MIAMI, Florida – This Friday at 7:00 PM ET, Concacaf will be airing a re-broadcast of two Concacaf Gold Cup classics, the first being the inaugural Gold Cup Final in 1991 between the United States and Honduras, followed by the 2019 Final between Mexico and the U.S. Both matches will be shown on Concacaf’s Facebook and YouTube pages, plus the Concacaf App.
The rivalry between the United States and Mexico is certainly one of the most unique in world football. The neighboring countries have squared off in matches ranging from international friendlies to the FIFA World Cup, but one tournament that has regularly fueled the competition between the two sides is the Concacaf Gold Cup.
In the inaugural edition of the tournament in 1991, the U.S. would clash with El Tricolor in the lone Gold Cup semifinal meeting between the two, with the U.S. emerging with a 2-0 victory thanks to goals from John Doyle and Peter Vermes, a victory which ultimately propelled the U.S. to the first ever Gold Cup title.
El Tricolor would avenge that defeat, however, two years later in front of a Gold Cup record crowd of 130,800 at the Estadio Azteca in the 1993 Gold Cup Final, the first of five Gold Cup Final meetings between the two nations. Goals from Ignacio Ambriz and a Desmond Armstrong own goal, plus scores from Zague and Guillermo Cantu earned Mexico a 4-0 win and their first Gold Cup title.
Five years later in the 1998 Final, Mexico claimed the top prize with a 1-0 win on the strength of a Luis Hernandez goal at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles.
The rivals would have to wait until 2007 for the next meeting, and it produced a thriller at Soldier Field in Chicago when the U.S. rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit to defeat Mexico 2-1 on goals from Landon Donovan and Benny Feilhaber.
In 2009 the two sides would meet again in the Final at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and after a scoreless first half, the Mexico attack kicked into gear and scored five goals (Gerardo Torrado, Giovani dos Santos, Carlos Vela, Jose Antonio Castro, Guillermo Franco) to roll to a 5-0 triumph.
The 2011 Gold Cup Final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California served as the tiebreaker for the third consecutive Mexico-U.S. Gold Cup Final and it was a history-making affair. The U.S. got out to an early 2-0 lead through Michael Bradley and Donovan, but Mexico would mount the greatest comeback in Gold Cup Final history and score four straight times (Pablo Barrera x2, Andres Guardado, Dos Santos), with the Dos Santos goal going down as one of the greatest goals in Gold Cup history.
Similar to the nine-year gap between the 1998 and 2007 Finals, fans would have to wait eight years for the next U.S.-Mexico Final, coming in 2019 at Soldier Field in Chicago. After a strong U.S. start, Mexico would take control and found the winning score in the 73’ on a strike from Jonathan dos Santos to give Mexico their eighth Gold Cup crown.
