The CONCACAF Cup (officially the CONCACAF Cup presented by Scotiabank for sponsorship reasons) was an international soccer play-off match to determine CONCACAF's entry into the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup winners the United States played against 2015 Gold Cup winners Mexico on October 10, 2015, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, United States.
CONCACAF decided that its representative team in the Confederations Cup would be defined in a single match, in which an official title would also be awarded. Mexico won the match 3–2 after extra time, winning the title and also qualifying for the Confederations Cup.
Background Even though the CONCACAF Gold Cup took place on a biennial basis, under previous guidelines prior to 2013, only the champions of the Gold Cup that was held two years before the FIFA Confederations Cup qualified as CONCACAF's representative. The decision to face the champions of the two previous editions was made to give the same importance to each edition of the Gold Cup.
CONCACAF announced the introduction of a playoff and super cup match on April 5, 2013, where a trophy would also be awarded. Starting from the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, it was planned for the CONCACAF representative to be decided by a play-off between the two Gold Cup champions prior to the Confederations Cup. Then-CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb stated this would "allow the champion of every single Gold Cup edition to have the same competitive opportunity to represent CONCACAF in the worldwide competition." In the case where the same national team won both Gold Cup editions, the play-off would not have been played, and the team would have qualified directly to the Confederations Cup.
Following CONCACAF's decision to end their affiliation with Traffic Sports USA due to the 2015 FIFA corruption case, Major League Soccer's sister company Soccer United Marketing was chosen as commercial representative for the match.
Qualification — Qualified as 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup champions, after beating Panama 1–0 in the final on July 28, 2013. — Qualified as 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup champions, after beating Jamaica 3–1 in the final on July 26, 2015.
Format CONCACAF originally announced on July 23, 2015, that the play-off would be played as a single match on October 9, 2015, held in the United States. After the conclusion of the 2015 Gold Cup on July 26, CONCACAF announced the Rose Bowl in Pasadena as the venue. The date was later amended to October 10 in order "to allow fans in attendance to enjoy a day-long of festivities, including Futbol Fiesta, a free, interactive fan zone outside the Rose Bowl."
Ticketing On August 27, 2015, CONCACAF announced the ticket allocation process for the match. Both the United States Soccer Federation and the Mexican Football Federation received 30% of the tickets each, which was distributed through supporter groups. Another 30% was sold through a lottery where the general public could apply. The final 10% was given to local teams and sponsors. This system was to prevent the crowd being dominated by either team's supporters despite being on U.S. soil similar to previous Gold Cup finals.
Squads Each team could select up to 23 players for their squad. On September 15, 2015, CONCACAF announced the provisional team lists. The final 23-player squads were announced by CONCACAF on October 5, 2015.
Mexico Mexico's final squad was announced on October 1, 2015.
Head coach: Ricardo Ferretti
United States The United States' final squad was announced on October 3, 2015. On October 9, it was announced that Bobby Wood would replace Alejandro Bedoya due to illness.
Head coach: Jürgen Klinsmann
Match summary
GK 12Moisés MuñozRB 22Paul Aguilar CB 15Héctor Moreno CB 5Diego ReyesLB 7Miguel LayúnDM 4Rafael Márquez (c) CM 16Héctor HerreraCM 18Andrés Guardado RF 14Javier Hernández CF 9Raúl JiménezLF 19Oribe Peralta Substitutes:GK 1 Alfredo TalaveraGK 13Jonathan OrozcoDF 2Israel JiménezDF 3José Rivas DF 6Jorge Torres NiloMF 8Jonathan dos SantosMF 10Jesús Corona MF 17Javier Güémez MF 20Javier AquinoMF 21Carlos EsquivelMF 23Elías HernándezFW 11Carlos VelaManager: Ricardo Ferretti GK 1 Brad GuzanRB 23 Fabian Johnson CB 20 Geoff CameronCB 5 Matt Besler LB 7 DaMarcus BeasleyDM 13 Jermaine JonesDM 15 Kyle BeckermanCM 4 Michael Bradley (c) AM 17 Jozy Altidore AM 9 Gyasi Zardes CF 8 Clint DempseySubstitutes:GK 12 Tim HowardGK 22 Nick RimandoDF 3 Brad Evans DF 6 Tim ReamDF 14 Ventura AlvaradoDF 16 Michael OrozcoDF 21 Jonathan SpectorMF 2 DeAndre Yedlin MF 10 Danny WilliamsMF 19 Graham ZusiFW 11 Bobby Wood FW 18 Chris WondolowskiManager: Jürgen Klinsmann
Assistant referees: Juan Zumba (El Salvador) Leonel Leal (Costa Rica) Fourth official: Marlon Mejía (El Salvador)Match rules 90 minutes of regular time. 30 minutes of extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Twelve named substitutes, of which up to three may be used.Match notes originally charged to Raúl Jiménez, changed to Oribe Peralta at half-time.
Abolition of the Confederations Cup
A 2019 edition was initially planned, featuring the winners of the 2017 and 2019 Gold Cups. In November 2016, CONCACAF announced that the television rights for the 2019 edition had been sold to Fox Sports. On July 26, 2017, with their victory in the final of the 2017 Gold Cup, the United States ensured they would participate at a minimum in the 2019 CONCACAF Cup should they fail to win the 2019 Gold Cup.
However, on March 15, 2019, FIFA announced that the Confederations Cup would be abolished, with an expanded FIFA Club World Cup taking place instead. This therefore also meant there would be no future editions of the CONCACAF Cup.
References
External links 2015 CONCACAF Cup CONCACAF website