2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup

2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Tournament details
Host countries	United States Canada
Dates	July 7–26
Teams	12 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	14 (in 14 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Mexico (10th title)
Runners-up	Jamaica
Third place	Panama
Fourth place	United States
Tournament statistics
Matches played	26
Goals scored	62 (2.38 per match)
Attendance	1,090,396 (41,938 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Clint Dempsey (7 goals)
Best player	Andrés Guardado
Best young player	Jesús Corona
Best goalkeeper	Brad Guzan
Fair play award	Jamaica

The 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 13th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition and the 23rd CONCACAF regional championship overall in the organization's fifty-four years of existence. It was held in the United States, with two matches being played in Canada, marking the first time the CONCACAF Gold Cup was played in that country.^[1]

Mexico won the competition, defeating Jamaica – the first Caribbean nation to reach such a stage – in the final,^[2] after surviving both the quarterfinals and semifinals in controversial circumstances.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Of the co-hosts, Canada was eliminated in the group stage, while the United States, the defending champions, lost in the semifinals to Jamaica. The competition included a third place match for the first time since 2003,^[8] in which Panama defeated the United States.

Qualification for other tournaments

The 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup was used for qualification for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, to be played in Russia, and the Copa América Centenario, to be played in the United States in 2016.

FIFA Confederations Cup

As champions of the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Mexico qualified for a one-off play-off match against the United States, the champion of the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup, to decide which team will represent CONCACAF in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. Mexico won the match 3-2 after extra time.^[9]

Copa América Centenario

In addition, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, and Cuba, being the top four teams in the tournament not already qualified, have qualified for play-offs which will determine the remaining two teams to participate in the Copa América Centenario in 2016.^[10] The United States, Mexico, Costa Rica (winners of the 2014 Copa Centroamericana), and Jamaica (winners of the 2014 Caribbean Cup) had already qualified before the tournament, rounding out the six representatives CONCACAF would send to the Copa América Centenario.

Qualified teams

A total of 12 teams qualified for the tournament. Three berths were allocated to North America, four to Central America, and four to the Caribbean. For the first time, the two overall fifth-placed teams of the Caribbean zone and the Central American zone competed for the final berth of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Previously, five berths were allocated to Central America and four were allocated to the Caribbean.^[11]

Team	Qualification	Gold Cup appearances	Previous best performance	FIFA Ranking at start of event
North American zone
United States (Title holders)	Co-hosts / Automatic	13th	Champions (1991, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2013)	27
Mexico	Automatic	13th	Champions (1993, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2009, 2011)	23
Canada	Co-hosts / Automatic	12th	Champions (2000)	109
Central American zone qualified through the 2014 Copa Centroamericana
Costa Rica	Winners	12th	Runners-up (2002)	14
Guatemala	Runners-up	10th	Fourth Place (1996)	93
Panama	Third Place	7th	Runners-up (2005, 2013)	54
El Salvador	Fourth Place	9th	Quarterfinals (2002, 2003, 2011, 2013)	89
Caribbean zone qualified through the 2014 Caribbean Cup
Jamaica	Winners	9th	Third Place (1993)	65
Trinidad and Tobago	Runners-up	9th	Third Place (2000)	67
Haiti	Third Place	6th	Quarterfinals (2002, 2009)	76
Cuba	Fourth Place	8th	Quarterfinals (2003, 2013)	107
Play-off winner between Caribbean zone fifth place and Central American zone fifth place
Honduras	Play-off	12th	Runner-up (1991)	75

Bold indicates that the corresponding team was hosting the event.

Venues

A total of 14 venues were used for the tournament. CONCACAF announced the host cities and venues for the tournament on December 16, 2014.^[1] Apart from the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia which hosted the final and the PPL Park in Chester which hosted the third place match (both located in the Philadelphia metropolitan area), the other 12 venues hosted two matches. The assignment of matches for the knockout round and the awarding of the final were announced on March 12, 2015.^[12]

East Rutherford (New York City area)	Charlotte	Atlanta	Baltimore	Philadelphia
MetLife Stadium	Bank of America Stadium	Georgia Dome	M&T Bank Stadium	Lincoln Financial Field
Capacity: 82,566	Capacity: 74,455	Capacity: 74,228	Capacity: 71,008	Capacity: 69,176
Quarter-finals	Group C	Semi-finals	Quarter-finals	Final
Foxborough (Boston area)	Carson Glendale Frisco Houston Kansas City Chicago Toronto Atlanta Charlotte Baltimore Philadelphia East Rutherford Foxborough Chester			Chicago
Gillette Stadium				Soldier Field
Capacity: 68,756				Capacity: 63,500
Group A				Group C
Glendale, Arizona (Phoenix area)				Carson, California (Los Angeles area)
University of Phoenix Stadium				StubHub Center
Capacity: 63,400				Capacity: 30,510
Group C				Group B
Houston	Toronto	Frisco, Texas (Dallas area)	Chester, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia area)	Kansas City
BBVA Compass Stadium	BMO Field	Toyota Stadium	PPL Park	Sporting Park
Capacity: 22,039	Capacity: 30,991	Capacity: 20,500	Capacity: 18,500	Capacity: 18,467
Group B	Group B	Group A	3rd Place Match	Group A

