Canada will kick off their Gold Cup against Guadeloupe, who shut out Guyana 2-0 in qualifying on Tuesday to advance to the main draw of the CONCACAF tournament.
Ranked 47th in the world, the Canadians will host Guadeloupe in Toronto on June 27. Guadeloupe is not a member of FIFA, as it is a French overseas department.
Canada is 2-1-0 against the Caribbean island.
The Canadian squad will then fly to Houston to play its two other Group D matches. They will face Guatemala (116th) on July 1 and Cuba (165th) on July 4.
The 12-team qualifying tournament in Fort Lauderdale, Florida will allow three teams to complete the Gold Cup main draw. Martinique (unranked), faces Puerto Rico (166th), while St-Christophe-et-Nevis (139th) faces French Guyana (unranked) in the last preliminary matches.
This is the fifth time that Guadeloupe has qualified for the group stage of the Gold Cup. The competition will thus have 16 teams and the tournament will be played in 14 cities and 15 stadiums. BMO Field is the only Canadian stop of the tournament.
The Canadians haven’t lost at BMO Field since September 2010, a 2-0 loss to Peru. Since then, Canada is 15-0-6 and has outscored its opponents 54-6.
Canada won the Gold Cup once, in 2000. Mexico has eight crowns against seven for the United States, reigning champions.
