Soccer Specific Stadiums in the Gold Cup.

There will be 5 SSS in the 2015 Gold Cup, Philly will host the Final for 1st time. It will be played in Canada for the 1st time.

Well the 2015 Gold Cup is fast approaching and the venues have been selected. It is interesting to see the increase of the use of Soccer Specific Stadiums since 2005. As a matter of fact SSS has increased by one every years starting in 2007.

2005 The Home Depot Center was used. This is MLS largest SSS seating 27,000 fans. The 2005 venues was a great success.

In 2007 the Home Depot Center was used again and again it was a sell out. This year 2 double headers were played there. LA has the second largest TV market and the grass field was a big attraction for SUM Marketing to promote the event.

2009 Group A (Costa Rica, Canada, Jamaica and El Salvador)were given 2 SSS in the Home Depot Center for 3rd year in a row and this time Columbus Crew Stadium. They also played at FUI field in Fla. The HDC was another success but Columbus was a bust. Only 7,059 were in attendance. Columbus Crew stadium would not be used again.

2011 the SSS venues increased from 2 to 3 venues. The HDC for the 4th tournament in a row was relied on again as a staple venue for the event. The new Red Bull Arena in NY was also used for Group B (Honduras, Jamaica, Guatemala and Grenada). The other SSS was the brand new KC Sporting Stadium which opened in June 2010 at a cost of $210 Million dollars. The USA fans packed this stadium for their only SSS Venue.


2013 There would be 4 SSS Venues. Red Bull Arena and Houston's BBVA Stadium were for Group B. Portland's PGE Park and Rio Tinto Stadium in Utah were in the USA Group C. Portland just finished in 2011 a$31 Million renovation for their MLS club and they packed their stadium to a 22,000 capacity. Rio Tinto was used in USA group to give the USA team a home field advantage and to have a capacity crowd.


 2015
      The SSS will again increase from 4 to 5. These stadiums have been a great idea since they are close to capacity. You do not want 20,000 fans in a 70,000 NFL stadium. It reflect badly on the Gold Cup. Toyota Stadium in Dallas and BMO Field in Toronto will be new SSS used for the first time in the Gold Cup. The other 3 will be the Stub Hub Center (HDC), Houston's BBVA Stadium and Sporting Park again in KC.

These SSS are great for the event and usually have a capacity crowd. I see The Stub Hub Center 27,000) and Red Bull Arena(25,000) a consistent venue. The reason is they are the number 1 and 2 media markets in the USA. They are also the 1&2 largest SSS in the USA and both have grass fields. They only way they will not be selected is if the NFL stadiums are being used in future Gold Cup events.

Dallas, Houston, Baltimore and Chicago are also large media markets there are hard to pass over. The one obvious market missing is Miami. Miami hosted the Gold Cup in the Orange Bowl in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007 (last Gold Cup in the Orange Bowl). Miami still hosted in FUI Stadium in 2009 and 2011 and again in 2013 in Sun life Stadium. This brings Miami total hosting to 9 Gold Cup's in a row. Miami was omitted this year which is a mystery to me. The 2013 Gold Cup in Miami was played in the Sun Life Stadium (75,000) capacity. 28,713 attended this double header which did not feature USA or Mexico. This double header was the best attended group game out of Group B and Group C (USA group) and the 3rd highest attended game in the group phase. I see Miami again being a staple for future Gold Cup venues especially if Beckerman can build a stadium close to downtown Miami.

Gold Cup total Attendance 650,000 is the best in history by far...

93,000 plus fans attended the Gold Cup final 2011 in the Rose Bowl

What pisses me off is bad information and CONCACAF is passing out bad information. Ivan Orozco just posted an attendance article about the Gold Cup attendance that has contradictory numbers. He stated that attendance totaled “Pointing to crowds that have totaled 493,232 - the third-best in the history of the tournament without counting the final in the Rose Bowl”. These numbers are a contradiction in what CONCACAF is posting. This is the highest attended Gold Cup by far……..Orozco is not off my a little, he is off by about 80 thousands. I have no idea where Orozco has pulled these numbers from. Maybe Orozco can not add.

       Here are my attendance numbers that I added from the CONCACAF web site. Group stage games totaled 362,000.

