The CONCACAF Gold Cup is North America's major tournament in senior men's football and determines the continental champion.
In earlier editions, the continental championship was held in different countries, but since the inception of the Gold Cup in 1991, the United States are constant hosts or co-hosts.
Since the inaugural tournament in 1963, the Gold Cup was held 27 times and has been won by seven different nations, most often by Mexico (12 titles).
That the success was not due to the home advantage alone, but had shown good results at the previous and following editions (1971 and 1977), where they each ended up as runners-up on both occasions.
The title holders and favorites from Mexico started off with two draws, against Guatemala and Honduras, and only won their third match against the Netherlands Antilles.