Concacaf Nations League Draw: US national team draw Canada; Mexico play Panama

The USA and Canada men's national teams have played some heated matchups over the years and that rivalry is about to take a new twist after the inaugural Concacaf Nations League draw held in Las Vegas. 

Gregg Berhalter's US squad was drawn against Canada and Cuba in Group A of the competition's top tier. Only the winner of the four groups in League A will advance to the Concacaf Nations League championship. The bottom team in each group will be relegated to League B.

The group matches will be played in September, October and November 2019, while the championship round featuring the four group winners from League A will take place in 2020.

The USMNT have a 14W-8L-11D all-time record against Canada, but the Americans have gone undefeated in the last 17 head-to-head meetings (9W-0L-8D). In fact, Canada haven’t beaten the USA in a full senior men’s international match since a 1985 friendly which they won 2-0 in Vancouver. The most recent encounter between the North American neighbors came in a February 2016 friendly that ended in a 1-0 US win in Carson, Calif. 

While the USA was automatically entered into League A as one of the region's top six seeds, Canada emerged from a one-off qualification process. Les Rouges won all four of their qualifiers en route to advancing into League A: 8-0 at US Virgin Islands (Sept. 9), 5-0 vs. Dominica (Oct. 16), 1-0 at St. Kitts and Nevis (Nov. 18) and 4-1 vs. French Guiana (March 4). 

The Concacaf Nations League draw also sorted the 16 teams in League B and the 13 nations in League C. The top teams from each group in League B and League C will win promotion to League A and League B, respectively. The bottom team in each League B group will be relegated to League C.

LEAGUE A

Group A: USA, Canada, Cuba

Group B: Mexico, Panama, Bermuda

Group C: Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, Martinique

Group D: Costa Rica, Haiti, Curacao

LEAGUE B

Group A: French Guiana, St. Kitts & Nevis, Belize, Grenada

Group B: El Salvador, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, Montserrat

Group C: Jamaica, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba

Group D: Nicaragua, Suriname, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica

LEAGUE C

Group A: Barbados, Cayman Islands, Saint Martin, U.S. Virgin Islands

Group B: Bonaire, Bahamas, British Virgin Islands

Group C: Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Anguilla

Group D: Guadeloupe, Turks & Caicos Islands, Sint Maarten