Concacaf announced today Preliminary round schedule of the 2021 Gold Cup where they will define the last classified in the contest, being the Selection of Guatemala is the only one in Central America who will be in this phase against Caribbean teams to be in area contest.
As it became known, preliminary round will take place in Inter Miami Stadium in the United States, thus offering the official beginning of The golden cup and with the aim that the participating teams can be in the same place, in order to have a better control of hygiene protocols tgiven that the pandemic continues.
In this edition of 2021 will be the first time Concacaf includes the previous preliminary phase group stage. In total there will be 12 teams looking to win the last three tickets for Gold Cup, that they already know the groups around them It will start in July and part of August.
Guatemala She will be the only Central American to be in the preliminary round, as set out in a draw, will be her first rival Guyana, to overcome it, will have to play against the winner Guadalupe against Bahamas, to win both phases will be placed in Group C, where they are already Costa Rica, Jamaica and Suriname.
This will be the program for the Gold Cup qualifying phase:
First round: July 2 and 3
Pairing # 1: Haiti vs. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Pairing # 2: Guatemala vs Guyana
Pairing no. 3: Trinidad and Tobago vs Monserrat
Pairing # 4: Cuba vs French Guiana
Pairing # 5: Guadeloupe vs. Bahamas
Pairing # 6: Bermuda vs. Barbados
The six winners of the first round will qualify for the second round and play as follows:
Second round: July 6
Pairing # 7: Pairing Winner # 1 vs. Pairing Winner # 6
Pairing # 8: Winner Pairing # 2 vs Winner Pair # 5
Pairing # 9: Winning Pairing # 3 vs. Winning Pairing # 4
The winner of each of the three pairs in the second round will advance to the group stage of the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup, for which they were drawn in groups A, B and C, as follows:
Group A: Mexico, Savior, Curaçao and the winner of the preliminary round # 9
Group B: United States, Canada, Martinique and the preliminary round of the winner no. 7
Group C: Costa Rica, Jamaica, Suriname and the round of winners Preliminary # 8
Group D: Honduras, Panama, Granada and Qatar