MIAMI.- There may be a few familiar foes for players taking part in the top half of the bracket for the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup preliminary round, but it’s been some time since any of the competitors have seen each other directly.
(1) Haiti vs. St. Vincent and the Grenadines
When Haiti and St. Vincent and the Grenadines meet, it will be the first meeting in more than a decade - and the first to take place outside of the Caribbean.
History certainly favors the 2019 Gold Cup semifinalists. Haiti has never lost to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, with the only time the Vincy Heat has taken a point coming back in the 1996 Caribbean Cup, when the teams played to a 2-2 draw.
Ten years later, Haiti rolled to a 4-0 victory in a Caribbean Cup qualifier at Independence Park in Jamaica. The teams then met in 2007 for an international friendly which Haiti won, 3-0. Their most recent contest was a November 4, 2010 Caribbean Cup qualification match that Haiti won 3-1, though neither team would move on to the finals of the tournament.
(2) Guatemala vs. Guyana
There actually has been a more recent meeting between Guyana and Guatemala, as the two squads met for a 2012 friendly in Georgetown that saw the visitors take a 2-0 victory and Guyana finishing with 10 men. Two years earlier, it was a double from Guillermo Ramirez that helped Los Chapines past Guyana in a 3-0 win in the Atlanta, Georgia area.
(3) Trinidad and Tobago vs. Montserrat
The summer of 2021 will see the first-ever meeting between Trinidad and Tobago and Montserrat when the two come together looking to move on toward the Gold Cup. Trinidad and Tobago are familiar with the Gold Cup stage, having taken part on 10 occasions, while Montserrat will hope to make its debut in the finals.