      Group A Played at a sold out Dallas Stadium 80k, Then had a great turnout of 65k at Bank of America NC and finished with 77k in Chicago for a total of 222,000 in Group A. This was outstanding for group A.
      Group B opened at the Home Depot Center with 22k, traveled to Miami (18k) with the smallest attended match, than got a great NY crowd of 25k in Red Bull arena. This group totaled 65,000.
       Group C was the yanks group. They started in Ford Field and got 28k in Detroit. Then they traveled to sunny Tampa Bay and got another 28k at Roland James Stadium. They finished up at KC new Sporting Stadium which was a sellout at 20k. This group totaled 75,000.
       Total group attendance is simple. Add the groups. I got this total by simply adding Group A (222,000) Group B (65,000) and Group C (75,000). The total is 363,000.
       Knockout Rounds attendance:
   Now the knockout games. The quarter finals were played at RFK Stadium and Houston’s Reliant Stadium. It was reported that RFK had attendance of 45,423. Houston did outstanding once again with 78,807 in attendance. The Semifinals in New York Meadowlands had 70,627 and the Finals totaled 93,420. To get a total for the knockout rounds I just added 45k in D.C, 79k in Houston, 71k in Meadowlands and 93,000 from the Rose Bowl. The knockout rounds totaled 288k.
     Yes I attended High school and had algebra. I even went to college and took Calculus I, II and III. I have children that can add but CONCACAF officials can not add these numbers. Knockout rounds of 288k plus the groups of 362k equals 650k. Can you hear me, this simple math equation...the totals..... ..650k….

This attendance figure makes this the most attended Gold Cup in History! This is the attendance numbers CONCACAF should be boasting about.

Opening round thoughts

J. Hernandez scores 3 against El Salvador

Ok, every team has a game under their belts. A quick thought on the tournament so far. The opening game between Costa Rica 5-0 and Cuba was as lopsided as the score. Costa Rica is as good as Cuba was bad. Costa Rica will challenge Mexico for the top spot. El Salvador played with poise until the flood gates opened against Mexico in the second game. Once Mexico smelled blood this star studded team opened the offense 5-0 on El Salvador. The opening attendance for a group game was a record at 80,108 in Dallas. This was a great opening night for Gold Cup 2011.

Group B opened to an empty Home Depot Center when (2 Caribbean nations) Jamaica took on Grenada. After watching it on TV, I realized why it was empty. I only counted about 400 to about 1,200 when Jamaica played Grenada. Jamaica looked good enough to go deep in the tournament. The Regga Boyz were tactically better, more athletic and in better shape that the Spice Boyz from Grenada. The second game the attendance rose to slightly over 21,000. After Gold cup 2009, when Costa Rica played El Salvador over 27,000 showed. Since this Gold Cup is more important I was expecting another sell out. There was quite a vocal Guatemala contingent. They cheered when Guatemala did well. Honduras has the talent however they were not to cohesive. I expect them to get better as the “European based” Honduras players get use to each other.

Group C Panama vs. Guadeloupe there were crickets in the stands. Again only a few hundred people were there at the beginning of this game. Panama takes a 3-0 lead only to see Guadeloupe give them a scare and score 2 second half goals. Panama got what they wanted which was 3 points. Guadeloupe is still a dangerous team. The yanks played a 4-4-2 and waited patiently for Canada to make a mistake. Canada played a very slow ball control game. The yanks pulled out a very boring 2-0 victory. Only a miniscule crowd of 28, 209 showed up in Detroit. So no MLS team will be going there. They should have played this in the small MLS stadium. Oh well.

I am looking forward to seeing more J. Hernandez who leads the Gold Cup with 3 goals. Mexico surprised me with their height advantage over El Salvador. My yanks did not look to fluid and did not play an attractive game…(but I am always hard on my yanks). I want them to play like Brazil. I like J. Jones on the ball in the middle. He is calm with people around him. The young tandem of Ream and Goodson played well together in the middle. I am glad Costa Rico will be in the other group. I think Mexico and Costa Rica will play twice. I see Mexico, Costa Rica and the yanks as the top contenders. Jamaica, Canada, Panama looking good. The jury is out on Honduras, they have to get their act together but they can afford it in this group. El Salvador, Guatemala and Guadeloupe are a step behind the pack. Cuba and Grenada make me wish we were still inviting guess teams.

Jamaica vs Venezuela

The Jamaican national team is getting ready for the Gold Cup. They are taking this tournament seriously. The tournament will get them ready for World Cup qualification. The Gold cup will also put the team, the nation and Jamaican soccer in the spot light.

