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USMNT vs. Mexico Confederations Cup playoff moved to October 10

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

The United States and Mexico are still set for an October clash at the Rose Bowl for a spot in the Confederations Cup. It will just be played on October 10 now, instead of the previously announced October 9 date, and kickoff at 9:30 p.m. ET.

CONCACAF originally announced that the match would be played on the ninth. They also confirmed that it would be at the Rose Bowl. But this being CONCACAF, it didn't matter that they had years to prepare for this match -- and this being the most likely matchup for it -- they still couldn't get the date right the first time even after lining up the venue. So they're changing it now and those fans who bought flights and hotels are just going to have to deal with it now.

By moving the match to October 10, it will be much easier for fans at the match -- and with it expected to be a sellout of 93,000, there will be a lot of them -- to get in and out. Traffic will not be nearly as bad on a Saturday and the previously scheduled Friday match would have been a traffic nightmare.

The move does mean that the match will be competing with college football on Saturday so that may hurt ratings a tad, but Friday is the worst night for ratings anyway and much of the audience for the match will come from Spanish-language TV, which does not have nearly the same audience for college football as English-language. The MLB playoffs will also provide TV competition, but that would have been the case on October 9 as well.

The winner of the match gets a spot in the 2017 Confederations Cup. The U.S. qualified for the playoff by winning the 2013 Gold Cup and Mexico earned their spot by taking the 2015 tournament.