TT to know Gold Cup opponents in April

THE national men's footballers will know their opponents at the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup and the Concacaf Nations League within the next month.

The Confederation announced on Thursday that the groups and full schedule for the 15th edition of the Confederation’s Gold Cup will be unveiled in Los Angeles, on Wednesday, April 10. The coaches of the 16 participating national teams, as well as CONCACAF executives and legends of the game are scheduled to be in attendance. The 2019 edition is set to be the biggest in its history.

To date, six of the 16 national teams have qualified for the tournament, those being the countries that participated in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Hexagonal qualifier round: Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and the United States. The other ten nations will qualify for the Gold Cup via the CONCACAF Nations League Qualifier, with the final round taking place during the March FIFA match fixtures. TT’s best ever finish came in 2000 when the Bertille St Clair-coached team finished third, losing 1-0 to eventual winners Canada in the semi-finals. TT reached the quarter finals in 2013 and 2015.

Concacaf also announced on Wednesday that the Concacaf National League draw will be held at The Chelsea Theater in Las Vegas on March 27.

Having advanced to the Concacaf hexagonal stage of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, TT were pre-seeded in League A alongside the United States, Panama, Mexico, Costa Rica and Honduras.

The group stage for the Nations League, which continues its qualification phase from March 21-24, will be played from September-November. The final Championship is set for 2020.

Countries from the qualifying phase will be ranked from 1-34, based on points earned, goal difference and a series of additional tie breaker criteria to determine placement into Leagues A, B and C of the inaugural Nations League. Canada are currently third, behind Curacao and Haiti heading into their final qualifying match against French Guiana on March 24.

The 41 participating teams will be allocated in the pots according to the League they have qualified for as well as by the Concacaf ranking as of November 2018.