United States at the CONCACAF Gold Cup explained

The United States national team has participated in all seventeen editions of the CONCACAF Gold Cup since its foundation in 1991 to replace the CONCACAF Championship. The United States is also the second-most successful team in the tournament, having won seven titles since the beginning of the Gold Cup, behind Mexico by just two titles. Before the Gold Cup however, the United States only qualified for two of the previous ten CONCACAF Championships (1985 and 1989).

Since its inception in 1991, the CONCACAF Gold Cup is continually hosted or co-hosted by the United States (due to the United States being the only country that can host a profitable tournament), therefore the United States have frequently participated in the tournament and are considered to be one of the two major teams alongside Mexico. They have reached the final twelve times, losing five out of seven times when facing Mexico, but winning the other five finals against various opponents.

Overall record

CONCACAF Championship & Gold Cup record
Year	Result	Position							Squad
1963	Did not enter
1965
1967
1969	Did not qualify
1971	Did not enter
1973	Did not qualify
1977
1981
1985	Group stage	6th	4	2	1	1	4	3	Squad
1989	Runners-up	2nd	8	4	3	1	6	3	Squad
1991	Champions	1st	5	4	1	0	10	3	Squad
1993	Runners-up	2nd	5	4	0	1	5	5	Squad
1996	Third place	3rd	4	3	0	1	8	3	Squad
1998	Runners-up	2nd	4	3	0	1	6	2	Squad
2000	Quarter-finals	5th	3	2	1	0	6	2	Squad
2002	Champions	1st	5	4	1	0	9	1	Squad
2003	Third place	3rd	5	4	0	1	13	4	Squad
2005	Champions	1st	6	4	2	0	11	3	Squad
2007		1st	6	6	0	0	13	3	Squad
2009	Runners-up	2nd	6	4	1	1	12	8	Squad
2011			2nd	6	4	0	2	9	6	Squad
2013	Champions	1st	6	6	0	0	20	4	Squad
2015	Fourth place	4th	6	3	2	1	12	5	Squad
2017	Champions	1st	6	5	1	0	13	4	Squad
2019	Runners-up	2nd	6	5	0	1	15	2	Squad
2021	Champions	1st	6	6	0	0	11	1	Squad
2023	Semi-finals	4th	5	2	3	0	16	4	Squad
Total	19/27	7 Titles	102	75	16	11	199	66

Winning finals

With three titles, Bruce Arena is the most successful coach in tournament history. Bora Milutinovic went on to win the 1996 tournament as head coach of Mexico.

Year	Opponent	Result	Coach	Goalscorer(s)	Final location
1991		0–0	Bora Milutinovic	—	Los Angeles
2002		2–0	Bruce Arena	J. Wolff, J. Agoos	Pasadena
2005		0–0	Bruce Arena	—	East Rutherford
2007		2–1	Bob Bradley	L. Donovan, B. Feilhaber	Chicago
2013		1–0	Jürgen Klinsmann	B. Shea	Chicago
2017		2–1	Bruce Arena	J. Altidore, J. Morris	Santa Clara
2021		1–0	Gregg Berhalter	M. Robinson	Paradise

Record by opponent

CONCACAF Championship/Gold Cup matches (by team)
Opponent
	1	0	0	1	6	1
	1	0	2	3	2	3
	4	2	0	6	9	3
	0	1	0	1	2	2
	8	2	2	12	16	8
	6	0	0	6	23	2
	1	0	0	1	1	0
	7	1	0	8	20	1
	1	0	0	1	4	0
	1	0	0	1	1	0
	4	1	0	5	9	1
	1	0	0	1	4	0
	3	1	0	4	7	2
	6	1	0	7	12	3
	6	1	1	8	14	6
	3	0	0	3	11	3
	3	0	5	8	7	16
	1	0	0	1	3	0
	6	5	1	12	14	9
	1	0	0	1	1	0
	1	0	0	1	1	0
	1	0	0	1	6	0
	1	0	0	1	2	1
	8	1	0	9	24	5

1985 CONCACAF Championship

Group 3

width=30	Rank	Team	width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20
1		6	4	2	2	0	6	2	+4
2		5	4	2	1	1	4	3	+1
3		1	4	0	1	3	2	7	−5