To get ready the Reggae Boyz are playing good competition. They will take on Venezuela on the island of Jamaica. There will be a number of MLS players on the roster to face the South American Rival nation. Heading this list is FW Omar Cummings who plays for the Colorado Rapids. There will be 4 other MLS players on the team to face Venezuela. Their coach Theodore Whitmore is getting his senior side together to instill some continuity before the Gold Cup starts.

Gold Cup 2011 groups

The Gold Cup will announce the groups this Tuesday. The question will be who will be in what group which is difficult to guess. What is harder to determine is who will play who.

Group A plays at 3 of the biggest venues. They start at Dallas Texas, then move to Charlotte (73.7k) and finish in Chicago’s Soldiers Field (61.5k). This group will have Mexico. Why …well Warner will want to maximize revenue and there is only one nation that can fill the big stadiums in CONCACAF. That team is Mexico. Mexico filled Dallas Stadium with over 80k in the 2009 Gold Cup. Charlotte NC is a new venue to the Gold Cup however not to the Hispanic community. In March 2010 Mexico played Iceland in a meaningless game. There were over 55,000 pre-sold tickets for this game. Charlotte is proven with the Mexican national team. The last group game is in Chicago. Soldiers field was packed for the 2007 Gold Cup Final. This is also a proven lock to have a great turn out. This is clearly Mexico’s group. The question is who else will be group with them.

Group B is Canada group but because they are not from the Caribbean or Central America. Both of these regions have just finished the Caribbean Cup and the Central American Cup so officials want to give them new opponents to keep it interesting. Since Mexico has group A and the USA will have Group C the question is who goes into Group B with Canada. The next best teams in CONCACAF in MHO are Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama and Jamaica. Picking from these teams there is only one who has the fan support to pack the stadiums and that country is Honduras. Honduras is a good pick since Costa Rica has been group with Canada for the last 5 out of 6 Gold Cups. Honduras is not a lock but a good bet. This group starts in the very popular Home Depot Center, then travels to Miami than wraps up at Red Bull Arena in New York. Honduras fans are popular in LA and NY. Jamaica is a good bet since Miami fans are very visible in Miami. Jamaica also makes this group very competitive. Jamaica are the Caribbean Champs are and play a very entertaining style of play. Since this group have the largest MLS stadiums in HDC and Red Bull arena these will be great venues for this group.

Group C is the USA group. Why…because USA soccer likes to move the national team around the country. Detroit, Tampa and KC will all be new to the Gold Cup. Placing the yanks here should secure good crowds. Last Gold Cup the yanks had 2 good crowds when they played good competition. However when the yanks played the small Caribbean nation of Grenada only 15,387 turned off for this 4-0 shellacking. This game was played in the best MLS attendance venue Seattle’s Quest field. Sam’s army was not interested in this weaker opponent. This Gold Cup has a small stadium (KC @ 18.5k) to make sure there is a full house when the yanks play a Caribbean nation. So the question is who else to group with the yanks. If Honduras goes to group B that leaves Costa Rica and Panama as the next best opponents. However El Salvador and Guatemala have much better fans to help the yanks in the other venues. This will be a toss up. The yanks will be grouped with either El Salvador or Guatemala help with attendance. The question is which one of the Big 3 (Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras) from Central America will be group with them. It is my inclination to think Honduras will go to Group B and the yanks will get Panama since Panama was group with Mexico last Gold Cup. Panama will provide a challenger for the group. Then throw in El Sal or Guatemala for attendance. The last team will be a Caribbean nation. The other pick (el Sal or Guatemala) will help Mexico is the big venues for fan support. This leaves Cuba as a good Caribbean nation who also has fan support. Their biggest fans are in Miami but I think they will group with the yanks in group C to full the big stadiums.

So my guess to the groups are this

Group A Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Grenada

Group B Canada, Honduras, Jamaica, Guadeloupe.

Group C USA, Panama, Guatemala and Cuba

This group has a good mix up the 3 regions of CONCACAF. They also have s good distribution of good teams to keep each group competitive. Most importantly it breaks up the nations that have good fans support into different groups. Gold Cup officials want sold out venues and these group will come close to that..

Who do you want to see in each group?

Expand the Gold Cup

Is Expansion the Answer?

Is there a way to recruit another quality nation to join CONCACAF. CONCACAF is like the Big East in football. They are one of the weaker confederations. The Big 10 has added Nebraska to boost their image. The PAC 10 has added Colarado and Utah to boost their image. The ACC took 3 top teams from the Big East (BC, Virginia Tech and Miami) to boost their image.

