CONCACAF Gold Cup participants determined

With the conclusion of CONCACAF Nations League qualifying last night, the region learned the 16 teams that will participate in this summer’s Gold Cup. The United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Panama, and Honduras had automatically qualified for the region’s tournament as the 2017 Hexagonal participants. Through Nations League qualifying, we learned the other 10 teams that would join them in the field for the Gold Cup, which opens on June 15th.

Haiti, Canada, Martinique, Curaçao, Bermuda, and Cuba qualified for the Gold Cup with their qualification for League A of the CONCACAF Nations League. The final four teams were the four teams who qualified for League B that finished highest in the standings during qualifying. Those teams were Guyana, Jamaica, Nicaragua, and El Salvador.

Four of the Hex teams—the USMNT, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Honduras—were already seeded and placed into groups. Mexico heads Group A, Costa Rica drew Group B, Honduras is in Group C, and the United States start its Gold Cup title defense in Group D. The full groups will be unveiled on April 10th in Los Angeles, although CONCACAF did not make public how the teams would be sorted into the groups. It remains to be seen whether there will be a public draw or if the teams will be allocated on another basis.

Thoughts on the teams in this summer’s Gold Cup? Which teams do you hope join the USMNT in Group D?