Date 10 October 2015 Attendance 93,723 | Venue Rose Bowl | |
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Referee Joel Aguilar (El Salvador) Weather 96°F, Clear, 9 MPH WSW wind Champion Mexico national football team Location Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California, United States Similar 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup, 2015 Rose Bowl, 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Final, 2014 AFC Challenge Cup, 2015 Algarve Cup | ||
The 2015 CONCACAF Cup (officially the CONCACAF Cup presented by Scotiabank for sponsorship reasons) was an international football play-off match to determine CONCACAF's entry into the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. The 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup winner United States played against the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup winner Mexico on October 10, 2015 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, United States.
Contents
Background
Even though the CONCACAF Gold Cup is held every two years, prior to 2013, only the winners of the Gold Cup that was held two years before the FIFA Confederations Cup qualified as CONCACAF's representative. For example, Mexico won the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup and qualified for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. This had resulted in CONCACAF teams using weaker rosters in the Gold Cup that was held on the same year as the Confederations Cup, as the result of this tournament having no bearing on qualification for the Confederations Cup and many teams were also involved in qualifying for the FIFA World Cup during that year.
CONCACAF announced the introduction of a play-off match on April 5, 2013. Starting from the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, the CONCACAF representative will be decided by a play-off between the two CONCACAF Gold Cup winners prior to the Confederations Cup. Then CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb said this "will allow the Champion of every single Gold Cup edition to have the same competitive opportunity to represent CONCACAF at the international level." In the case where the same national team wins both Gold Cup tournaments, no play-off is played and the team qualifies directly to the Confederations Cup.
Following CONCACAF's decision to end their affiliation with Traffic Sports USA due to the 2015 FIFA corruption case, Major League Soccer's sister company Soccer United Marketing was chosen as commercial representative for the match.
Qualified teams
Format
CONCACAF originally announced on July 23, 2015 that the play-off will be played as a single match on October 9, 2015 in the United States. After the conclusion of the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup on July 26, 2015, CONCACAF announced the Rose Bowl in Pasadena as the venue. The date was later amended to October 10 in order "to allow fans in attendance to enjoy a day-long of festivities, including Futbol Fiesta, a free, interactive fan zone outside the Rose Bowl."
Ticketing
On August 27, 2015, CONCACAF announced the ticket allocation process for the match. Both the United States Soccer Federation and the Mexican Football Federation will receive 30% of the tickets, which will be distributed through supporter groups. Another 30% will be sold through a lottery where the general public can apply. The final 10% will be given to local teams and sponsors. This system is to prevent the crowd being dominated by either team's supporters despite being on U.S. soil similar to previous Gold Cup finals.
Squads
Each team can select up to 23 players for their squads. On September 15, 2015, CONCACAF announced the provisional team lists. The final 23-player squads were announced by CONCACAF on October 5, 2015.
Mexico
On October 1, the final squad was announced.
Head coach: Ricardo Ferretti
United States
On October 3, the final squad was announced. On October 9, it was announced that Bobby Wood would replace Alejandro Bedoya (illness).
Head coach: Jürgen Klinsmann