US to play open Gold Cup at new St. Paul, Minnesota, venue
MIAMI (AP) — The United States will open the defense of its CONCACAF Gold Cup title on June 18 at new Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The Americans will play their second match four days later in Cleveland and close Group D play on June 26 at Kansas City, Kansas, the governing soccer body of North and Central America and the Caribbean said Tuesday.
Opponents will be announced next spring after the 16-nation field of the expanded tournament is completed. Allianz Field, the home of Minnesota United, is scheduled to open in March.
Schedules were announced for the four seeded nations.
Mexico has Group A games at Pasadena, California (June 15), Denver (June 19) and Charlotte, North Carolina (June 23).
Costa Rica has Group B matches at a non-U.S. venue to be announced (June 16), Frisco, Texas (June 20) and Harrison, New Jersey (June 24).
Group C is headed by Honduras, which plays at a non-U.S. venue to be announced (June 17), Houston's BBVA Compass Stadium (June 21) and Banc of America Stadium in Los Angeles (June 25).
A quarterfinal doubleheader that includes the Group A and Group C winners will be in Houston's NRG Stadium on June 29, and the other quarterfinals will be in Philadelphia the following day.
The Houston winners meet in a semifinal at Glendale, Arizona, on July 2, and the Philadelphia winners play the following day at Nashville, Tennessee.
CONCACAF announced last month that the final will be at Chicago's Soldier Field on July 7 — the same day as the Women's World Cup final in Lyon, France, and the Copa America final in Rio de Janeiro. Soldier Field also was site of the Gold Cup final in 2007 and 2013.
Panama and Trinidad and Tobago also have qualified for the Gold Cup because they were among the final six nations in regional qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. Remaining Gold Cup qualifiers are scheduled for this month, November and March.