I was wondering if CONCACAF could recruit a nation like Australia. Australia use to be the king of the Oceanic Confederation. They left for a better conference in the Asian CONFEDERATION. I was wondering if CONCACAF could recruit Australia to play in CONCACAF. This would provide another quality team. Just like the football conferences having a better Championship in football. Australia would make it possible to expand the Gold Cup to 16 nations. The Gold Cup could have USA, Mexico, Canada and Australia anchor each group. Back them up with 5 quality teams each from the Central America and 7 nations from the Caribbean. Finally CONCACAF could have the highly important group stage games.

If not Australia what about Greenland. Greenland is a North American nation.Greenland could provide the Denmark B team. Almost every European B side is much better that every Caribbean nation. Greenland could boost the image of CONCACAF and the Gold Cup. This would also give the Gold Cup some European exposure.

I think since the USA lost it’s bid to host the World Cup 2014, 2018 and 2022 they have to do something to improve the Gold Cup. How about inviting 2 European nations to participate. How about European powers like Ireland and Poland. These nations are very competitive and would have a huge fan base in the States. These European powers would strengthen a 16 nation Gold Cup. Place these nations in a group with Mexico and USA. These nations would provide badly need competition for the top CONCACAF nations. It would allow the Gold Cup to expand to 16 nations. It would create a buzz. It would give a World Cup feel to the Gold Cup since the World Cup is based on corruption the USA may never get it again.. It would have international stars like Robbie Keane and quality international coaches like Giovanni Trapattoni participate.

How about just combining with CONMEBOL and take the big step…..a

Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic dissapoints!

Disappointment in the big Caribbean Nations

The big disappointment for me so far in the Caribbean Cup is the elimination of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. These big populous nations of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic have 3.97 Million people and 10.090 Million respectively. I am very displeased since neither one of these countries will participant in the Gold Cup. If there is any chance that the Gold Cup will expand to 16 nations the big populous nations like these 2 have to produce quality teams.
The only way CONCACAF officials will expand is if countries have fan support. Warner will not expand just for the sake of expansion. It would lessen the tournament if Barbados - Antigua & Barbuda with Canada played Grenada as a double header and only 3,000 fans showed at a 60,000 stadium. Presently Mexico carries the Gold Cup with attendance. El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and the USA are a distant second in fan support. Then there is a huge drop off. Costa Rica, Panama, Haiti, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica are good teams but only a fraction of the fan support of the other nations.

Since these big Caribbean Populous nations have been knocked out Warner is glad he did not expand the Gold Cup to 16 teams this year. Warner and Gold Cup officials want a packed house to support them team. Officials want to Gold Cup to match the South American Cup. In order to do that these big populous nations of Dominican Republic 10 million, Haiti – 10 Million, Puerto Rico 3.9 million have to produce quality teams. Not only do they have to have quality team they also have to be one of the best 8 in the Caribbean. I believe if expansion comes the Caribbean has to get these big nations to make it to the final 8 year in and year out.

Of the final 8 Caribbean nations in the Caribbean Cup, only 2 nations (Jamaica, Cuba) have more than 1 Million of population. All the other participants have less than a million population. Some of these smaller island nations may have good teams but no one will watch them. They do not have a support club that travels with the team, they do not have fans dressing up in the nations colors and waving the nations flag. All of this pomp and pageantry adds to the Gold Cup just as it adds to the World Cup. There are just not enough fans in the states to support their nation during the Gold Cup.

I had high hopes for The Dominican Republic. Haiti usually puts out a quality team every tournament. The Dominican Republic is on the same small island in the Caribbean. Their populations are roughly the same. Why can’t the Dominican Republic field a quality team like Haiti? The Dominican Republic did not even advance to Stage 2. They were beat at home by tiny Dominica. It is hard for me to imagine how a nation (Dominican Republic) that has a population of slightly over 10 Million can lose to a nation (Dominica) that only has 72,600 people. That is more than 100 times the amount of players to draw from. The Dominican Republic should be a main player in the Caribbean. The Dominican Republic should be competing in the Final 8 every tournament based on population. The Dominican Republic has as many immigrants in the USA as many of the Central American countries. I believe they would be a tremendous asset to the Gold Cup if they could field a competitive team.

