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What to know about the CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinals, times, matchups

bret bloomquist, el paso times
·2 min read
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The Gold Cup, the biannual North American championship for national team soccer, climaxes this week with the semifinals and finals. The United States and Mexico are still on track to play each other in the finals, though that doesn't seem prohibitively like it often does.

This edition of the tournament started with 16 teams, 15 CONCACAF (a long acronym that means the North American confederation) squads and invited quest Qatar. The US and Mexico each won their four-team group to make the quarterfinals, where both advanced.

United States goalkeeper Matt Turner (1) is congratulated as Canada forward Charles-Andreas Brym (19), background, reacts to missing a penalty shot during penalty kicks of a Gold Cup quarterfinal match between the United States and Canada, Sunday, July 9, 2023, at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati.
United States goalkeeper Matt Turner (1) is congratulated as Canada forward Charles-Andreas Brym (19), background, reacts to missing a penalty shot during penalty kicks of a Gold Cup quarterfinal match between the United States and Canada, Sunday, July 9, 2023, at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati.

Semifinal 1: USA vs. Panama

The Americans take their swing at making their fourth consecutive Gold Cup final at 5 p.m. Mountain time Wednesday. The game will be at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in San Diego. The game will be televised in English on FS1 and in Spanish on TUDN.

The US hasn't had the smoothest of runs against good teams in this tournament and is coming off a tense win in a penalties shootout against Canada. The Americans blew a lead in stoppage time, then had to rally to a 2-2 tie with a late tying goal in the extra time.

Once in penalties the US got some heroics from keeper Matt Turner and was fortunate Canada seems to have inherited penalty ineptitude from its mother country England.

But the US found a way through a game where it mostly was better and advances.

The Americans will be favored against Panama, though that would be hard to tell from current form. Panama comfortably won its group then routed a decent Qatar team 4-0 in the quarterfinals, the only one of the four quarterfinals that wasn't competitive. What they don't have is a long history of beating the US on American soil, though they did in the 2019 Gold Cup.

Semifinal 2: Mexico vs. Jamaica

Mexico has made the last two Gold Cup finals (both against the US) and despite a less-than-stellar run of play this summer has a shot to do it again. The Las Vegas game is set for 8 p.m. Wednesday Mountain time and will be televised on FS1 and TUDN.

El Tri played what may have been their best game of the tournament in a 2-0 quarterfinal victory over Costa Rica, though they weren't terribly convincing. As they usually do in CONCACAF events they found a way through.

Jamaica, meanwhile, looked like one of the best teams in the tournament in the group stage, though they did get a test from Guatemala in a 1-0 quarterfinal win.

Based on current form Jamaica would seem a favorite, but they are not. In fact Mexico is still the Vegas favorite to win the tournament with slightly more favorable odds than the US.

Finals: Semi winners

The final will be 5:30 p.m. Mountain time on Sunday. The game will be in Los Angeles and will be televised on FOX.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at 915-546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: What to know about the CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinals, times, matches