Gold Cup Group C Day 1: How to watch on TV and online

As a reminder of what is on the line here in the Gold Cup. Outside of winning the Gold Cup and being the Concacaf Champion, the winner of the 2015 Gold Cup will play the winner of the 2013 Gold Cup (USA) for a berth in the Confederations Cup in Russia 2017.

In addition the Gold Cup is the de facto first stage of qualifying for 2016 Copa América Centenario. USA (automatic qualifier and potential host), Mexico (automatic qualifier), Jamaica (2014 Caribbean Cup winners) and Costa Rica (2014 Copa Centroamericana winners) have already qualified for the tournament. The next four teams from the Gold Cup will enter a playoff for the last two spots in the 2016 Copa América Centenario. There is still some doubt as to if the tournament is going to take place, but if it does go through then the qualifying mechanism expects to be unchanged.

Guatemala (FIFA Rank: 105) v Trinidad and Tobago (64)

The Sounders very own Marco Pappa will lead Guatemala's attack when they take on Trinidad and Tobago.  With Mexico the clear favorite in this group the battle will be for second and this will be the key match.  Pappa was rested in the last Friday's friendly against the United States and only played the last 45 minutes.  With Pappa expected to do the heavy lifting in attack and play every minute for the Guatemala attack, it was likely a prudent choice.  35 year old Carlos Ruiz will be asked to provide additional scoring punch for Guatemala as they take on T&T.

Mexico (40) v Cuba (104)

Mexico (FIFA Rank: 40) is the co-favorite for the Gold Cup with the USA, anything outside of a final win would put immense pressure on Miguel Herrera's tenure as manager.  Rumored Orlando City SC new DP target Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez is out with a broken collarbone but Mexico bring plenty of attacking flair lead by rumored LA Galaxy DP target Giovani dos Santos, Carlos Vela and Oribe Peralta.

As is Herrera's habit, he announced the starting lineup at Wednesday's press conference:

Mexico XI to face Cuba (442): Ochoa, Rodriguez, Reyes, Aguilar, Layun, Vazquez, J Dos Santos, Guardado Herrera, Peralta, Vela.

— ESPN Tri (@ESPNFCtri) July 9, 2015

With over 50,000 tickets sold as of Wednesday and a big walk up expected, Soldier Field will be close to a sell out for the doubleheader.  Unfortunately the story is going to be about Cuba and not for the soccer.  Cuba's manager and six players have had what is being reported as visa related travel delays and are not expected to leave for the United States until Thursday and will not make the game.  Additionally, Keilen Garcia has left the squad and defected.  This leaves Cuba with 16 players, barring further defections, suiting up and an assistant coach managing the team.

#Cuba coach and six players will not arrive in time for Mexico match today.

— Juan Arango (@JuanG_Arango) July 9, 2015

How to Watch:

Guatemala v Trinidad and Tobago
Thursday 4:00 PM
Location: Soldier Field, Chicago
TV: Fox Sports 2 and Univision Deportes
Online: Fox Sports Go and Univision Deportes

Mexico v Cuba
Thursday 6:30 PM
Location: Soldier Field, Chicago
TV: Fox Sports 1, UniMas and Univision Deportes
Online: Fox Sports Go and Univision Deportes

This is your Gold Cup open gamethread. Watch with us.