I thought that this would be the year the Dominican Republic steps into the fray of the Caribbean. The problem with this country is that not many people care for soccer. They do not care because their national team stinks. Everyone wants a winner and to have a team to be proud of. You can not be proud of your team when they lose at home to Dominica. They want a star on their team they can cheer for that is as good as or better than their opponents. The Dominican Republic has neither. After waiting 4 years for this country to succeed I was very disappointed.
I do not want to leave on a sour note about this country. Soccer is evolving very slowly. The top league is called premier division. This top tier league only has 8 teams for the 2010 season. Barcelona has bought a team Club Barcelona Atlético that plays in this Premier league. Hopefully this team can set the bar and elevate the entire league. The Dominican also has a good federation with a good web site so us fans can monitor the progress this nation makes. The best part of the league is over 90% of the players are Dominican. I guess I will have to wait another 2 years before I can judge the nation again..ugggg.

Puerto Rico (3.97 Million)

Puerto Rico has the 4th largest population of all the Caribbean. It also has one of the best economies. Puerto Rico is also one of the biggest islands in the Caribbean. Since 20087 when Colin Clake (N Ireland) took over the national team, they shot up the rankings. This fooled me since they had not had a coach since 2004. I thought Puerto Rico would be a force in the Caribbean and the Gold Cup on the level of Guadeloupe. I was wrong. Puerto Rico failed for a completely different reason. Clake also coaches the Puerto Rico Islanders. The Islanders have many of the top players on the national team. The Islanders just started the playoff just when the second round (Stage 2) of the Caribbean Cup started. The top players traveled with Clarke and the national team did not win in Stage 2. After dominating it’s opponents at home the Puerto Rico national team could not advance with a substitute coach and their B team against Grenada at home, a well organized Guadeloupe team and St Kitts in the last game. The Islanders went on to win the Champion of the USSF D-2 in the 2010. They beat the Rochester Rhino’s (#1 seed), the Vancouver Whitecaps (who will be a MLS team in 2011) and the Carolina Railhowks for the Championship.
I love national teams however you can make a case for promoting the sport by winning a Championship. Did Clarke do the right thing…time will tell. However us who like the national teams, we will have to wait another 2 teams for this nation and see how they improve. Uggggg I am not getting younger and I hate waiting.

4 Caribbean nations are determined

There will be only one new team from the Caribbean in next years Gold Cup. That nation will be Cuba. Cuba did qualify for the 2009 Gold Cup but decided not to participate. Haiti won it's spot. Jamaica, Guadeloupe and Grenada all participated in the 2009 event and will all be participating again.

Since will we have 5 nations from Central America I believe we will again see
Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, El Salvador as repeat participants. It will be a big surprise if Nicaragua can qualify again. I believe Guatemala will be the new Central American participant.

In total there will only be 2 new nations (Cuba, Guatemala) if the Central American Cup play out with the favorites winning.

Importance of Rotating the Gold Cup

Saturday, January 30, 2010
Rotating the Gold Cup

Each and every Gold Cup has been hosted or co-hosted by the USA. Everyone knows that there is a huge advantage of playing on your home pitch. Reviewing the past CONCACAF Championship and Gold Cup we can see that the home team has won 9 out of 12 Championships. There was no tournament so no home field advantage applied in 1985 and 1989 years. We can clearly see the advantage a host team benefits from. This factor alone should be enough to rotate the Gold Cup around the CONCACAF region.

The problem with rotating the Gold Cup is the lack of attendance other nations would have when hosting. The reason why the CONCACAF Championship was cancel was because of this reason. We can also look at the past UNCAF Cups and the Caribbean Cups. UNCAF 2005 in El Salvador was a very poorly attended tournament. Stadiums were empty. UNCAF 2007 was better in Tegucigalpa but only when the host played. When Los Catrachos played there was a tremendous turn out of about 20,000 in attendance. However when the host was knocked out there was under 2,000 in attendance.
The important 5ht place finish between Guatemala and Nicaragua only 150 people were in attendance. CONCACAF has to guard against this huge drop in attendance.
CONCACAF is in a Catch 22 situation here. So I have a solution. Why doesn’t CONCACAF let the region of Central America host the Gold Cup? This would not be one country hosting but 4. This would solve the problem of poorly attended games. This would also provide great exposure to the region. The countries could show off their national stadiums. The fans would be treated to the best soccer in the region and finally the regional tournament would be rotated outside of the USA.

