As the FIFA Women’s World Cup wraps up in Canada, three Sounders FC players are preparing for another significant tournament with their respective Men’s National Teams.
Next week marks the start of the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup, a competition that determines the best of the North American, Central American and Caribbean nations. Two Sounders – Clint Dempsey and Brad Evans – are representing the United States, while Marco Pappa is on Guatemala’s squad.
“We know it will be difficult because CONCACAF is getting stronger, and teams are performing well,” Dempsey said. “I thought as a region we showed well at the World Cup, so that speaks for itself. We know that we have our work cut out for us, but if we play to the best of our ability, we can try to win it.”
For Dempsey and his USA teammates, this edition of the tournament is a chance to prove they are still the top team in the region. The Americans are defending Gold Cup champions and have won the competition five times, one less than Mexico’s half-dozen Gold Cup trophies.
Pappa and his squad are trying to become the first Central American country to win a Gold Cup, as Canada is the only nation to ever earn the trophy other than the USA and Mexico.
This winner of this tournament could have a chance to represent CONCACAF at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, which will serve as a dress rehearsal for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and feature the champion from each region in the world. The winners of the two Gold Cups that precede a Confederations Cup battle it out in a playoff to determine that spot.
Since the USA won the 2013 Gold Cup, another victory would clinch its berth in the Confederations Cup.
“That’s the ultimate goal. You want to do everything you can to show you belong, and this is the first step to getting to that point,” Evans said. “We can’t look past this point. We’ve got to get the results to get to Confederations Cup. You want to put yourself in situations to show you belong, and that’s what this tournament provides with a victory.”
While they recognize the difficulty of their region, Evans and his teammates also have a bit of an advantage in this tournament: It is once again being played in stadiums across the United States. The USMNT plays its first game on July 7 in Frisco, Texas, while Guatemala plays in Chicago on July 9.
Before the group stage begins, Guatemala and the USA will face each other in a final tune-up match on Friday in Nashville, Tenn. With more than 30,000 tickets already sold, it is expected to be the most-attended soccer game ever in the state of Tennessee.
Friday’s friendly kicks off at 3:30 p.m. PT on FOX Sports 1. When the teams met in a World Cup qualifier in 2012, Dempsey and Pappa scored for their respective nations in a 1-1 draw.
