2025 Gold Cup Group A Primer, TV Schedules: Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Suriname
The 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup kicks off with the defending champions El Tri playing tonight against Domincan Republic and Costa Rica-Suriname tomorrow.
The 2025 edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup begins tonight
Now, we’re not going to talk about why this tournament is going on at the same time as the FIFA Club World Cup…or why Group D actually starts play second tomorrow, because those are silly things based on decisions from silly people.
No, we are here to talk about the how the two lowest ranked teams according to FIFA are both capable of getting a result against the two regional powers.
That’s because one of these two teams already got a result last year in qualifying and another has perhaps the best resume in all of CONCACAF this cycle so far.
Why a primer and not a preview? Because I am not a certified expert despite what Thomas Pinzone said on our recent podcast episode and as always this is mostly just handy and/or interesting information all in one spot.
Additional groups to follow in the coming days.
TV SCHEDULE (all times Eastern)
Saturday, June 14
Mexico vs. Dominican Republic - SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, CA, 10:15 p.m. (FS1, Univision, TUDN)
Sunday, June 15
Costa Rica vs. Suriname - Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego, CA, 11 p.m. (FS1)
Wednesday, June 18
Costa Rica vs. Dominican Republic - AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX, 7 p.m. (FS1, TUDN)
Suriname vs. Mexico - AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX, 10 p.m.
(FS1, Univision, TUDN)
Sunday, June 22
Mexico vs. Costa Rica - Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, NV, 10 p.m.
(FS1, UniMás)
Dominican Republic vs. Suriname - AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX, 10 p.m.
(FS2, Univision, TUDN)
TEAM PRIMERS
COSTA RICA [CRC/A2]
Head Coach: Miguel Herrera (MEX)
FIFA Ranking: 54th Nickname: Los Ticos
Qualification: Prelim winner vs Belize, 13-1 agg.
Appearance: 17th Best Finish: Runners-up (2002)
Roster Breakdown: 10 Domestic, 3 USA, 2 Portugal, 1 Argentina, 1 Belgium 1 Colombia, 1 Greece, 1 Latvia, 1 Netherlands, 1 Romania, 1 Russia, 1 Scotland, 1 Spain, 1 Turkey
Recent Matches: FIFA WCQ W vs TRI 2-1, WCQ W at BAH 8-0, Friendly L vs Catalonia 0-2
Player To Know: GK Keylor Navas, Newell’s Old Boys (ARG), 115 Int’l Caps – If this cycle is the swan song for Keylor Navas’ incredible career, it is fairly stunning that Navas has only one Gold Cup semifinal appearance (2009 PK Loss to Mexico). Costa Rica has only made one other semifinal (2017) in the last two decades in an impressive display of continental mediocrity for a team that deservedly made a World Cup quarterfinals.
Players To Watch: FWs Manfred Ugalde (Spartak/RUS), Alonso Martinez (NYCFC/USA), Warren Madrigal (Valencia/ESP) - All three of these guys were on the scoresheet against the Bahamas, but with Costa Rica opting for a 5-man backline usually, only two of them are going to start and then we’re shoving Josimar Alcocer into the midfield as well even though he’s primarily a winger as well. Whatever combination or hot hands El Piojo goes with needs to provide enough threat going forward to carry a Ticos attack that generally doesn’t do much against top teams in the region.
Tournament Outlook
I have long bemoaned Costa Rica’s continental ineptitude despite making nearly every World Cup since 2002 (missed 2010), and on top of that quarterfinal run, they’ve won games in two other tournaments. This should be a much more successful team in continental play than the one that regularly doesn’t make Gold Cup or Nations League semifinals. They should be second favorites behind Mexico in this group, but a road draw at Suriname during Nations League as well as an aggregate loss to Panama last fall means Los Ticos are far from guaranteed a spot in the knockouts.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC [DOM/A4]
Head Coach: Marcelo Neveleff (ARG)
FIFA Ranking: 139th Nickname: Los Quisqueyanos
Qualification: Nations League B Flight Group D Winners
Appearance: Debut Best Finish: N/A
Roster Breakdown: 5 Domestic/Unattached, 7 Spain, 3 USA, 1 Azerbaijan, 1 Bolivia, 1 Bulgaria, 1 Cyprus, 1 England, 1 France, 1 Germany, 1 Netherlands, 1 Panama, 1 Portugal, 1 Russia
Recent Matches: FIFA WCQ W v Dominica 5-0, WCQ L at Guatemala 2-4
Player To Know: FW Dorny Romero, Bolivar (Bolivia), 39 Int’l Caps/25 Int’l Goals – Los Quisqueyanos all time leading scorer, he’s also racked up impressive scoring records at club level with Cibao (DOM), Real Santa Cruz (BOL) and Deportivo Always Ready (BOL). He led all players with 10 goals in Nations League B Flight action in 2024/25 for a DR attack that scored 27 goals in their six group games.
Player To Watch: DF Junior Firpo, Leeds United (ENG), 11 Int’l Caps/4 Int’l Goals – Firpo is Dominican born but grew up in Spain, came up through the Betis youth ranks and actually has a handful of Spanish U21 appearances and a couple of goals for Barcelona, but switched to represent the DR at the start of 2024. He had a strong campaign last season with 4G/10A primarily at left back.
