1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup
# 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup

The 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the third edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF).

The tournament returned to the United States and California; the games were hosted by Los Angeles, San Diego, and Anaheim. The format of the tournament changed from 1993: it was expanded to nine teams, separated into three groups of three and played in January as opposed to the 1993 edition which was played in July.

The top team in each group, plus the best second-place finisher would advance to the semifinals. For the first time, a non-CONCACAF team was invited: Brazil, who sent their under-23 side. Mexico won their second straight Gold Cup, beating the Brazilians 2–0 in the final.

## Venues

| Anaheim | Los Angeles | San Diego |
| - | - | - |
| Anaheim Stadium | Memorial Coliseum | Jack Murphy Stadium |
| Capacity: 64,593 | Capacity: 93,607 | Capacity: 60,836 |
| AnaheimLos AngelesSan Diego |||

## Teams

### Qualification

| Team | Qualification | Appearances | Last Appearance | Previous best performance | FIFA Ranking |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| North American zone ||||||
| Mexico (TH) | Automatic | 3rd | 1993 | Champions (1993) | 12 |
| United States | Automatic | 3rd | 1993 | Champions (1991) | 19 |
| Canada | Automatic | 3rd | 1993 | Group Stage (1991, 1993) | 65 |
| Caribbean zone qualified through the 1995 Caribbean Cup ||||||
| Trinidad and Tobago | Winners | 2nd | 1991 | Group Stage (1991) | 57 |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Runners-up | 1st | None | Debut | 95 |
| Central American zone qualified through the 1995 UNCAF Nations Cup ||||||
| Honduras | Winners | 3rd | 1993 | Runners-up (1991) | 49 |
| Guatemala | Runners-up | 2nd | 1991 | Group stage (1991) | 145 |
| El Salvador | Third Place | 1st | None | Debut | 85 |
| Other ||||||
| Brazil | Invitation | 1st | None | Debut | 1 |

### Squads

The 9 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

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Mexico | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +6 | 6 | Advanced to knockout stage |
| 2 | Guatemala | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 3 | Advanced to knockout stage |
| 3 | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | −8 | 0 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Brazil | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | +8 | 6 | Advance to Knockout stage |
| 2 | Canada | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 3 | |
| 3 | Honduras | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 8 | −7 | 0 | |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | United States | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 6 | Advance to Knockout stage |
| 2 | El Salvador | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 3 | |
| 3 | Trinidad and Tobago | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 0 | |

## Knockout stage

### Bracket

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - |
| 18 January – Los Angeles | 18 January – Los Angeles |
| United States | 0 |
| United States | 0 | 21 January – Los Angeles | 21 January – Los Angeles |
| Brazil | 1 | 21 January – Los Angeles | 21 January – Los Angeles |
| Brazil | 1 | Brazil | 0 |
| 19 January – San Diego | 19 January – San Diego | | Brazil | 0 |
| 19 January – San Diego | 19 January – San Diego | Mexico | 2 |
| Mexico | 1 | Mexico | 2 |
| Guatemala | 0 | | |
| Guatemala | 0 | Third place play-off | Third place play-off |
| | | 21 January – Los Angeles | 21 January – Los Angeles |
| | | United States | 3 |
| | | Guatemala | 0 |

## Statistics

### Goalscorers

There were 42 goals scored in 13 matches, for an average of 3.23 goals per match.

4 goals

* Eric Wynalda

3 goals

* Caio Ribeiro
* Luis García

2 goals

* Paulo Jamelli
* Sávio
* Kevin Holness
* Raúl Díaz Arce
* Cuauhtémoc Blanco
* Ricardo Peláez
* Arnold Dwarika
* Russell Latapy

1 goal

* Leandro Machado
* André Luiz Moreira
* Carlo Corazzin
* Tomasz Radzinski
* Ronald Cerritos
* Juan Manuel Funes
* Martín Machón
* Edwin Westphal
* Presley Carson
* Agustín Garcia
* Eustacio Rizo
* Jeff Agoos
* Marcelo Balboa
* Jovan Kirovski
* Joe-Max Moore

1 own goal

* Marcelo Balboa (against Brazil)

## Awards

The following Gold Cup awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament: the Golden Boot (top scorer) and Golden Ball (best overall player).

* Golden Ball
* Raúl Lara
* Golden Boot
* Eric Wynalda
* 4 goals
