The 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the fourth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship for the member associations of CONCACAF, which governs the sport in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
The tournament was once again held in the United States, with matches played in Los Angeles, Miami, and Oakland, California. The format of the tournament changed from 1996: it was expanded to ten teams, with four in Group A and three each in Groups B and C. The top team in each group, plus the second place in Group A would advance to the semifinals. Brazil was invited again, and brought their senior team this time. Prior to the tournament, Canada withdrew due to a lack of available players and were replaced by Jamaica.
Jamaica topped Group A over Brazil, who they tied 0–0, in a surprise result for the team. In the semi-finals, the United States beat Brazil, as Preki scored the lone goal and Kasey Keller preserved the clean sheet. The United States could not repeat that performance in front of a pro-Mexican final crowd in Los Angeles. Mexico won their third straight Gold Cup, 1–0, on a Luis Hernández goal.
Venues Los Angeles Oakland Miami Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Orange Bowl Capacity: 93,607 Capacity: 63,026 Capacity: 74,476
Teams
Qualification TeamQualificationAppearancesLast appearancePrevious best performanceFIFA RankingNorth American zone (TH) Automatic 4th 1996 Champions (1993,1996) 5 Automatic 4th 1996 Champions (1991) 28Caribbean zone qualified through the 1997 Caribbean Cup Winners 3rd 1996 Group stage (1991, 1996) 56 Third Place 3rd 1993 Third Place (1993) 39 Playoff 1st None Debut 88Central American zone qualified through the 1997 UNCAF Nations Cup Winners 3rd 1993 Third Place (1993) 51 Runners-up 3rd 1996 Fourth Place (1996) 83 Third Place 2nd 1996 Group stage (1996) 64 Fourth Place 4th 1996 Runners-up (1991) 73Other Invitation 2nd 1996 Runners-up (1996) 1
Notes:
Qualification play-off
A playoff between Cuba, the runner-up from the 1996 Caribbean Cup and Saint Kitts and Nevis, the runner-up from the 1997 Caribbean Cup, was held to determine which nation would qualify for the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Squads
The 10 national teams involved in the tournament were required to register a squad of 20 players; only players in these squads were eligible to take part in the tournament.
Group stage Group A
Group B
Group C
Knockout stage Bracket
Semi-finals
Third place play-off
Final
Statistics Goalscorers
Awards
Most Valuable Player Source: #PlayerPoints1st Kasey Keller322nd Edmundo303rd Preki27
Team of the Tournament Source: +Gold Cup XIGoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards Kasey Keller Claudio Suárez Eddie Pope
Zé Maria
Ramón Ramírez Preki Paul Hall
Cuauhtémoc Blanco Edmundo Paulo Wanchope
Romário
References
External links Official tournament results 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup at RSSSF