Each Central American country's population is only the size of a US state on average. Guatemala, El Salvador Honduras and Costa Rica are roughly the size of New York, New Jersey, Virginia and West Virginia respectively. Gold Cup "Central America" would be like playing it in 4 Mid Atlantic states. If we can fly 12 teams across America for every game we could certainly have 4 teams stay in one country for 3 games. I say let Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador host group play consisting of 4 teams. Costa Rica could host the other quarter, semi and Finals. This allows 4 Central American countries host at least 6 games.
This action would be good for a number of reasons. First it would provide great exposure to the host country and its national soccer league. Each host country would be showing off its city, its national stadium and its proud national team. The cities would be draped in the countries flag. This would be great to see. Soccer is by far the number one sport in each of these countries and they deserve to host the regional event.
I say event because there will be such a big build up before the game. The local media will be competing how their presentation stacks up against the other Central American hosts. The media will point out that this is a historical event since it would be over 30 years since the regional Championship has been hosted in Central America (Honduras last hosted in 1981).
Olimpico Stadium, 45,000

San Pedro Sula, HondurasThe groups would also be more balanced. The USA and Mexico are always a clear favorite in the Gold Cup now. However in Central America the playing field will be much more equal. Costa Rica badly beat the Yanks 3:1 while Honduras matched the score 3:1 against Mexico. El Salvador also beat Mexico 2:1 at Cuscatalan Stadium. The home venues will give all the Central American nations the advantage the Yanks have had sine 1991 when the Gold Cup started. The Central American teams will be much more comfortable playing on their home pitch in front of their home crowd. We would probable crown a Champion that is not from North –North America for the first time in Gold Cup history. If there was a favorite is would probably be the host nation in each group. This would create a much more competitive Gold Cup than any previous tournaments. This would show the dept that CONCACAF has acquired over time.

Honduras
Honduras has close to 8 Million people who consider soccer the number 1 sport they follow. Honduras could host a group in 2 stadiums in 2 different cities (San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa). Each game will be a double header just as it is now in the States. Olimpico Stadium in San Pedro Sula holds 45,000 and is a great venue built in 1998. San Pedro Sula is considered the industrial capitol of Honduras and the venue has natural grass. Andino Stadium in Tegucigalpa holds 35,000 could be the other host city in Honduras. The local media angle would be that the last CONCACAF Championship was hosted in Honduras and Honduras won that event. They have a very strong domestic league and a very good national team. Honduras could host 6 group games (double header). These 2 cities would pack their stadiums for Gold Cup Central America.

Cuscatlan Stadium, San Salvador
Capacity 45,000.
El Salvador
El Salvador has a country of close to 7 Million people. This is a very proud soccer nation that reached 2 World Cups. They have not regained that stature since. Hosting the Gold Cup would be a huge step to rejuvenate the fans of El Salvador. El Salvador would be a great pick to host a group. They have made great strides is both their domestic league and national team. They had a historic 2:1 victory over the Titans of CONCACAF Mexicoin 2009. They also beat regional power Costa Ricaback to back for the first time in history. Cuscatlan Stadium in San Salvador has tremendous fan support. This stadium holds over 45,000 and the stadium rocks when the national team plays there. There was not an empty seat in the most recent World Cup Qualifying match against the Yanks. Gonzalez Stadium also located in the largest city of San Salvador holds 25,000. Since the games would be close to each other logistics sould not be a problem.

Guatemala
Guatemala was recently knocked out of Gold Cup 2009 by upstart Nicaragua. This is a shame for this passionate nation of fans. Now Guatemala fans have to suffer through another 4 years with out a World Cup spot and another 4 years between Gold Cups. This country of over 13 Million would be energized if they knew they would be hosting 6 Group stage games for the Gold Cup. The federation and fans would be eager to show off Guatemala and Guatemala soccer to the rest of CONCACAF. I know I looked ahead every 2 years to the Gold Cup with excitement it brings. Guatemalans would feel that they too have a chance to win this tournament.
Flores Stadium in Guatemala holds over 30,000 passionate fans. These fans gathered 5 hours before the World Cup Qualifying against the USA. I believe if we play group play in 2 different stadiums the fans will come out again to support their national team. Guatemala City would be draped in the national colors and the Guatemala flag would be everywhere. Fans like these would support the national team throughout the country.
Stadium Progreso holds 17,000 and this could be the other venue for 2 games (double header games). It would be great to see these stadiums packed with these fervent fans. Advancing in the Gold Cup would show the nation and its fans that they too have advanced in soccer.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica has the best infrastructure of any Central American nation. The Tico’s have always produces quality national teams. Costa Rica could host the final the quarter finals, semi-final and final game. They (Costa Rica) would be sure to make the knockout round when playing in Central America. This would give Costa Rica 7 games to host.

