2025 Gold Cup Final Power Rankings
An update from the group stage power rankings and a quick look at the upcoming CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying groups.
I don’t know what qualifies as a successful Gold Cup, aside from Mexico winning the darn thing.
Were attendances good enough at the big venues that were half full? Was going up against the Club World Cup a good idea (hint it wasn’t), and clearly the biggest driver of tickets was Mexico.
Sure playing at Jerry World, that’s what everyone who hates the Cowboys calls AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, for the group stages doesn’t make a lot of sense, but maybe 34,000 on a Wednesday is fine. I’m not fitting the rental bill or buying tickets to watch El Tri.
Tomorrow I’ll dig deeper at the issues the USA had in this tournament, but on the field, losing to Mexico with a B or C level roster is not the end of the world. The vast majority of these players might not be on the World Cup roster which is not helpful, but Mauricio Pochettino has a lot of lessons to learn on his tactics and style the USMNT should be playing and there’s no more competitive games for the US between now and next summer, just friendlies.
Below is the updated power ranking list from my first post after the group stages. Only the teams in the knockout stages are going to change in the top half, but a lot of teams will get mentioned down below in the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers section where we’ll briefly talk about those group strengths with Gold Cup play factored in.
1) [-] MEXICO - Champions, W vs USA 2-1
‘23 Gold Cup, ‘25 Nations League, ‘25 Gold Cup. El Tri are the kings of CONCACAF again and right now might be the best hope for the three hosts to make a quarterfinal next summer. Played their best game of the tournament in the final and that’s the quality the need to always play with so their dominance shows up on the scoreboard as something other than one goal wins.
2) [+2] UNITED STATES - Runners up, L vs MEX 1-2
Overall, this group should be proud of making the final. Chris Richards was a stud throughout the competition while Diego Luna and Patrick Agyemang are getting looks from overseas clubs which might be the biggest positive of them all. The USA’s struggles offensively however look similar to the struggles they’ve had the last few years and what Poch was specifically brought in I assume to fix/change and insisting on still being a play out of the back team is a choice.
3) [+3] GUATEMALA - Semifinal L vs USA 2-1
Oscar Santis and former Revs duo Olger Escobar and Nicolas Samayoa really have Los Chapines in a great spot to continue their current form into qualifying. Yes, they are absolutely in the hardest qualifying group and the likelihood they will make a World Cup is slim, but could they be one of two teams in the intercontinental playoffs? It’s not a completely crazy thought like it might have been a few weeks ago.
4) [+3] HONDURAS - Semifinal L vs MEX 1-0
Honduras should absolutely be thinking about direct qualification into the WC, but they’ll have to go through Costa Rica to do it. They were really good after the Canada game but they’ll need one of their star attackers, either Romell Quioto or Anthony Lozano, to really go off. Both only had one tally this tournament, but the Catrachos will need more offensively in qualification.
5) [-2] COSTA RICA - Quarterfinal D vs USA 2-2 (eliminated on PKs 4-3)
On a different day or against someone else, Costa Rica would have been in the semis. Ala,s they ran into a hot keeper in Matt Freese in a penalty shootout. I am a little worried about the defense giving up multiple goals to the USA, DR and Suriname and they are in a tricky but not overly difficult group for qualifiers in the fall.
6) [-4] PANAMA - Quarterfinal D vs HON 1-1 (eliminated on PKs 5-4)
I can’t drop Panama further than this, but hopefully they learned a valuable lesson. Being the dominant team is great, being dominant on the scoreboard is better. They should absolutely be in the World Cup proper after qualifying but they need to hone a killer instinct mentality to avoid pitfalls like they did in the quarters. Late equalizers won’t cost you dropped points or a knockout exit in qualifying; it will keep you home from the World Cup. Tournament Golden Boot winner Ismael Diaz keeps that scoring pace up and they should be fine.
7) [-2] CANADA - Quarterfinal D vs GUA 1-1 (eliminated on PKs 6-5)
Oh, Canada…you played three not so great games after a wonderful display in routing Honduras. This was largely the first choice roster but getting star man Alphonso Davies back from an ACL injury he suffered back in March is the key for them next summer. Canada should be disappointed but they just ascended to the top of the region so a few more bumps in the road perhaps shouldn’t be unexpected.