Draw

The seeded teams which headed up each group was announced on December 16, 2014: United States (Group A), Costa Rica (Group B), and Mexico (Group C).^[1] Seeded teams were determined based on November 27, 2014 FIFA rankings (shown in brackets).^[13]

Seeded	Unseeded
Costa Rica (16)  Mexico (20)  United States (28)	Trinidad and Tobago (54)  Panama (56)  Haiti (68)	Jamaica (71)  Honduras (72)  Guatemala (73)	Cuba (79)  El Salvador (93)  Canada (110)

The composition of the groups and the schedule of the tournament were announced by CONCACAF on March 12, 2015.^[12]

Squads

An initial provisional list of 35 players had to be submitted to CONCACAF before June 7, 2015. A final list containing 23 players was to have been submitted for June 27, 2015. Three of the players named in the final list had to be goalkeepers.^[14] The players named in the final list had to wear shirts numbered 1 to 23, with number 1 reserved for a goalkeeper.

Teams qualifying for the quarter-final stage were permitted to replace up to six players. The replacements had to have been named on the provisional list and would be given a shirt numbered between 24 and 29.

An injured player from the final list could be replaced by another from provisional list 24 hours before his national team's first game.

Group stage

The top two teams from each group and the two best third-placed teams qualify for the quarter-finals. All match times listed are in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

Tiebreakers

The ranking of each team in each group will be determined as follows:

1. Greatest number of points obtained in group matches
2. Goal difference in all group matches
3. Greatest number of goals scored in all group matches
4. Greatest number of points obtained in group matches between the teams concerned;
5. Drawing of lots by the Gold Cup Committee.^[14]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States (H)	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Haiti	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
3	Panama	3	0	3	0	3	3	0	3
4	Honduras	3	0	1	2	2	4	−2	1

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Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Jamaica	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Costa Rica	3	0	3	0	3	3	0	3
3	El Salvador	3	0	2	1	1	2	−1	2
4	Canada (H)	3	0	2	1	0	1	−1	2

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Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Trinidad and Tobago	3	2	1	0	9	5	+4	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Mexico	3	1	2	0	10	4	+6	5
3	Cuba	3	1	0	2	1	8	−7	3
4	Guatemala	3	0	1	2	1	4	−3	1

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Ranking of third-placed teams

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	A	Panama	3	0	3	0	3	3	0	3	Advance to knockout stage
2	C	Cuba	3	1	0	2	1	8	−7	3
3	B	El Salvador	3	0	2	1	1	2	−1	2

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, the eight teams play a single-elimination tournament, with the following rules:^[14]

• In the quarter-finals, teams from the same group cannot play each other.
• In all matches, if tied after 90 minutes, 30 minutes of extra time are played. If still tied after extra time, a penalty shoot-out is used to determine the winner.

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	18 July – Baltimore
	United States	6
					22 July – Atlanta
	Cuba	0
					United States	1
	18 July – Baltimore
					Jamaica	2
	Haiti	0
									26 July – Philadelphia
	Jamaica	1
									Jamaica	1
	19 July – East Rutherford
									Mexico	3
	Trinidad and Tobago	1 (5)
					22 July – Atlanta
	Panama (pen.)	1 (6)
					Panama	1
	19 July – East Rutherford
					Mexico (a.e.t.)	2			Third place playoff
	Mexico (a.e.t.)	1
									25 July – Chester
	Costa Rica	0
									United States	1 (2)
									Panama (pen.)	1 (3)

All match times listed are in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

Quarterfinals

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Semifinals

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Third place playoff

Final

Statistics

Goalscorers

7 goals

• Clint Dempsey

6 goals

• Andrés Guardado

4 goals

• Oribe Peralta

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

• Kenwyne Jones (playing against Mexico)

Awards

Winners

2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup Winners
Mexico Tenth title

Individual awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.

