The Cupdate: News from the FIFA Club World Cup and the Concacaf Gold Cup
The USMNT faces the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at 9:15 ET/8:15 CT tonight in Austin, TX, in the second match of the Gold Cup Group Stage, while Club World Cup's first round is wrapping up.
United States Faces Second Test in the Gold Cup as Mexico Punches Quarterfinal Ticket
In case you missed it, the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) decimated Trinidad and Tobago in the first round of group play at the Concacaf Gold Cup, the last major tournament for the Stars and Stripes before hosting the Men’s World Cup next year.
Tonight, the U.S. faces the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — one of the tournament’s invited nations from outside the federation — and a win almost certainly means the USMNT will advance to the knockout stage of the Gold Cup. The match starts at 9:15 PM ET/8:15 PM CT in Austin, Texas, and after their team’s 5-0 win on Matchday 1, USMNT fans are expecting another dominant performance, despite missing team leaders like Christian Pulisic.
But first, the two other teams in Group D — the aforementioned Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti — will play to see which squad will keep their Gold Cup hopes alive. That match starts at 6:45 PM ET. If the two Caribbean teams draw and the United States wins, the USMNT will advance to the quarterfinals.
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2025 Concacaf Gold Cup
Group Stage Results
Matchday 1
Group A
Mexico 3–2 Dominican Republic
Costa Rica 4–3 Suriname
Group B
Curaçao 0–0 El Salvador
Canada 6–0 Honduras
Group C
Panama 5–2 Guadeloupe
Jamaica 0–1 Guatemala
Group D
United States 5–0 Trinidad and Tobago
Haiti 0–1 Saudi Arabia
Matchday 2
Group A
Costa Rica 2–1 Dominican Republic
Suriname 0–2 Mexico
In the other groups, the top three ranked teams also made things look easy. In Group A, Mexico — Concacaf’s top ranked team — and Costa Rica both secured advancement with wins over the Dominican Republic and Suriname.
In Group B, a dominant Canada is set up for success as the only team in the group to come out of Matchday 1 with three points.
In Group C, third seeded Panama showed no signs of stopping with a 5-2 win.
Finally, MatchWornShirt recently signed a partnership with U.S. Soccer, and is featuring signed USMNT jerseys from the Gold Cup including this game worn Patrick Agyemang goal-scorer special. Let us know if you’re the high bidder!
Club World Cup is Finally Here
Matchday 1 for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup was all over the place. Some games filled stadiums, while two matches suffered low attendance of fewer than 6,000 fans.
The first match was a relatively boring, 0-0 affair starring Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami CF and Egypt’s Al Ahly; on the other end of the spectrum, German heavyweights Bayern Munich blanked the amateur Auckland City 10-0.
2025 FIFA Club World Cup
Group Stage Results
Matchday 1
Group A
Al Ahly 0–0 Inter Miami CF
Palmeiras 0–0 Porto
Group B
Paris Saint-Germain 4–0 Atlético Madrid
Botafogo 2–1 Seattle Sounders FC
Group C
Bayern Munich 10–0 Auckland City
Boca Juniors 2–2 Benfica
Group D
Chelsea 2–0 Los Angeles FC
Flamengo 2–0 Espérance de Tunis
Group E
River Plate 3–1 Urawa Red Diamonds
Monterrey 1–1 Inter Milan
Group F
Fluminense 0–0 Borussia Dortmund
Ulsan HD 0–1 Mamelodi Sundowns
Group G
Manchester City 2–0 Wydad AC
Al Ain 0–5 Juventus
Group H
Real Madrid 1–1 Al-Hilal
Pachuca 1–2 Red Bull Salzburg
For our readers in the Carolinas, La Liga legends Real Madrid will play at Bank of America Stadium on Sunday, June 22; they face Pachuca from Mexico’s Liga MX. Real Madrid unexpectedly tied Saudi club Al-Hilal 1-1 in front of 62,415 fans, while Pachuca’s 1-2 loss to RB Salzburg only attracted 5,282 fans.
We expect the crowd at the Bank to be somewhere in the middle - look for Soccer Sheet on the sidelines as we deliver exclusive coverage live from the Club World Cup.
Happy Juneteenth
All of us at Soccer Sheet wish you and yours a Happy Juneteenth as we celebrate freedom, liberation from tyranny, and the work all of us have yet to finish.