Texas Based Players called up for Copa America

Four players based in Texas will be playing in this year’s Copa America which gets underway on Thursday night.

Adalberto Carrasquilla of Houston Dynamo will represent Panama and Julio Cascante of Austin FC will represent Costa Rica. Jamaica will have two USL Championship players in Jahmali White from El Paso Locomotive and Kevon Lambert of San Antonio FC who received a late call up after Leon Bailey declined the call up.

Jahmali White will likely not see much action, brought in as a back up goalkeeper, but he has played six games for the Reggae Boyz, although only one of those has come in a competitive international. He is joined by fellow Texas team player Kevon Lambert, who came in as the 27^th man. Lambert was something of a surprise call up, despite holding 25 caps he has not played for Jamaica since 2020. That may lead to the USL Championship fans in Texas being frustrated at losing two important players for such a vital stage of the season but not seeing any action for Jamaica.

Adalberto Carrasquilla has become a crucial part of the Panama side in recent years, since his first appearance in 2018. Now holding 54 caps he will be heavily used in the tournament. Carrasquilla is in career best form for Panama, winning the CONCACAF Gold Cup golden ball award for being the best player in the tournament, he will be eager to produce again against harder opposition.

The final Texas based player in the Copa America is Julio Cascante who has used an impressive season with Austin FC to start firmly establishing himself in the Costa Rican national team. After making his debut back in 2015 it took until 2023 when he was doing well for Austin to make his way back to the side and he’s been hard to remove, playing eight games since returning to the set up.

Beyond just seeing their players involved Texans will also get plenty of opportunities to see the tournament, hosting 8 games throughout the Copa America including two quarter-finals.

The first of those matches will be June 21^st with Peru taking on Chile at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Jamaica’s pair of Texas based players will feel at home with two of their three group stage matches being played in Texas, against Mexico at NRG Stadium in Houston and against Venezuela at Q2 Stadium in Austin.

The tournament gets underway in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium tomorrow night when defending champions Argentina take on debutants Canada.

Jamaica and El Salvador Forced to Settle for Draw to Close Gold Cup Group Stage

El Salvador open the scoring (Photo: Eric Guzman)

After looking in charge for much of the match a second half penalty has cost El Salvador dearly as Jamaica managed a 1-1 draw at the Alamodome on Sunday evening, to finish second in Group C in the Gold Cup, with El Salvador third.

“We have to be a lot better than that if we want to advance beyond the quarter finals,” said Jamaican forward Darren Mattocks. “We just were complacent out there, and it’s not good enough, we have a lot of improving to do.”

Gold Cup Group Schedule Reveals Mexico Opponents for Alamodome

Photo: CONCACAF

The CONCACAF Gold Cup group stage schedule has been completed and as a result the three match days in Texas have been finalized following the schedule announcement on Tuesday. Houston and Frisco will host Honduras, Costa Rica, French Guiana, and Canada; while San Antonio will host Mexico, El Salvador, Curacao and Jamaica.

The Alamodome will host the final match day of the group stages and many fans have been excited that Mexico will be playing in the tournament in the Alamodome. But that will now be the weakest match for Mexico as they take on Curacao, with goals sure to be flying in, at time of publication Mexico was ranked 17^th in the world with Curacao ranked 148th. Despite that fans in San Antonio should be pleased as the earlier match of the day, Jamaica v El Salvador is potentially one of the best matches in the group stages.

The first matches in Texas will be Tuesday July 11^th at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston and will feature Group A. Again the better match is the first match of the double header as Costa Rica will take on Canada, who play in Houston for the second straight Gold Cup, while Honduras will play French Guiana in the second match of the day.

Frisco will host matches on the Friday of that week (July 14^th) and will feature Costa Rica v French Guiana and Canada v Honduras. That is the first match day in Texas where the second match is really the bigger match of the day although Honduras will still go in as heavy favorites.

One more match will take place in Texas, and the schedule of the group stages provided some clarity in to what teams could be involved in that. AT&T Stadium in Arlington will host the first semi-final on July 22^nd, with the winners of the first two quarter-finals, which means that Texas could potentially see the United States as they sit in Group B, with first and second in that group playing in the first two quarterfinals.