The 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the third edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF).
The tournament returned to the United States and California; the games were hosted by Los Angeles, San Diego, and Anaheim. The format of the tournament changed from 1993: it was expanded to nine teams, separated into three groups of three and played in January as opposed to the 1993 edition which was played in July.
The top team in each group, plus the best second-place finisher would advance to the semifinals. For the first time, a non-CONCACAF team was invited: Brazil, who sent their under-23 side. Mexico won their second straight Gold Cup, beating the Brazilians 2–0 in the final.
Venues AnaheimLos AngelesSan DiegoAnaheim StadiumMemorial ColiseumJack Murphy StadiumCapacity: 64,593Capacity: 93,607Capacity: 60,836
Teams
Qualification TeamQualificationAppearancesLast AppearancePrevious best performanceFIFA RankingNorth American zone (TH) Automatic 3rd 1993 Champions (1993) 12 Automatic 3rd 1993 Champions (1991) 19 Automatic 3rd 1993 Group Stage (1991, 1993) 65Caribbean zone qualified through the 1995 Caribbean Cup Winners 2nd 1991 Group Stage (1991) 57 Runners-up 1st None Debut 95Central American zone qualified through the 1995 UNCAF Nations Cup Winners 3rd 1993 Runners-up (1991) 49 Runners-up 2nd 1991 Group stage (1991) 145 Third Place 1st None Debut 85Other Invitation 1st None Debut 1
Squads
The 9 national teams involved in the tournament were required to register a squad of 20 players; only players in these squads were eligible to take part in the tournament.
Group stage
Group A
Group B
Group C
Knockout stage
Bracket
Semi-finals
Third place play-off
Final
Statistics Goalscorers
Awards The following Gold Cup awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament: the Golden Boot (top scorer) and Golden Ball (best overall player).
Golden Ball Raúl Lara Golden Boot Eric Wynalda4 goals
References
External links Lineups/Squads