THE FOOTBALL CONFEDERATION GOLD CUP 2002

Preview

The Gold Cup in 2002 is the sixth edition of the tournament to decide the regional champion of the North America, Central America and the Caribbean areas. The tournament ran from January 19-February 2 2002 in the USA with matches being played in Miami and Pasadena. There are guest teams, from outside the region, in the 2002 tournament. These are South Korea and Ecuador. These teams join ten others from the region to from four groups of three in the first round.

History

USA and Mexico have dominated this tournament as the two strongest teams of the region. The previous results in the final are:

Tournament

After the group stage the four first placed teams played the four second placed teams in the quarter-finals. The US and Mexico easily made it through the first round of the tournament. Group D was the tightest group with all three teams unable to be separated except through chance. Ecuador were the unlucky team who missed out on a second round place. The quarter-final winners included the two of the three World Cup qualifiers from the region, Costa Rica and USA.  The third qualifier Mexico had sent a weakened experimental squad and were unable to beat South Korea. The defending champions Canada were eventually defeated by the US on penalties. The US went on to win the final against Costa Rica to give their first triumph in the tournament since the first edition. A full list of results are shown below:

Group Stage

Group A

19/1 El Salvador            0-1 Mexico

21/1 Mexico                  3-1 Guatemala

23/1 Guatemala              0-1 El Salvador

Group B

19/1 USA                      2-1 Korea Republic

21/1 Cuba                      0-1 USA

23/1 Korea Republic      0-0 Cuba

Group C

18/1 Martinique              0-2 Costa Rica

20/1 Costa Rica             1-1 Trinidad & Tobago

22/1 Trinidad & Tobago 0-1 Martinique

Group D
18/1 Haiti                       0-2 Canada

20/1 Ecuador                 0-2 Haiti

22/1 Canada                  0-2 Ecuador

Quarter Finals                                          PENALTIES

26/1 Costa Rica            2-1 Haiti                

26/1 Canada                 1-1 Martinique           6-5

27/1 Mexico                 0-0 Korea Republic    2-4        

27/1 USA                     4-0 El Salvador

Semi Finals

30/1 Costa Rica            3-1 Korea Republic

30/1 Canada                 0-0 USA                    2-4

Third Place Play-Off

2/2   Canada                 2-1 Korea Republic

Final

2/2   USA                     2-0 Costa Rica

Overall

The US won the tournament with good performances from a young domestic based squad including DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan. Brian McBride also performed well hitting a hat-trick in the quarter-finals against El Salvador. This performance helped him to win the MVP and Golden Boot awards. Costa Rica and Canada also performed well in the tournament with Canada again showing great defence before eventually falling to the US.

Awards

Most Valuable Player         - Brian McBride (USA)

Best Goalkeeper                 - Lars Hirschfeld (Canada)

Fair Play Award                 - Costa Rica

Team Of Tournament          - Odelin Molina (Cuba)

                                          - Luis Marin (Costa Rica)

                                          - Jason De Vos (Canada)

                                          - Jeff Agoos (USA)

                                          - Luis Alfonso Sosa (Mexico)

                                          - Mauricio Solis (Costa Rica)

                                          - Landon Donovan (USA)

                                          - Kim Nam-Il (Korea Republic)

                                          - Ronald Gomez (Costa Rica)

                                          - Kevin McKenna (Canada)

                                          - Brian McBride (USA)

Top Goalscorer

4 - Brian McBride              - USA

3 - Kevin McKenna           - Canada

2 - Rolando Fonseca          - Costa Rica

2 - Ronald Gomez              - Costa Rica

2 - Paulo Wanchope           - Costa Rica

2 - Alex Aguinaga               - Ecuador

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