------------

1989 CONCACAF Championship

Final round

width=165 width=25 width=25 width=25 width=25 width=25 width=25 width=25 width=25 8 5 1 2 10 6 +4 11 8 4 3 1 6 3 +3 11 8 3 3 2 7 5 +2 9 6 1 1 4 4 7 −3 3 6 0 2 4 2 8 −6 2

width=165  – 1–0 2–1 1–0 1–0 2–4 – X–X 0–0 0–1 1–0 X–X – 0–1 0–0 1–1 2–0 2–1 – 0–1 1–0 0–0 2–1 1–1 –

----------------------------

The Championship also served as 1990 World Cup qualification, which helped the U.S. to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1950.

1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Group B

width=185	Team	width=20	Pld	width=20	W	width=20	D	width=20	L	width=20	GF	width=20	GA	width=20	GD	width=20	Pts
	3	3	0	0	8	3	+5	6
	3	1	0	2	5	5	0	2
	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	2
	3	1	0	2	1	5	−4	2

--------

Final

1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Group A

--------

Final

1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Group C

width=200	Team	width=20	Pld	width=20	W	width=20	D	width=20	L	width=20	GF	width=20	GA	width=20	GD	width=20	Pts
	2	2	0	0	5	2	+3	6
	2	1	0	1	3	4	−1	3
	2	0	0	2	4	6	−2	0

----

Third place match

1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Group C

width=150	Team	width=25		width=25		width=25		width=25		width=25		width=25		width=25		width=25
	2	2	0	0	5	1	+4	6
	2	1	0	1	8	4	+4	3
	2	0	0	2	2	10	−8	0

----

Final

2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Group B

width=175	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
	2	2	0	0	4	0	+4	6
	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1
	2	0	1	1	1	4	−3	1

----

Quarter-finals

2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Group B

width=175	Team	width=20 abbr="Played"	Pld	width=20 abbr="Won"	W	width=20 abbr="Drawn"	D	width=20 abbr="Lost"	L	width=20 abbr="Goals for"	GF	width=20 abbr="Goals against"	GA	width=20 abbr="Goal difference"	GD	width=20 abbr="Points"	Pts
	2	2	0	0	3	1	+2	6
	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1
	2	0	1	1	0	1	−1	1

----

Final

2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Group C

width=175	Team	width=20 abbr="Played"	Pld	width=20 abbr="Won"	W	width=20 abbr="Drawn"	D	width=20 abbr="Lost"	L	width=20 abbr="Goals for"	GF	width=20 abbr="Goals against"	GA	width=20 abbr="Goal difference"	GD	width=20 abbr="Points"	Pts
	2	2	0	0	4	0	+4	6
	2	1	0	1	1	2	−1	3
	2	0	0	2	0	3	−3	0

----

Third place match

2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Group B

Team
	3	2	1	0	6	1	+5	7
	3	2	1	0	4	1	+3	7
	3	1	0	2	2	4	−2	3
	3	0	0	3	3	9	−6	0

--------

Final

2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Group B

Team
	3	3	0	0	7	0	+7	9
	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
	3	1	0	2	2	6	−4	3
	3	0	1	2	2	5	−3	1

--------

Final

2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Group B

Team
	3	2	1	0	8	2	+6	7
	3	2	0	1	5	2	+3	6
	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
	3	0	0	3	0	10	−10	0

width=25%		width=10%
4 July 2009
	0–4
8 July 2009
	2–0
11 July 2009
	2–2

Final

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Group C

Team
	3	2	1	0	6	4	+2	7
	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	6
	3	1	1	1	2	3	−1	4
	3	0	0	3	2	5	−3	0

--------

Final

2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Group C

--------

Final

2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Group A

--------

Third place match

2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Group B

--------

Final

2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Group D

--------

Final

2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Group B

--------

Final

2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Group A

--------

Semi-finals

Record players

Landon Donovan is both the CONCACAF Gold Cup's record player and scorer with 18 goals in 34 matches. In addition, he and DaMarcus Beasley are the only players to win the Gold Cup four times.

