December 16 – Play-in series dates for the final 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup berth between French Guyana and Honduras have been set for March next year. The series will provide a fist test for new Honduran coach Jorge Luis Pinto who achieved fame in the Summer with his stewardship of Costa Rica at the world Cup.
In contrast to Costa Rica, Honduras had a disappointing World Cup finals losing all three group games and only managing to score one goal. They followed this up with a poor performance in the 2014 UNCAF Copa Centroamericana played in the US, only managing fifth place and missing out on automatic qualification for next year’s Gold Cup.
Pinto will be the second Honduran manager since the Brazil tournament. Hernan Medford replaced Luis Fernando Suarez in July, only to be replaced by Pinto last week.
French Guyana will be the home team for the first match of the series on March 25, while Honduras will host the March 29 return leg. French Guyana finished fifth at the 2014 Caribbean Football Union Caribbean Cup in Jamaica in November.
So far the 11 qualified nations are Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago and the US.
The Gold Cup is CONCACAF’s blue riband event and the official national team championship for the region. Played every two years, the US hosted and won the tournament in 2013.
The three previous Gold Cup champions are Canada (1 Gold Cup), Mexico (6), and the US (5). The US and Mexico will start as favourites, though Costa Rica will have high expectations of breaking the dominance in the competition of their northern neighbours.
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