Tournament Outlook
What if I told you one of the most impressive CONCACAF resumes of the last five years belongs to the DR...because it does. An appearance at the Olympics in 2024 (in which they drew twice and gave eventual Gold medalists Spain a good game) after their U-23 team beat Guatemala on PKs in the semis of qualification, promotion to the A Flight in the Nations League after winning their group which also got them directly into their first Gold Cup. A loss to Guatemala in World Cup qualifying did put a damper on their Cinderella run this cycle as they finished third and will not advance to the final round.
Getting Mexico in the first game is a brutal draw but I don’t think they’ll be completely overmatched in this group, but getting four points in two games after playing El Tri is a tall task for a team that is steadily getting tournament experience. It’s a pretty impressive start to former Revs assistant Marcelo Neveleff’s international coaching stint.
MEXICO [MEX/A1]
Head Coach: Javier Aquirre (MEX)
FIFA Ranking: 17th Nickname: El Tri
Qualification: Nations League A Flight Semifinalist (Champions)
Appearance: 18th Best Finish: 9-time Champions (last in 2023)
Roster Breakdown: 14 Domestic, 3 England, 2 Russia, 1 Belgium, 1 Greece, 1 Netherlands, 1 Portugal, 1 Saudi Arabia
Recent Matches: CNL Semi W vs Canada 2-0, CNL Final W vs Panama 2-1, Friendly L vs Switzerland 2-4, Friendly W vs Turkey 1-0
Player To Know: MF Edson Alvarez, West Ham Utd (ENG), 84 Int’l Caps/5 Int’l Goals – With almost 60 appearances in the EPL alone, Edson Alvarez needs to be a force in the midfield because if El Tri is going to maintain their title as region’s best.
Players To Watch: FWs Raul Jimenez (Fulham/ENG) and Santiago Gimenez (Milan/ITA) - The elder statesman Jimenez’s record is well known for El Tri, but it’s the younger Gimenez who needs to find his scoring touch as Santiago’s goals against Panama in the last Gold Cup Final and over the weekend against Switzerland are what will keep El Tri at the top of the region in the future.
Tournament Outlook
Mexico followed up their worst World Cup performance in a long time with a Gold Cup (‘23) and Nations League win (‘25) in recent years. It’s been a fine cycle, but aside from a comprehensive Nations League semi win over Canada in March, most of their tournament runs and titles have not gone through the USA or Canada. Beating Panama in the finals is fine, but El Tri has a big chance for a signature win or two on the path to defending their title. With the US in particular struggling at the moment, Mexico could be in the most in-form host country going into next summer.
SURINAME [SUR/A3]
Head Coach: Stanley Menzo (SUR)
FIFA Ranking: 137th Nickname: Natio (Nationals)
Qualification: Prelim winner vs Martinique, 2-0 agg.
Appearance: 2nd Best Finish: Group State (2021)
Roster Breakdown: 2 Domestic, 5 Netherlands, 2 Belgium, 2 Cyprus, 2 England, 2 Germany, 2 Jamaica, 2 Sweden, 1 Hungary, 1 Georgia, 1 Greece, 1 Italy, 1 Russia, 1 Serbia
Recent Matches: Gold Cup Qual W vs Martinique 1-0, GCQ W at MTQ 1-0, FIFA WCQ W 1-0 vs Puerto Rico, WCQ D at El Salvador 1-1
Player To Know/Watch: FW Gleofilo Vlijter, OFK Beograd (SRB), 28 Int’l Caps/15 Int’l Goals – Vlijter is Suriname’s all-time leading scorer and former Nations League B Flight Golden Boot winner with ten goals in the ‘19/’20 campaign and scored his country’s first ever Gold Cup goal back in 2021. His career path is incredible, starting off as youth player in his home country, multiple European trials before signing in Israel, Georgia, Cyprus, Finland and now Serbia all while racking up pretty solid goal marks with Aris Limassol (CYP), Hapoel Ramat Gan (ISR), and Beograd where he had 10 goals in 32 league matches in the Serbian SuperLiga this past season.
Tournament Outlook
Suriname survived a fairly robust Nations League group to finish just one point behind Costa Rica, only to be thrown back into the mixer for the play-in round against Martinique. Combine that with winning their WCQ group over El Salvador as a Pot 2 team, and this is another side that like the DR, that I think is far better than their World Ranking. Making their second tournament in four years after their debut in 2021, Suriname is establishing themselves as a solid regional outfit and will look to build upon their previous third place group finish.
They should have plenty of confidence having already played Costa Rica fairly recently – a 1-1 draw at home during Nations League last fall that I wonder if Suriname thought they should have won with the Ticos playing a man down most of the second half. A good tournament here could springboard them into full underdog status and a run into the inter-continental playoff spot in fall WCQ.
GROUP OVERVIEW
I really think that this group will be far more competitive than the eventual standings might indicate. Yes, Mexico and Costa Rica should advance, but there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that Suriname and DR are going to make things as difficult as possible. The two underdogs might be playing more spoiler roles than dark horse though, as they would be extremely unlikely to win a knockout game if they got there. There’s going to be enough fun and dropped points to talk about but not enough to change what should be a chalk finish.
GROUP PREDICTIONS
1) Mexico 2) Costa Rica 3) Suriname 4) Dominican Republic