• Golden Ball Award: Andrés Guardado^[15]
• Golden Boot Award: Clint Dempsey^[16]
• Golden Glove Award: Brad Guzan^[17]
• Bright Future Award: Jesús Corona^[18]
• Fair Play Award:  Jamaica

Tournament ranking

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final result
1	Mexico	6	4	2	0	16	6	+10	14	Champions
2	Jamaica	6	4	1	1	8	6	+2	13	Runners-up
3	Panama	6	0	5	1	6	7	−1	5	Third place
4	United States (H)	6	3	2	1	12	5	+7	11	Fourth place
5	Trinidad and Tobago	4	2	2	0	10	6	+4	8	Eliminated in Quarter-finals
6	Haiti	4	1	1	2	2	3	−1	4
7	Costa Rica	4	0	3	1	3	4	−1	3
8	Cuba	4	1	0	3	1	14	−13	3
9	El Salvador	3	0	2	1	1	2	−1	2	Eliminated in Group stage
10	Canada (H)	3	0	2	1	0	1	−1	2
11	Honduras	3	0	1	2	2	4	−2	1
12	Guatemala	3	0	1	2	1	4	−3	1

Note: Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-out are counted as draws.

Prize money

The total amount of prize money offered by CONCACAF for the tournament is US$2.75 million, with $1 million being the top prize.^[19] Listed below is a breakdown of how the total amount is to be distributed:

• $100k – To each team eliminated in the group stage (4 teams)
• $125k – To each team eliminated in the quarterfinals (4 teams)
• $150k – Fourth placed team
• $200k – Third placed team
• $500k – Runner-up
• $1 mil – Champion

Match officials

Referees

Assistant referees

Theme songs

"Sun Goes Down" by German DJ Robin Schulz featuring English singer Jasmine Thompson was the official song for the tournament^[20]

"You Are Unstoppable" by Austrian singer Conchita Wurst was the official anthem for the tournament.^[21]

"All the Way" by Reykon featuring Bebe Rexha was used for Univision's coverage of the tournament.^[22]

Awolnation's "I Am" was used for Fox's coverage.

Media

Multiple officials of Traffic Sports were identified in the 2015 FIFA corruption case, which alleged that bribes related to the 2015 Gold Cup amounted to two-thirds of the cost of staging the tournament.^[23]

Worldwide TV broadcasting rights^[24]

Broadcasting

Country/Region	Broadcaster	Notes
Australia	Setanta Sports
Azerbaijan	ESPN Azerbaijan
Brazil	SporTV
Canada	Sportsnet World, Sportsnet 360, Univision Canada	Simsub via Fox
China	LeTV
Costa Rica	Repretel, Teletica
El Salvador	Telecorporacion Salvadoreña
France	Ma Chaîne Sport (MCS)
Guatemala	Canal 3 and Canal 7
Honduras	Televicentro
Hong Kong	iCable
Latin America	Gol TV
Malaysia	Astro
Mexico	Televisa, TV Azteca
Middle East and North Africa	Abu Dhabi Sports Channel
Netherlands	Fox Sports
Panama	TV Nacional de Panamá, Medcom
Portugal	Sport TV
Singapore	Starhub
Spain	BeIN Sports (Spain), Mediapro
Sub-Saharan Africa	Supersport
Taiwan	Sportcast
Thailand	Grammy
United Kingdom  Republic of Ireland	BT Sport,[25] Bet365 (online streaming)
United States	Fox (English) Univision (Spanish)

Controversies

Jamaican players' strike

On July 6, the Jamaica national football team refused to attend a 7pm practice session at the StubHub Center because of a strike over bonus fees.^[26] The next day, Jamaica Football Federation president Horace Burrell announced the situation had been "settled" and thanked the players for backing down.^[27]

Cuban defections

Cuban attacker Keiler García defected to the United States in Chicago on July 8, the day before his team's opening game against Mexico at Soldier Field. He did not show up for the team breakfast in the hotel and was absent from the subsequent training session.^[28] Because of problems obtaining US visas for players and staff, and the defection of García, Cuba only had 16 players available for the opening game against Mexico.^[29] Arael Argüellez also defected in Chicago, after being visited in the hotel by friends. He failed to turn up for the national team's flight to Phoenix to Cuba's second match, against Trinidad and Tobago.^[30]

On July 14, Darío Suárez did not return from his trip to a supermarket prior to the match against Guatemala in Charlotte.^[31] Later the same day, midfielder Ariel Martínez was reported in tears on the bus returning to the hotel following the 1-0 victory over Guatemala to qualify for the quarter-final stage. Upon arrival, he exited the bus, said goodbye to the coach and then ran off into the night.^[32]

Cuban US visa issues

Cuba's opening game against Mexico was affected by United States visa issues. The head coach Raúl González Triana and six players (Adrián Diz, Arichel Hernandez, Daniel Luis, Andy Vaquero, Maikel Reyes and Sandy Sánchez) were unable to enter the United States before the match against Mexico which took place on the third day of the competition. They had all recently been involved in the 2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship qualification tournament in Antigua and Barbuda and it had caused some administration issues.

