Why Is Saudi Arabia Playing In the Gold Cup?

The United States men’s national team’s next opponent at the Concacaf Gold Cup isn’t one of its usual foes — it’s not even a country from the same region.

It’s Saudi Arabia, which pulled off one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history at Qatar 2022, when it beat Lionel Messi and eventual champions Argentina 2-1 in the group stage.

But why is Saudi Arabia playing in the Concacaf Gold Cup? Here’s everything you need to know about the U.S. men’s next challenge:

Gold Cup invites

The Concacaf Gold Cup has a rich history of inviting countries from outside the North American, Central American and Caribbean regions, dating back to 1996, when Brazil competed as a guest two years after it won the World Cup at USA 1994. Despite its international prowess at the time, Brazil didn’t win the Gold Cup in 1996 — in fact, no guest nation has ever won the tournament.

Concacaf took a 16-year break from inviting teams to compete in the Gold Cup, but the tradition resumed in 2021 with Qatar as part of a partnership between Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) that was established in 2018. Saudi Arabia, which is also part of the AFC, is competing in this year’s tournament as well as the 2027 edition.

In total, eight nations have participated in the Gold Cup as a guest team: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and South Korea. Brazil (1996 and 2003) and Colombia (2000) have each finished as the runner-up in the tournament.

What happened in 2022?

In what has been referred to as the most shocking result in World Cup history, Saudi Arabia beat Argentina 2-1 in its group stage opener. At the time, Saudi Arabia was ranked 51st in the world by FIFA, while Argentina was ranked third and entered the tournament on a 36-match unbeaten streak.

Saudi Arabia’s Cinderella story was short-lived, however, as it failed to advance past the group stage after losing to Mexico and Poland in its next two matches. Saudi Arabia has already qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be held in 16 cities across Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Can they beat the USMNT?

On paper, Saudi Arabia doesn’t have the talent the U.S. men’s national team does, but as evidenced in 2022, it’s more than capable of coming up with a big result. That’s especially true now that Hervé Renard is back for his second stint as Saudi Arabia’s coach.

Saudi Arabia beat Haiti in its opening match at the Gold Cup, while the U.S. enjoyed a 5-0 thrashing of Trinidad and Tobago in its opener. The U.S. is a +150 favorite to win the match and has +200 odds win the entire tournamnet, which is only second to Mexico (+170).

Saudi Arabia is ranked 58th in the world by FIFA. The U.S. is currently ranked 16th.

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