Costa Rica will also have a brand new national Stadium that is set to open November 2010. This $83 Million dollar stadium will be the show piece of Gold Cup Central America in 2011.
This region has given CONCACAF quality teams and it is time to pay them back. Each Gold Cup game (double headers) would be close to capacity to circumvent empty stadiums. By having the host have 2 venues will also increase fan attendance. Hosting would provide tremendous exposure to each domestic league. The fans of each country deserve to have to opportunity to host the regional Championship on their home field. Rotating the Gold Cup out of the States would legitimize the Gold Cup. The home field advantage that the Yanks have had would be eliminated. The Groups also would be more balanced. Mexico and the USA would be “equal” contestants in this Gold Cup. With no favorite in Gold Cup Central America it would create a wide open tournament. This tournament also would be much more exciting. We should not see favorable official calls go in favor of Mexico and the Yanks like in the past.
Statistically we can see the advantage playing on your home field. The regional tournament has to be rotated to create fairness to this competition. By playing the tournament in Central America would provide a much more equal playing field. The groups would be much more balanced. This will created interest in the region and throughout CONCACAF.

Rotating the Gold Cup

Rotate The Gold Cup

Each and every Gold Cup has been hosted or co-hosted by the USA. Everyone knows that there is a huge advantage of playing on your home pitch. Reviewing the past CONCACAF Championship and Gold Cup we can see that the home team has won 9 out of 12 Championships. There was no tournament so no home field advantage applied in 1985 and 1989 years. We can clearly see the advantage a host team benefits from. This factor alone should be enough to rotate the Gold Cup around the CONCACAF region.

The problem with rotating the Gold Cup is the lack of attendance other nations would have when hosting. The reason why the CONCACAF Championship was cancel was because of this reason. We can also look at the past UNCAF Cups and the Caribbean Cups. UNCAF 2005 in El Salvador was a very poorly attended tournament. Stadiums were empty. UNCAF 2007 was better in Tegucigalpa but only when the host played. When Los Catrachos played there was a tremendous turn out of about 20,000 in attendance. However when the host was knocked out there was under 2,000 in attendance.

The important 5ht place finish between Guatemala and Nicaragua only 150 people were in attendance. CONCACAF has to guard against this huge drop in attendance.
CONCACAF is in a Catch 22 situation here. So I have a solution. Why doesn’t CONCACAF let the region of Central America host the Gold Cup? This would not be one country hosting but 4. This would solve the problem of poorly attended games. This would also provide great exposure to the region. The countries could show off their national stadiums. The fans would be treated to the best soccer in the region and finally the regional tournament would be rotated outside of the USA.

Each Central American country's population is only the size of a US state on average. Guatemala, El Salvador Honduras and Costa Rica are roughly the size of New York, New Jersey, Virginia and West Virginia respectively. Gold Cup "Central America" would be like playing it in 4 Mid Atlantic states. If we can fly 12 teams across America for every game we could certainly have 4 teams stay in one country for 4 games. I say let Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador host group play consisting of 4 teams and quarter final game. All the host country has to do is qualify (8 of 12 make it) for the knockout round to host. We could have the top team from each group play the lowest host nation. Costa Rica could host the other quarter final game, 2 semi-final games and the Final.

This action would be good for a number of reasons. First it would provide great exposure to the host country and its national soccer league. Each host country would be showing off its city, its national stadium and its proud national team. The cities would be draped in the countries flag to gives it’s fans a sense of nationalism. This would be great to see. Soccer is by far the number one sport in each of these countries and they deserve to host the regional event.
I say event because there will be such a big build up before the game. The local media will be competing how their presentation stacks up against the other Central American hosts. The media will point out that this is a historical event since it would be over 30 years since the regional Championship has been hosted in Central America (Honduras last hosted in 1981).

The groups would also be more balanced. The USA and Mexico are always a clear favorite in the Gold Cup now. However in Central America the playing field will be much more equal. The USA luckily tied El Salvador in Cuscatlon Stadium in World Cup Qualifying 2009. Honduras just beat Mighty Mexico 3-1 in Tegucigalpa. The Central American teams will be much more comfortable playing on their home pitch in front of their home crowd. We would probable crown a Champion that is not from North –North America for the first time in Gold Cup history. This would show the dept that CONCACAF has acquired over time.

