15th CONCACAF Gold Cup kicks off in Rose Bowl

Canada defeat Martinique 4-0 and Mexico defeat Cuba 7-0 in the two opening matches of the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup in the Rose Bowl, Pasadena.

It’s looking good early on for both Canada and Mexico to advance from Group A to the Quarter Finals as they both showed a significant difference in quality above that of their opponents Martinique and Cuba respectively. Two teams from each of the four groups qualify for the quarter-finals, with the tournament being expanded in 2019 from 12 teams to 16.

On my way to the stadium this afternoon I ended up sharing a taxi with some Canadian fans. It turned out they were relatives of Canadian striker Liam Millar! The 19-year old Liverpool forward has been on loan since the end of January to Scottish side Kilmarnock. It was good, therefore, to see him come on as a substitute for the last 20 minutes of the match, just after fellow Scottish-based player Scott Arfield (who plays for Glasgow Rangers) scored Canada’s 4th goal.

My taxi-sharing acquaintances were amongst a very sparse crowd to watch their match, which kicked off at 16:30 local time. In contrast, however, the Mexican fans (many of whom live in California) packed out much of the 90,000-capacity Rose Bowl stadium just a couple of hours later.

The Mexico v Cuba match has just finished shortly before 21:00 (local time) which means I have a couple of hours to get across to LAX to catch my 1am flight to Costa Rica for the next two matches in the CONCACAF Gold Cup tomorrow afternoon…

Share and Enjoy !

Shares
Mark Szczuka

Recent Posts

Sounders get by on penalties

Seattle Sounders FC 0-0 Club Puebla (Sounders advance 4-3 on penalties) SEATTLE, WA—Seattle Sounders FC…

1 day ago

Suarez penalty pair sends Herons to Leagues Cup semis

Inter Miami CF 2-1 Tigres UNL FORT LAUDERDALE, FL--A pair of penalty kicks from Luis…

1 day ago

Little Mountain’s journey ends against Aruba

Canada 1-6 Aruba WILLIAMSPORT, PA--The Little Mountain Little League of Vancouver's time at the Little…

1 day ago

Report: Teran heading to Brazil, Waterman heading to Fire

CHICAGO, IL--Chicago Fire FC appears to be making a change a center back. Joe Chatz…

2 days ago

A visit to first place San Diego F.C. will be another wholesome challenge

(6) Portland Timbers (10,9,7, 37 points) vs (1) San Diego FC (16,7,4, 52 points) Saturday,…

2 days ago

Welcome to Rose City Matias Rojas

The Portland Timbers have been busy this summer with the acquisition of three important players…

2 days ago