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United States to face Jamaica in CONCACAF Gold Cup / Photo: PEDRO PARDO - AFP
United States to face Jamaica in CONCACAF Gold Cup
Defending champions the United States will face Jamaica and Nicaragua in the group stage of June's CONCACAF Gold Cup finals.
The Americans, seven-times winners of the regional tournament, have been drawn in Group A, which will include one of the three qualifiers from the 12-team preliminary round.
The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage with the final due to be played at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
"Overall, I’m pleased with the draw," interim US head coach Anthony Hudson said.
"I think Jamaica is a really tough team and our previous experience in this competition tells us that there are no easy opponents and every game is complicated. As we know, these teams are improving every year, and that's good for everyone."
Jamaica, who can draw on a number of players with dual-nationality from English football, are looking to make progress ahead of qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
The Caribbean nation has not qualified for a World Cup finals since 1998 and have appointed former Iceland coach Heimir Hallgrimsson as they look to break that barren run.
The Jamaicans have a solid record in the Gold Cup however, reaching the final in 2015 and 2017 although they were beaten by the United States in the quarter-finals two years ago.
Nicaragua have never made it out of the group stage in their four appearances in the Gold Cup and their only clash with the United States resulted in a 3-0 loss in 2017.
Friday's draw also pitted record eight-times winners Mexico against Haiti, Honduras and guest team Qatar.
Group C which features a tough Central American battle between Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador and an additional qualifier.
Canada have arguably the easiest task of the four seeded nations having been drawn with Guatemala, Cuba and a qualifier.
The preliminary games will be held in the United States from June 16-20 with the main tournament beginning on June 24.
The Gold Cup will be the second national team tournament in the CONCACAF region this year with the Final Four of the Nations League set for June 15-18 in Las Vegas.
That tournament will feature the United States against Mexico and Panama v Canada with the two winners meeting in the final.
D.W.Ernst--BlnAP