Arichel Hernández did not enter the United States at all because of visa problems.^[33]

Controversial refereeing

During the quarter-final match between Mexico and Costa Rica, Walter López's assistant referee Eric Boria marked a penalty for Mexico, in the last minute of stoppage time in the second half of extra time, for a push by Costa Rican defender Roy Miller on Oribe Peralta. Mexico's Andrés Guardado scored the penalty, eliminating Costa Rica.^[34] Daniel Jiménez of La Nación described the elimination as "a theft",^[35] although Costa Rica's coach defended the call saying "he [the referee] is human. He saw something in the area and that’s why he called the penalty."^[36] Miller himself claimed Peralta's reaction was "exaggerated" and that there had only been minimal contact between them.^[37] In an interview conceded to Prensa Libre on July 23, Wálter López admitted that the call was mistaken, alleging that "due to my position in the field, I was unable to properly see the action. It was my assistant who helped me".^[38][39]

In the semi-final match between Mexico and Panama, the US referee Mark Geiger lost control^[40] of the match which began with him showing a questionable red card to Panama's Luis Tejada in the 24th minute.^[40] Later, as a 10-man Panama was a minute away from winning the match 1-0, he also awarded Mexico a controversial penalty kick for a handball.^[41] While defending in the penalty box against the Mexican midfielder Carlos Esquivel, Panama's captain Román Torres lost balance and fell backwards on the ball, touching it^[42] (fouls for handling the ball must be deliberate^[43]). The decision to award the penalty kick outraged the Panama team who walked off the field and threatened to abandon the match.^[44] While the players were involved in a long scuffle with the officials, coaches and other players on the sidelines, the fans repeatedly pelted them with beer glasses and objects.^[44] Panama returned to the field after approximately ten minutes.^[44] Andrés Guardado scored the penalty and forced the match into extra time, which Mexico subsequently won.^[45] After the final whistle, the Panamanian players and coaching staff ran emmasse on the field towards the referees, who had to be escorted off the field by security.^[46][47] Later, Guardado said in the interview that it hurt to take the penalty and he considered missing the kick on purpose, but "had to be professional".^[48] Mexico's coach Miguel Herrera argued there was no reason for Guardado to purposely miss the kick, referencing the controversial decision that awarded penalty to Netherlands over Mexico in the World Cup. "I didn't hear that question in the World Cup when we were knocked out for a penalty that wasn’t", he said. "It seems that only Mexico should declare itself guilty."^[49]

On July 23, the Football Associations from both Panama and Costa Rica released their respective statements on their websites regarding such controversies, and requesting the removal of the CONCACAF referees committee members.^[50][51]

On July 24, the CONCACAF Disciplinary Committee suspended the Panamanian goalkeeper Jaime Penedo for two matches for insulting the referee. This meant he would miss the Cup's third-place game and a World Cup qualifier game in November. On top of missing the third-place game because of the red card, forward Luis Tejada was given an additional one match suspension for insulting the referee.^[52]

Panama team banner

After the semi-final match against Mexico, the Panamanian players reunited in their locker room and brandished a banner which read "CONCACAF Ladrones ("CONCACAF thieves") and three times "Corruptos" ("corrupt"), while pointing thumbs down in protest. The image was then circulated on Twitter.^[53] The CONCACAF Disciplinary Committee subsequently fined Panamanian Football Federation $15,000 for this display.^[52]

Referee Committee controversy

Both the Costa Rican Football Federation and Panamanian Football Federation publicly called for those within the Referee Committee at CONCACAF to be removed from their position.^[54][55]

CONCACAF announced that they would discuss the matter at their Executive Committee meeting.^[56]

Tournament organization

United States captain Michael Bradley criticized the organisation of the tournament, commenting that there was too much traveling involved for teams and the stadiums had poor playing surfaces, while questioning the need for the two best third-placed teams to qualify to the next round.^[57] Mexico's head coach Miguel Herrera was also critical of the travel arrangements "It’s a disorder in the airplanes, having rival teams on the same flight, with so much people from CONCACAF, we were all squeezed in, we didn't even have room for our luggage, there was no room for our baggage, Mexico has been transporting their luggage on road and that’s how we have been working".^[57] Both Herrera and Bradley were fined by CONCACAF for their comments.^[58]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

• CONCACAF Gold Cup, CONCACAF.com