August 10 – It looked lined up to be the Gold Cup final in July, but it never happened once Jamaica knocked out the US in the semi-final. Now the US and local rivals Mexico will have the chance to kick a ball in competitive anger with the winners taking the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup berth.
The US, as winners of the 2013 Gold Cup won half a ticket to the 2017 Confederations Cup. 2015 winners Mexico won the other half and the right to meet for a winner-takes-all play off for the spot in Russia in 2017.
Mexico represented CONCACAF at the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil.
The play off will take place at the 92,000 capacity Rose Bowl on Saturday October 10. There will be a day of festivities, including Futbol Fiesta, a free, interactive fan zone outside the Rose Bowl. Match tickets are expected to go on sale in September.
Sanz tenure officially ended
In other CONCACAF news the confederation has formally ended the contract of former General Secretary Enrique Sanz who had been suspended in June pending investigations into the corruption allegations that have rocked the confederation.
Sanz was implicated in allegedly arranging bribes taken by CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb.
Sanz – identified as co-conspirator number 4 in the US department of Justice indictment – had previously headed marketing agency Traffic Sports’ US business.
CONCACAF said “the decision to terminate Mr. Sanz’s employment was based on findings from this internal review.”
No detail has been released of the findings of this review or whether they could prove prejuducial in the case against Webb which is to come before the US courts following his extraditicion from Switzerland following his arrest May 27 prior to the FIFA Congress in Zurich.
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