Rank	Player	Matches	Gold Cups
1	Landon Donovan	34	2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2011 and 2013
2	Michael Bradley	25	2007, 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2019
3	Clint Dempsey	24	2005, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2017
4	Kasey Keller	23	1996, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007
DaMarcus Beasley	23	2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2013 and 2015
6	Gyasi Zardes	22	2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021
7	Eric Wynalda	21	1991, 1993, 1996, 1998 and 2000
Frankie Hejduk	21	1998, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007
9	Cobi Jones	20	1993, 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2002
10	John Harkes	19	1989, 1993, 1996 and 1998
Carlos Bocanegra	19	2002, 2003, 2007 and 2011

Top goalscorers

Landon Donovan is not only the CONCACAF Gold Cup's record scorer, but is also the only player to score at six separate tournaments, and the only player to be (shared) top scorer at three tournaments.

In 2007, he scored all his four goals from the penalty spot.

Rank	Player	Goals	Gold Cups (goals)
1	Landon Donovan	18	2002 (1), 2003 (4), 2005 (3), 2007 (4), 2011 (1) and 2013 (5)
2	Clint Dempsey	13	2005 (1), 2007 (1), 2011 (3), 2015 (7) and 2017 (1)
3	Eric Wynalda	9	1991 (1), 1993 (2), 1996 (4), 1998 (1) and 2000 (1)
4	Brian McBride	8	2000 (1), 2002 (4) and 2003 (3)
5	Jesús Ferreira	7	2023
align=center rowspan=2	6	DaMarcus Beasley	6	2002 (1), 2005 (3) and 2007 (2)
Gyasi Zardes	6	2015 (1), 2019 (3) and 2021 (2)
align=center rowspan=2	8	Chris Wondolowski	5	2013
Jozy Altidore	5	2011 (2), 2017 (2) and 2019 (1)
10	Bruce Murray	3	1989 (1) and 1991 (2)
Carlos Bocanegra	3	2003 (2) and 2007 (1)
Eddie Johnson	3	2007 (1) and 2013 (2)
Stuart Holden	3	2009 (2) and 2013 (1)
Clarence Goodson	3	2009, 2011 and 2013
Michael Bradley	3	2011 (1) and 2015 (2)
Joe Corona	3	2013 (2) and 2017 (1)
Omar Gonzalez	3	2015 (1) and 2017 (2)
Jordan Morris	3	2017
Christian Pulisic	3	2019
Brandon Vázquez	3	2023

Awards and records

Team awards

• Champions: 1991, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2013, 2017, 2021
• Runners-up: 1989, 1993, 1998, 2009, 2011, 2019
• Third place: 1996, 2003
• Fair Play Award: 2003, 2009, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023

Individual awards

• Most Valuable Player:
  • Brian McBride (2002)
  • Landon Donovan (2013)
  • Michael Bradley (2017)
• Golden Boot:
  • Eric Wynalda (1996, 4 goals)
  • Brian McBride (2002, 4 goals)
  • Landon Donovan (2003, 4 goals) (shared)
  • DaMarcus Beasley (2005, 3 goals)
  • Landon Donovan (2013, 5 goals) (shared)
  • Chris Wondolowski (2013, 5 goals) (shared)
  • Clint Dempsey (2015, 7 goals)
  • Jesús Ferreira (2023, 7 goals)
• Best Goalkeeper:
  • Brad Guzan (2015)
  • Matt Turner (2021)
• Best Young Player:
  • Christian Pulisic (2019)

Team records

• Most finals played in a row (5: 2005–2013)
• Most Top 3 finishes in a row (7: 2002–2013)
• Highest defeat in a final (0–5 against Mexico, 2009)

Individual records

• Most titles as player: Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley (4: 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2013)
• Most titles as manager: Bruce Arena (3: 2002, 2005 and 2017)
• Most matches played: Landon Donovan (34: 2002–2013)
• Most goals scored: Landon Donovan (18: 2002–2013)
• Longest time span between first and last goal: Clint Dempsey (12 years, 15 days: July 7, 2005 – July 22, 2017)

See also

• United States at the Copa América
• United States at the FIFA Confederations Cup
• United States at the FIFA World Cup