8) [-] SAUDI ARABIA - Quarterfinal L vs MEX 1-0
I didn’t know what to do with the Green Falcons after the group stage and I have no reason to move them after a pretty lackluster exit in the quarters. Since they’re not in CONCACAF I’ll cover their future Asian qualification matches here. The AFC (not the one the Kansas City Chiefs play in) fourth round draw has not taken place yet (it’s next week), but there will be two groups of three in single round robin play.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia are hosting which I assume means they’ll be in separate groups. Iraq, Indonesia, UAE and Oman will join them, matches to be played in October, group winners qualify for the WC, second place teams will have a two-leg aggregate series for a spot in the intercontinental playoffs in March of ‘26.
T9) DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - Third Place Group A / 0-2-1, 1 pt, -2 GD
Again, not going to go through all the previously eliminated teams, but did want to shoutout winger Peter Gonzalez making the Gold Cup First XI tournament team. I can not express how much I loved what DR did in their first Gold Cup and it’s nice to see an individual accolade to highlight their regional debut.
T9) SURINAME - Fourth Place Group A / 0-2-1, 1 pt, -3 GD
11) TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO - Third Place Group D / 0-1-2, 2 pts, -5 GD
12) GUADELOUPE - Fourth Place Group C / 0-0-3, 0 pts, -5 GD
13) HAITI - Fourth Place Group D / 0-2-1, 1 pt, -2 GD
14) JAMAICA - Third Place Group C / 1-0-2, 3 pts, -3 GD
15) CURACAO - Third Place Group B / 0-1-2, 2 pts, - 1 GD
16) EL SALVADOR - Fourth Place Group B / 0-2-1, 1 pts, -4 GD
CONCACAF WCQ QUICK LOOK
FIFA, I don’t understand you. Why are only two of the three second place teams in this third/final group phase advancing into the intercontinental playoffs?
It’s incredibly dumb to have CONCACAF as the host continent only getting a minimum of 6 teams with three being the hosts. Add the playoff runner-ups from Asia and Africa, make three three-team groups, and have the CONCACAF teams play host to a mini play-in round robin. You don’t need a New Caledonia-Guatemala game as a warm up for World Cup somewhere in the USA, Canada or Mexico… we just spent a month doing that with the Club World Cup and Gold Cup running simultaneously.
End rant.
GROUP A - Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala, Suriname
Group of Death? Group of Death.
Yes Panama should be the heavy favorite despite their quarterfinal exit, but every team behind them is a live option for second place. Guatemala is riding high, Suriname proved they can hang around with good competition, and El Salvador hopefully hasn’t turned fully to the dark arts and can return to their normal, difficult selves.
Interesting group dynamic cause El Salvador play Panama “last” (so games three and six) so early results for them are crucial. A final matchday of Guatemala-Suriname to decide second place in this group could be ridiculously fun for sicko neutrals.
Group B - Jamaica, Curacao, Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda
The all Caribbean group features perhaps the only true minnow in Bermuda, but what they were doing as a Pot 4 team from the previous round is beyond me. Like I said before the Gold Cup, if Jamaica isn’t going to figure it out, they’re not going to…and they have one more chance to maybe prove me right, or is it wrong? This group intrigues me because two of these potential train wrecks have to advance.
Either way, every one of the three teams who played in it were very underwhelming at the Gold Cup and Based on Bermuda’s results against Honduras and the Dominican Republic over the last year this might be too big of a step up in talent for them to make a serious challenge
Group C - Costa Rica, Honduras, Haiti, Nicaragua
The largely Central American based group looks like a two team race at the top and a far more interesting one after Honduras’ rebound at the Gold Cup. The Ticos should still be the favorite but perhaps no longer a runaway one. Haiti still has a decent chance a second place qualifier but I have some concerns about their offense after the Gold Cup. Nicaragua I think, is good enough to play spoiler but no more than that. If the second-place team from this group makes the intercontinental playoffs, I think they’ll have the best shot at making the tournament proper.