a couple of years; we know that the support will be strong there as well."
Quarterfinal games will be played at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia (July 18) and the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium (July 19), while both semifinals will be played at Soldier Field in Chicago on July 23, while the final will be played at Giants Stadium on July 26.
Fans looking to purchase tickets can go to www.goldcup.org and click on the city, date or games they want to attend. Tickets are priced as low as $20 in some venues and Family Four Packs, where fans can purchase four discounted tickets for an upgraded location, will be available at all locations except Miami.
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
