1991_CONCACAF_Gold_Cup
1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup
International football competition
The 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the first edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), and the eleventh overall CONCACAF tournament. The last time the CONCACAF Championship was held was 1971, from that point on the first-place finishers of World Cup qualifying were considered continental champions.[1][2]
| CONCACAF Championship | |
|---|---|
1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup official programme | |
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | United States |
| Dates | June 28 – July 7 |
| Teams | 8 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue(s) | 2 (in 2 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  United States (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  Honduras |
| Third place |  Mexico |
| Fourth place |  Costa Rica |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 16 |
| Goals scored | 50 (3.13 per match) |
| Attendance | 397,124 (24,820 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Benjamín Galindo (4 goals) |
| Best player(s) | Jorge Campos |
← 1989 1993 → | |
The tournament was hosted by the United States and played in the Greater Los Angeles area of California at two venues: the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the Rose Bowl. The eight teams were broken up into two groups of four; the top two teams of each group would advance to the semifinals. The Gold Cup was won by the United States, who eliminated Mexico in the semi-finals match, and went on to beat Honduras on penalties after tying them in the final 0–0.
| Team | Qualification | Appearances | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qualified through the 1989 CONCACAF Championship | |||
| Costa Rica |
Winners | 1st | Debut |
| North American zone | |||
| United States |
Automatic | 1st | Debut |
| Mexico |
Automatic | 1st | Debut |
 Canada |
Automatic | 1st | Debut |
| Caribbean zone qualified through the 1991 Caribbean Cup | |||
 Jamaica |
Winners | 1st | Debut |
 Trinidad and Tobago |
Runners-up | 1st | Debut |
| Central American zone qualified through the 1991 UNCAF Nations Cup | |||
| Honduras |
Runners-up | 1st | Debut |
 Guatemala |
Third Place | 1st | Debut |
| Los Angeles | Pasadena |
|---|---|
| Memorial Coliseum | Rose Bowl |
| Capacity: 93,607 | Capacity: 92,542 |
The 8 national teams involved in the tournament were required to register a squad of 18 players; only players in these squads were eligible to take part in the tournament.
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Honduras |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 5 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Mexico |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 5 | |
| 3 | Canada |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 9 | −3 | 2 | |
| 4 | Jamaica |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 12 | −9 | 0 |
| Canada | 1–3 | Mexico |
|---|---|---|
Lowery  83' |
Report | Hermosillo 3' de la Torre 40'Galindo 89' (pen.) |
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States (H) |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Costa Rica |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2 | |
| 3 | Trinidad and Tobago |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 2 | |
| 4 | Guatemala |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 2 |
| United States | 2–1 | Trinidad and Tobago |
|---|---|---|
| Murray 85' Balboa 87' |
Report | Lewis 67' |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 2–1 | Costa Rica |
|---|---|---|
| Lewis 38' Thomas 89' |
Report | Medford 6' |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 0–1 | Guatemala |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Espel 89' |
| United States | 3–2 | Costa Rica |
|---|---|---|
| Vermes 6' Pérez 49' (pen.)Marchena 59' (o.g.) |
Report | Arguedas 30' Jara 33' |
In the knockout stage, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time is played (two periods of 15 minutes each), with each team being allowed to make a sixth substitution. If still tied after extra time, the match is decided by a penalty shoot-out.[3]
Bracket
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| July 5 — Los Angeles | ||||||
| Honduras | 2 | |||||
| July 7 — Los Angeles | ||||||
| Costa Rica | 0 | |||||
| United States (p) | 0 (4) | |||||
| July 5 — Los Angeles | ||||||
| Honduras | 0 (3) | |||||
| United States | 2 | |||||
| Mexico | 0 | |||||
| Third place play-off | ||||||
| July 7 — Los Angeles | ||||||
| Mexico | 2 | |||||
| Costa Rica | 0 | |||||
Semi-finals
Third place play-off
Final
Goalscorers
- 4 goals
- 3 goals
- 2 goals
- 1 goal
John Limniatis- Jamie Lowery
- Colin Miller
Juan Carlos Arguedas- Leonidas Flores
- Róger Gómez
- Claudio Jara
- Hernán Medford
Luis Espel
Juan Carlos Espinoza- Gilberto Yearwood
Hector Wright
Luís Roberto Alves- Gonzalo Farfán
- José Manuel de la Torre
Alvin Thomas
Marcelo Balboa- John Doyle
- Hugo Pérez
- Brian Quinn
- Eric Wynalda
- 1 own goal
- Héctor Marchena (playing against the United States)
Winners
| 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup winners |
|---|
 United States First title |
- Michael Lewis (January 1, 1970). "When USA won the inaugural Gold Cup: 'Soccer was a lot different back then' | Football". The Guardian. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
- "1991 Gold Cup Final: U.S. edge Honduras in penalties". CONCACAF. July 2, 2020.