T&T and Montserrat will play their preliminary round of the Concacaf Gold Cup clash at Inter Miami CF Stadium in South Florida, the home of US Major League Soccer club Inter Miami.
The match in Fort Lauderdale, Florida will be one of nine qualifiers to be contested between July 2-6, leading to the final three nations qualifying for the 16-nation Gold Cup group stage.
For 2021, Concacaf’s flagship competition will for the first time include the preliminary prior to the 16 team Group Stage.
The 12 nations participating in the prelims qualified through their Concacaf Nations League performances and will compete for the final three spots in the Gold Cup Group Stage.
The Terry Fenwick-coach T&T squad who are also in the midst of their Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers will come up against Montserrat on July 2 or July 3 while the matches between Haiti-St Vincent and the Grenadines, Guatemala-Guyana, and Cuba-French Guiana, Guadeloupe-Bahamas and Bermuda-Barbados, are also scheduled.
The winner of the T&T-Montserrat encounter will then face the winner of the Cuba-French Guiana match in Round Two of the preliminary playoffs on July 6 for a spot in the Group phase alongside Mexico, El Salvador and Curaçao in Group A.
The Haiti-St Vincent and Bermuda-Barbados winner joins the USA, Canada and Martinique in Group B.
The Guatemala-Guyana, Guadeloupe-Bahamas winner joins Costa Rica, Jamaica and Suriname in Group C.
Honduras, Panama, Grenada and invited guest Qatar, next year’s World Cup host, are in Group D.
Most top players are not likely to play in the Gold Cup, which runs from July 10 to August 1.
The Gold Cup is expected to be a key part of what is sure to be a vibrant summer of football in the region, which will include the Concacaf Nations League Finals which starts in June.
“We look forward with great anticipation to this summer’s Gold Cup, which will undoubtedly be enhanced by this new Preliminary Round,” said Concacaf president and FIFA vice president Victor Montagliani.
“The past year has been very challenging in our region and our thoughts are with all the communities that have suffered. We hope the opportunity to watch the best men’s national teams in Concacaf compete in our flagship tournament can provide fans with some hope and enjoyment.”
“All 12 of the competing nations in the prelims will get a full Gold Cup experience at the excellent Inter Miami facilities and we look forward to a great set of games,” added Montagliani.
“We look forward to hosting the Gold Cup Prelims tournament in our stadium,” said Inter Miami CF Managing Owner Jorge Mas. “Our facilities in Fort Lauderdale were built with the intent of giving our fans opportunities to enjoy the world’s game knowing that our vibrant culture and sports-centric region would be attractive for global teams and competitions. This is just the beginning of the great things that lie ahead.”
The Inter Miami CF Stadium, a brand-new football-specific stadium was inaugurated just last year and is the new home of T&T winger Joevin Jones, who signed for the club last month.
The centralised venue, which includes an 18,000-capacity stadium sitting adjacent to a 50,000-square-foot training centre with seven fields spanning across 34-acres, will allow for teams to play matches and train in one location.
For Round One of the Prelims, the teams were drawn into six matchups and will play as follows:
Round One – July 2 and 3
Matchup #1: Haiti vs St Vincent and the Grenadines
Matchup #2: Guatemala vs Guyana
Matchup #3: T&T vs Montserrat
Matchup #4: Cuba vs French Guiana
Matchup #5: Guadeloupe vs Bahamas
Matchup #6: Bermuda vs Barbados
The six Round One winners will qualify for the second round and will play as follows:
Round Two – July 6
Matchup #7: Winner Matchup #1 vs Winner Matchup #6
Matchup #8: Winner Matchup #2 vs Winner Matchup #5
Matchup #9: Winner Matchup #3 vs Winner Matchup #4
The winning nation in each of the three Round Two matchups will advance to the Group Stage of the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup, where they were drawn
Draw Delivers Prelims Matchups and Groups for 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup
Concacaf yesterday conducted the first ever Gold Cup draw to set the scene for the 2021 edition of the region’s flag into Group A, B and C as follows:
Group A: Mexico, El Salvador, Curacao, and Winner Prelims 9
Group B: USA, Canada, Martinique, and Winner Prelims 7
Group C: Costa Rica, Jamaica, Suriname, and Winner Prelims 8
Group D: Honduras, Panama, Grenada, and Qatar.
RELATED NEWS
Concacaf confirms plans to rollout VAR in 2021 club and men’s national team competitions.
CONCACAF.COM
- Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Semifinals and Final will include VAR.
- Confederation confirms VAR will be used in both Concacaf Nations League Finals and 2021 Gold Cup
Concacaf has today confirmed that Video Assistant Referees (VAR) will be used in several of its 2021 competitions.
In the 2021 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League, which begins this week with eight first leg Round of 16 matches, VAR will be used in the competition for the Semifinals and the Final. The two legged Semifinals will feature the final four teams in the tournament and will be played between August 10 and August 26. The single leg Final will be played on October 28, 2021.
Concacaf has for the past two years been working towards introducing VAR in its competitions with several training and development opportunities for elite referees in our region. The process was delayed slightly due to COVID-19 related challenges, but last week the Confederation was able to enter the final stages of its planning to introduce the technology.
With the support of Fedefutbol – the Costa Rican Football Federation – Concacaf was able to organize a VAR certification process in Costa Rica for 22 elite referees from across the region. This included 40 competitive matches played between March 31 and April 5 solely for the purposes of VAR training and development.
In the impressive surroundings of the Complejo Deportivo Fedefutbol Plycem Facility in Costa Rica, FIFA’s VAR Project Leader Mike Van Der Roest and FIFA VAR Greg Barkey instructed and completed the VAR certification for the 22 Concacaf referees from 15 Central American and Caribbean federations.
With Concacaf now having a large enough pool of VAR qualified referees, the Confederation can confirm that in addition to being used for this year’s Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Semifinals and Final, the technology will be introduced to Concacaf’s 2021 men’s national team competitions. In a boost to what should be a fantastic summer of football, the inaugural Concacaf Nations League Finals, scheduled for June 3 and June 6, and the 2021 Gold Cup, which will be played from July 2 to August 1, will both include VAR to support the on-field referees.