Honduras
Honduras could host a group in 2 stadiums in 2 different cities. The fans from that part of the country will only have 2 chances to see their national team play. Each game will be a double header just as it is not in the States. Olimpico Stadium in San Pedro Sula holds 45,000 and is a great venue built in 1998. Andino Stadium in Tegucigalpa holds 35,000 could be the other host city in Honduras. The local media angle would be that the last CONCACAF Championship was hosted in Honduras and Honduras won that event. They have a very strong domestic league and a very good national team. Honduras could host 3 group games (double header) and a quarterfinal. These 2 cities would pack their stadiums for Gold Cup Central America.

El Salvador
El Salvador has a country of close to 7 Million people. This was once a proud soccer nation that reached 2 World Cups. They have not regained that stature since; however hosting the Gold Cup would be a huge step to rejuvenate the fans of El Salvador. El Salvador would be a great pick to host a group and quarter final also. Cuscatlan Stadium in San Salvador has tremendous fan support. This stadium holds over 45,000 and the stadium rocks when the national team plays there. There was not an empty seat in the most recent World Cup Qualifying match against the Yanks. Gonzalez Stadium also located in the largest city of San Salvador holds 25,000. Since both games would be close to each other logistics would not be a problem.

Guatemala
Guatemala was recently knocked out of Gold Cup 2009 by upstart Nicaragua. This is a shame for this passionate nation of fans. Now Guatemala fans have to suffer through another 4 years with out a World Cup spot and another 2 before the next Gold Cup qualifications comes. Knowing they would be hosting a group play and quarterfinal would create a buzz in the entire nation. The country and fans could look ahead with anticipation to the next Gold Cup they would be co-hosting.

Flores Stadium in Guatemala holds over 30,000 passionate fans. These fans gathered 5 hours before the World Cup Qualifying against the USA. I believe if we play group play in 2 different stadiums the fans will come out again to support their national team. Guatemala City would be draped in the national colors and the Guatemala flag would be everywhere.
Stadium Progreso holds 17,000 and this could be the other venue for 2 games (double header games). It would be great to see these stadiums packed with fervent fans. This would increase the level of intensity of the Gold Cup.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica has the best infrastructure of any Central American nation. The Tico’s have always produces quality national teams. Costa Rica could host the other quarter final the semi-final and final game. They (Costa Rica) would be sure to make the knockout round when playing it in Central America. Costa Rica will also have a brand new national Stadium that is set to open November 2010. This $83 Million dollar stadium will be the show piece of Gold Cup Central America in 2011.

This region has given CONCACAF quality teams and it is time to pay them back. Each Gold Cup game (double headers) would be close to capacity to circumvent empty stadiums. By having the host have 2 venues will also increase fan attendance. This would provide tremendous to each domestic league. The fans of each country deserve to have to opportunity to host the regional Championship on their home field. Statistically we can see the advantage playing on your home field. The regional tournament has to be rotated to create fairness to this competition. By playing the tournament in Central America would provide a much greater "equal" playing field. The groups would be much more balanced. This will created interest in the region and throughout CONCACAF.

Costa Rica cruises

Group A Group B
Honduras 2-0-0 Costa Rica 2-0-0
El Salvador 1-1-0 Guatemala 0-0-1
Nicaragua 0-1-1 Panama 0-0-1
Belize 0-0-2

Costa Rica went unbeaten in their semi-final World Cup qualifing going 6-0 against El salvador, Suriname and Haiti. They were then placed in the UNCAF nations cup with Panama and guatemala. Well they scored 3-0 pasting of Panama, then posted a 3-1 loss on Guatemala to remain undefeated in Group B. They are in the knockout round of the UNCAF nations cup 2009. the wins also placed them int CONCACAF's Gold Cup 2009. Guatemala will play Panama for a spot in the knockout round. The loser will have to play the 3rd place finisher of Group A.

Group A has host Honduras with 2 win and a ticket to the knockout round and a ticket to the Gold Cup 2009. This will be their 9th appearance in the Gold Cup. The most interesting games are yet to be played. Honduras has El Salvador while Nicaragua plays Belize. Nicaragua has been the surprise team so far. they tied El Salvador in the opening game. If Nicaragua beats Belize which look likely and host Honduras beats El Salvador Nicaragua will qualify for the Gold cup autamatically. Honduras is already through so El Salvador will give everything they have while Honduras can sit back. Whoever wins will have to go up against regional power Costa Rica in the knockout round.