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Cuba at the CONCACAF Gold Cup

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Defender Jorge Luis Clavelo represented Cuba at four CONCACAF Gold Cups, here as captain before the Quarter-Final versus the United States in 2015.

The CONCACAF Gold Cup is North America's major tournament in senior men's football and determines the continental champion. Until 1989, the tournament was known as CONCACAF Championship. It is currently held every two years. From 1996 to 2005, nations from other confederations have regularly joined the tournament as invitees. In earlier editions, the continental championship was held in different countries, but since the inception of the Gold Cup in 1991, the United States are constant hosts or co-hosts.

From 1973 to 1989, the tournament doubled as the confederation's World Cup qualification. CONCACAF's representative team at the FIFA Confederations Cup was decided by a play-off between the winners of the last two tournament editions in 2015 via the CONCACAF Cup, but was then discontinued along with the Confederations Cup.

Since the inaugural tournament in 1963, the Gold Cup was held 25 times and has been won by seven different nations, most often by Mexico (11 titles).

Cuba have participated in the continental championship eleven times, but only won five out of their 34 matches, never more than one at a single tournament. Their best position was a Fourth Place in 1971. They rank 14th in the tournament's All-time table, but have the worst goal difference out of all 29 teams (−92).

Record at the CONCACAF Championship/Gold Cup

CONCACAF Championship
Year Result Position Pld W T L GF GA
El Salvador 1963 Did Not Enter
Guatemala 1965 Withdrew
Honduras 1967 Did Not Qualify
Costa Rica 1969 Did Not Enter
Trinidad and Tobago 1971 Fourth Place 4th 5 1 2 2 5 7
Haiti 1973 Did Not Enter
Mexico 1977 Did Not Qualify
Honduras 1981 Final Round 5th 5 1 2 2 4 8
1985 Did Not Enter
1989 Did Not Qualify
CONCACAF Gold Cup
United States 1991 Withdrew
Mexico United States 1993 Did Not Enter
United States 1996 Did Not Qualify
United States 1998 Group Stage 10th 2 0 0 2 2 10
United States 2000 Did Not Qualify
United States 2002 Group Stage 11th 2 0 1 1 0 1
Mexico United States 2003 Quarter-Final 8th 3 1 0 2 2 8
United States 2005 Group Stage 12th 3 0 0 3 3 9
United States 2007 Group Stage 12th 3 0 1 2 3 9
United States 2009 Withdrew
United States 2011 Group Stage 12th 3 0 0 3 1 16
United States 2013 Quarter-Final 8th 4 1 0 3 6 13
Canada United States 2015 Quarter-Final 8th 4 1 0 3 1 14
United States 2017 Did Not Qualify
United States Costa Rica Jamaica 2019 Group Stage 16th 3 0 0 3 0 17
Total 11/25 14/29 37 5 6 24 27 112

Match Overview

Tournament Round Opponent Score Venue
Trinidad and Tobago 1971 Final Round  Costa Rica 0–3 Port of Spain
 Honduras 3–1
 Mexico 0–1
 Trinidad and Tobago 2–2
 Haiti 0–0
Honduras 1981 Final Round  Mexico 0–4 Tegucigalpa
 Honduras 0–2
 El Salvador 0–0
 Haiti 2–0
 Canada 2–2
United States 1998 Group Stage  United States 0–3 Oakland
 Costa Rica 2–7
United States 2002 Group Stage  United States 0–1 Pasadena
 South Korea 0–0
United StatesMexico 2003 Group Stage  Canada 2–0 Foxboro, United States
 Costa Rica 0–3
Quarter-Finals  United States 0–5
United States 2005 Group Stage  United States 1–4 Seattle
 Costa Rica 1–3
 Canada 1–2 Foxboro
United States 2007 Group Stage  Mexico 1–2 East Rutherford
 Panama 2–2
 Honduras 0–5 Houston
United States 2011 Group Stage  Costa Rica 0–5 Arlington
 Mexico 0–5 Charlotte
 El Salvador 1–6 Chicago
United States 2013 Group Stage  Costa Rica 0–3 Portland
 United States 1–4 Sandy
 Belize 4–0 East Hartford
Quarter-Finals  Panama 1–6 Atlanta
United StatesCanada 2015 Group Stage  Mexico 0–6 Chicago, United States
 Trinidad and Tobago 0–2 Glendale, United States
 Guatemala 1–0 Charlotte, United States
Quarter-Finals  United States 0–6 Baltimore, United States
United StatesCosta RicaJamaica 2019 Group Stage  Mexico 0–7 Pasadena, United States
 Martinique 0–3 Denver, United States
 Canada 0–7 Charlotte, United States

Record by Opponent

CONCACAF Championship/Gold Cup matches (by team)
Opponent Wins Draws Losses Total Goals Scored Goals Conceded
 Belize 1 0 0 1 4 0
 Canada 1 1 2 4 5 11
 Costa Rica 0 0 6 6 3 24
 El Salvador 0 1 1 2 1 6
 Guatemala 1 0 0 1 1 0
 Haiti 1 1 0 2 2 0
 Honduras 1 0 2 3 3 8
 Martinique 0 0 1 1 0 3
 Mexico 0 0 6 6 1 25
 Panama 0 1 1 2 3 8
 South Korea 0 1 0 1 0 0
 Trinidad and Tobago 0 1 1 2 2 4
 United States 0 0 6 6 2 23

Defections to the United States

The Gold Cups on US-American soil allowed the Cuban players to get visas for the duration of the tournament. The wet feet, dry feet policy established in 1995 essentially allowed Cuban refugees in the United States to qualify for permanent resident status. The policy and the dream of making a career as a professional footballer, at a much higher level than the Cuban top division made a defection to the United States an attractive option, which some of them took. Until the policy's cessation in 2017, the following Cuban internationals defected during the tournament:

References

  1. ^ "Cuban defectors a first for MLS". Miami Herald. 14 June 2004. Archived from the original on 14 June 2006. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  2. ^ "Cuban soccer stars Pedro Faife and Reynier Alcantara defect to America". nydailynews.com. 11 October 2008. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  3. ^ "'Special edge' for Cuban defector Alonso". USAToday.com. 30 June 2009. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  4. ^ "Charleston Battery signs Cuban striker Lester Moré". oursportscentral.com. 7 March 2008. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  5. ^ "Keilen García desertó de la selección de Cuba". futbol.univision.com. 8 July 2015. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  6. ^ "Deserta otro jugador cubano en Chicago" (in Spanish). Univision (Miami). 10 July 2015. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  7. ^ "2 Cuban players believed to have defected before match at BofA stadium Dario Suarez and Arichel Hernandez were both no-shows before match". Charlotte Observer. 16 July 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  8. ^ "Gold Cup: Striker Ariel Martinez becomes the fourth player to defect from Cuba". 18 July 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.