Two old enemies face off once more with the Gold Cup trophy on the line: It's the United States men's national team against Mexico at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, to crown a champion and wrap up a busy summer of Concacaf action.
Mexico are the all-time kings of this tournament, capturing the title a record nine times since the first edition of the Gold Cup as we know it appeared in 1991. They're the current holders of the trophy, beating Panama 1-0 in the final in 2023 on a goal from Santiago Giménez in the 88th minute.
The United States are two behind their rivals in Gold Cup titles, with their most recent of seven triumphs coming in 2021 when they won 1-0 against Mexico. Just like in 2025, that 2021 USMNT team was full of MLS players — Miles Robinson, then of Atlanta United FC and scorer of the winning goal in 2021, was paired in central defense with James Sands, then of New York City FC.
Mexico haven't faced much adversity on their way to the final save for conceding twice to the Dominican Republic in their 3-2 win in the group-stage opener, while the United States entered the tournament on a four-match losing streak and got pushed to the brink in the form of a penalty shootout in the quarterfinals against Costa Rica.
No matter the form or recent head-to-head results, each USA-Mexico fixture tends to be a unique snowflake of chaos. Mexico enters this final off a smoother summer and with more of what you'd consider their "A-list" players in the squad, but that guarantees them nothing given the raised stakes and raised intensity of these regional rivalry matches.
Andrew Leigh
Michael Battista
Mexico Scouting Report
• Mexico enters the final on a streak of four consecutive clean sheets, all recorded after they conceded two goals in their very first game of their Gold Cup, a tighter-than-expected 3-2 win over the Dominican Republic. This stingy Mexican defense is anchored by Cesár Montes, who also happens to be El Tri's leading scorer at this year's Gold Cup with the three goals from Montes one ahead of Mexico's starting striker.
• Raúl Jiménez of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC in the English Premier League scored the lone goal to beat Honduras in the semifinals, and he's been doing the bulk of the work in front of goal for El Tri this tournament. Jiménez is among the tournament leaders in shots on target (five, t-8th), total shot attempts (11, t-3rd), and goals (two, t-8th).
• Santiago Giménez of AC Milan is at this tournament while two of his American Milan teammates, Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah, are absent. Expect to hear that get brought up if Giménez has a big showing in the final, and the Mexican forward has already said Pulisic and Musah will be hearing all about it if Mexico wins. "I have Pulisic and Musah in the locker room, so I want to go and make fun of them a little," the forward was quoted as saying ahead of the final.
• Head coach Javier Aguirre has seen this movie before. He's in his second stint coaching Mexico and is looking for his second Gold Cup. During his first stint in charge, he guided Mexico to the most lopsided win in the history of the Gold Cup Final in 2009, when his El Tri beat the USMNT 5-0 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
• That big win in New Jersey in 2009 was one of five Mexico victories over the United States in the Gold Cup final, with only two losses to balance them out. This will be the eighth time these teams meet to decide who gets the Gold Cup, and the history has been on Mexico's side, so far.
Matthew Mangam
Oliver Strand
United States Scouting Report
• Do Diego Luna and/or Malik Tillman have one more big attacking performance in them to get the Yanks past Mexico? Luna scored one of the better goals of the tournament against Guatemala to deliver the decisive second goal that would stand up to ensure victory, while Tillman has assists in back-to-back matches while continuing to be hugely influential on all the USMNT does in possession. Bother players have three goals and two assists in the Gold Cup, and whether or not they add to those totals might be enough to decide who walks out champion.
• Speaking of Tillman, he suffered the second-most fouls of any player at this year's Gold Cup, drawing a whistle 14 different times. That could be significant because Mexico's Edson Álvarez is fourth with 10 fouls committed, while Raúl Jiménez is in a tie for sixth with nine fouls. Given that these games tend to get chippy all on their own, the involvement of some foul-happy and most-fouled players seems relevant.
• Tyler Adams came off slightly early in the semifinals in a move that raised some red flags, with Mauricio Pochettino saying after the match that the AFC Bournemouth midfielder had "hamstring discomfort" in the week prior to the Guatemala game. The USMNT will want him out there for what's likely to be a feisty midfield battle, but how heathy and available is Adams going to be in this game?
• All eyes once again will turn to Matt Freese in goal and he'll have to be at his absolute sharpest against Mexico. He proved he can handle the pressure and responsibility of being in a penalty shootout at this level, but he also seems likely to be called upon to make a big save or two in the final. Freese has done been one of the clear winners of this Gold Cup and was just recently named as the starter in goal for Concacaf's official Gold Cup Team of the Semifinals.
Oliver Strand
Oliver Strand
