USA vs. Cuba: 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup – How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineup, Open Thread & More

Welcome to your open thread for Gold Cup quarterfinal freedom as the United States Men’s National Team gets set to take on Cuba with a spot in the semifinals on the line. Tonight’s match comes to you from M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore at 5 p.m. ET.

The U.S. is 1-0 at M&T Bank Stadium, destroying El Salvador 5-1 there on July 21, 2013. That too was a Gold Cup quarterfinal match-up.

The United States took seven of nine points in group play, finishing 2-0-1 at the top of Group A, with wins over Honduras (2-0) and Haiti (1-0) before drawing 1-1 with Panama. Cuba is a shock knockout stage participant after scoring only one goal and allowing eight in three group matches. The Cubans went 1-0-2 and advanced with a 1-0 victory over Guatemala on the final day of Group C play. What's amazing is that Cuba continues to have players defect, yet got better as the tournament wore on. They lost 6-0 to Mexico, then 2-0 to Trinidad & Tobago, before beating Guatemala.

For the U.S., center back John Brooks is on yellow card suspension tonight, so it will be interesting to see how the back line holds up after a somewhat shaky group campaign.

The History

The Yanks are 8-1-1 in the all-time series against Cuba and haven't lost in the series since July 20, 1947, when the U.S. fell 5-2 in something called the North American Championship in Havana. Ed Souza and Ed Valentine scored for the Americans, who obviously needed a few more guys named Ed in the lineup that day.

Overall, the Yanks are 6-0-0 against Cuba on home soil, 1-1-0 away and 1-0-1 in neutral territory (two World Cup qualifiers in Mexico in 1949).

The teams have met five times in Gold Cup action, with the U.S. all of them. The Americans are currently on a run of eight straight wins in the series. The first of the five Gold Cup match-up victories came back on Feb. 1, 1998 in Oakland, when Roy Wegerle, Eric Wynalda and Joe-Max Moore (pen.) led the U.S. to a 3-0 win. Brad Friedel kept a clean sheet for Steve Sampson's team in Group C play.

In Jan. of 2002, a Brian McBride penalty in the 22^nd minute was all that separated the two sides in a Group B match. This time it was Kasey Keller keeping the clean sheet. In 2003, the two countries met in the quarterfinals, with the U.S. ripping Cuba, 5-0. Landon Donovan scored four goals and Steve Ralston also scored. Keller was in net again for the big win in Foxborough. The U.S. lost in sudden death of the semifinals to guest nation Brazil and bounced back to finish third that year with a win over Costa Rica.

Cuba finally scored against the Americans in a Gold Cup match in 2005, but still lost 4-1. Donovan scored twice, with Clint Dempsey and DaMarcus Beasley also finding the net at Seattle’s Qwest Field. Maykel Galindo scored for the Cubans against Marcus Hahnemann. The most recent meeting came in a 4-1 U.S. win in Group C of the 2013 tournament. Donovan scored from the spot, with Joe Corona adding a goal and Chris Wondolowski striking twice. Nick Rimando allowed only a single tally by Jose Ciprian Alfonso.

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Can the Americans finally put together a complete game? Will Deuce continue his torrid play? Are Cuban sandwiches better than American sandwiches?

We should get some answers today.

Go America!

And don't forget to vote in our poll below.

Official Lineup:

U.S. Men's National Team (4-4-2 diamond):

We have no idea what Jurgen's going to do tonight, so we'll just project the same lineup as last game and it will obviously be completely different. Check back just before kickoff for the official lineup.

Goalkeeper: Brad Guzan

Defenders: Fabian Johnson, Omar Gonzalez, Ventura Alvarado, Timmy Chandler

Midfielders: Alejandro Bedoya, Michael Bradley, Kyle Beckerman, Gyasi Zardes

Forwards: Clint Dempsey, Aron Johannsson

Bench: Nick Rimando, William Yarbrough, DaMarcus Beasley, Tim Ream, Brad Evans, Joe Corona Graham Zusi, DeAndre Yedlin, Aron Johannsson, Alan Gordon, Chris Wondolowski

How to Watch:

Match time: 5 p.m. (ET)

Venue: M&T Bank Stadium – Baltimore, MD

TV: FOX, UniMas, Univision Deportes

Live Stream: FOX Soccer 2GO, UnivisionDeportes.com

Twitter: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow along with @StarsAndStripesFC or via @ussoccer.

Match Thread Rules:

This is your live thread for posting comments on the match. So use our comments section below to talk about the game in real time with other supporters. If you're new, welcome to our happy home! While you're here, please observe a few basic rules:

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