The U.S. and Mexico meet in front of a packed house in Las Vegas to crown Concacaf's next regional champion.
For a second time in two months, the U.S. men's national team and Mexico are vying for a Concacaf trophy.
On June 6 it was the inaugural Nations League title, won by the U.S. in an extra-time thriller. Now a different cast of U.S. players is hoping to defeat a more experienced group of El Tri counterparts in the 2021 Gold Cup final. Sunday's match in Las Vegas represents a chance for the U.S. to also close the gap in the all-time title race, with Mexico entering with a record eight Gold Cup titles and the U.S. having six. Only Canada (2000) has broken the regional duopoly in the competition's history.
Mexico enters with a more accomplished group and appeared to be coasting to the final after a 3–0 rout of Honduras in the quarterfinals, but a shorthanded and valiant Canada side took El Tri to the wire before Hector Herrera punched Mexico's ticket to the final in the ninth minute of stoppage time.
The U.S. has left it late recently as well, with Matthew Hoppe and Gyasi Zardes scoring in the 83rd and 86th minutes, respectively, in each of the U.S.'s knockout wins.
The most recent final meeting between the U.S. and Mexico was two years ago at Chicago's Soldier Field, where Jonathan dos Santos's sensational goal was the difference in a 1–0 Mexico win.
The U.S. made four changes to its starting lineup from the groups that started vs. Jamaica and Qatar in the previous two rounds, with Reggie Cannon, George Bello, Eryk Williamson and Zardes coming in to replace Shaq Moore, Sam Vines, Gianluca Busio and Daryl Dike.
Stay tuned here for live updates and highlights of goals and key plays from throughout the match (refresh for most recent updates).
Here are the lineups for both sides:
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Avi Creditor August 02, 2021 at 05:23AM
