The USA and Canada men's national teams have played some heated matchups over the years and that rivalry is about to take a new twist after the inaugural Concacaf Nations League draw held in Las Vegas.
Gregg Berhalter's US squad was drawn against Canada and Cuba in Group A of the competition's top tier. Only the four group winners in League A will advance to the Concacaf Nations League championship. The bottom team in each group will be relegated to League B.
The six total round-robin group matches -- the three teams will face each other home and away -- will be played in September, October and November 2019, while the championship round featuring the four group winners from League A will take place in 2020.
The USMNT have a 14W-8L-11D all-time record against Canada, and the Americans have gone undefeated in the last 17 head-to-head meetings (9W-0L-8D). In fact, Canada haven’t beaten the USA in a full senior men’s international match since a 1985 friendly which they won 2-0 in Vancouver. The most recent encounter between the North American neighbors came in a February 2016 friendly that ended in a 1-0 US win in Carson, Calif.
“It’s an important time for Canada to get two matches against USA, which on top of being derby matches they provide us with the chance to test ourselves, to learn, and to develop against the reigning Concacaf champions,” said Canada men's national team head coach John Herdman.
While the USA was automatically entered into League A as one of the region's top six seeds, Canada emerged from a one-off qualification process. Les Rouges won all four of their qualifiers en route to advancing into League A: 8-0 at US Virgin Islands (Sept. 9), 5-0 vs. Dominica (Oct. 16), 1-0 at St. Kitts and Nevis (Nov. 18) and 4-1 vs. French Guiana (March 4).
The Concacaf Nations League draw also sorted the 16 teams in League B and the 13 nations in League C. The top teams from each group in League B and League C will win promotion to League A and League B, respectively. The bottom team in each League B group will be relegated to League C.
LEAGUE A
Group A: USA, Canada, Cuba
Group B: Mexico, Panama, Bermuda
Group C: Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, Martinique
Group D: Costa Rica, Haiti, Curacao
LEAGUE B
Group A: French Guiana, St. Kitts & Nevis, Belize, Grenada
Group B: El Salvador, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, Montserrat
Group C: Jamaica, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba
Group D: Nicaragua, Suriname, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica
LEAGUE C
Group A: Barbados, Cayman Islands, Saint Martin, U.S. Virgin Islands
Group B: Bonaire, Bahamas, British Virgin Islands
Group C: Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Anguilla
Group D: Guadeloupe, Turks & Caicos Islands, Sint Maarten
