2023 Concacaf Gold Cup Tournament Preview, 9:30 PM FS1

The 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup kicks off on Saturday in Chicago with defending champion United States taking on Jamaica at Soldier Field.

Played every two years, the Gold Cup is the continental men’s national team championship of Concacaf, which consists of North & Central America and the Caribbean.

The tournament begins Saturday and runs through July 16 with the Final at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The Gold Cup will be hosted in 15 different venues (14 in U.S., plus one game, Curaçao-Canada, in Toronto).

This edition features 16 teams, with one invited country, Qatar, which will compete in its second straight Gold Cup. Saint Kitts and Nevis is the only team making its Gold Cup debut in 2023.

Along with Saint Kitts and Nevis, Cuba are the only teams competing that were not at the 2021 tournament.

The Concacaf Gold Cup has been played since 1991, and Mexico (8) and the U.S. (7) have combined to win 15 of the 16 Gold Cup editions. Mexico and the U.S. have combined to win 94 percent of all the Gold Cups.

Mexico and the United States have met in the Gold Cup Final 7 times. Only one Final has ever been played without Mexico or the U.S. (2000), when Canada defeated Colombia 2-0.

The United States seeks to win back-to-back Gold Cup titles for the second time (after 2005, 2007). Caesars Sportsbook has the United States as a +200 favorite to win the tournament.

If you listen to our show, Shemon and Sheppard regularly, you know we talk sports betting occasionally.  I love the U.S here at +200.  There is good value there.

Gold Cup appearance: 17th
Best result: Champion (7): 1991, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2013, 2017, 2021
Gold Cup record (W-D-L): 67-9-9; team with most games played and wins in Gold Cup history
U.S. is 38-4-1 all-time in the Gold Cup Group Stage (only loss was in 2011 Group Stage vs Panama)Won 3 of the last 4 Gold Cups; has reached the Semifinals each of the last 11 editions of the tournament

Gold Cup appearance: 13th
Best result: Runner-up (2): 2015, 2017 (only team outside Mexico and the U.S. to reach consecutive Gold Cup Finals)
Gold Cup record (W-D-L): 20-9-21
5th straight Gold Cup appearance (longest streak in team history)
Jamaica is the Caribbean team with the most wins (20) in Gold Cup (more than the next 2 nations combined (Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, 16)
15 squad players from European clubs, most by any team in this year’s Gold Cup

How well do you know our solar system ?  Why would I ask that on ESPNSWFL.COM ?  Because on this day in 1633 the Catholic Church forced Galileo Galilei to renounce his heliocentric world view.  He insisted the world rotated around the Sun and the church felt the world was the center of the universe.  In fact, the church said his views were "vehemently suspect of heresy."  Galileo spent the rest of his life under house arrest.  359 years later, Pope John Paul II officially recognized the church's wrong doing regarding Galileo.  He is currently buried in Florence, Italy.

Enough of the history lesson.  Sort of.  We will take this occasion to quiz everyone with Solar System Trivia on Wiki-Pete-ia on the Shemon and Sheppard Show on ESPN Southwest Florida.  We play Wiki for prizes every weekday at 4:45ish.  Be lucky caller number 9 at 239-337-3776, or 239-337-ESPN and play.  If you can't get through, we have provided the questions and answers below so you may impress your friends and family at work or home by playing.

Then, maybe later tonight, you can go planet and star watching in your local neighborhood.  Good luck during Wiki-Pete-ia with  tricky Solar System Trivia!

-Craig Shemon

ESPN Southwest Florida