The 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup final was the 11th final of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the international championship tournament for teams of the CONCACAF, the governing body of soccer in North and Central America. The match took place on June 25, 2011, and took place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, United States. For the third consecutive final, the United States and Mexico contested the final, Mexico being the defending champions. The final was Mexico's seventh in Gold Cup history, while it was the United States' eighth final, and their fourth consecutive final.
For the second straight year, Mexico defended their Gold Cup title against the United States, defeating them 4–2 in the final, overcoming a two-goal deficit. Mexico's Pablo Barrera netted Mexico's first and third goals, while Andrés Guardado and Giovani dos Santos tallied the second and fourth goals, respectively. Michael Bradley and Landon Donovan scored the United States' two goals in the match. The loss marked only the second time in 12 years the United States lost to Mexico on home soil. As Gold Cup champions, Mexico earned a spot at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil as the CONCACAF's representative.
Route to the final
Mexico
Drawn into Group A of the Gold Cup, Mexico started their tournament campaign on June 5, 2011, against El Salvador.
Prior to their second Group Stage match against Cuba, it was revealed that five players on the Mexican squad, Antônio Naelson Sinha, Christian Bermúdez, Édgar Dueñas, Francisco Javier Rodríguez and Guillermo Ochoa, all tested positive for clenbuterol. The five players were subsequently suspended from the Gold Cup squad and sent home. Although testing positive for the substance, Mexican officials believed the drug was inadvertently taken, claiming that positive test results were caused by eating meat tainted with the drug. Later that same day, in spite of being shorthanded, Mexico still earned their second win of the tournament against Cuba, again winning by a 5–0 scoreline. Both Javier Hernández, and Giovani dos Santos netted twice for Mexico. The third goalscorer, Aldo de Nigris scored within a minute of being substituted into the game.
The following day, CONCACAF General Secretary Chuck Blazer had scheduled a meeting of the confederation's national teams committee, which also serves as the organizing committee of the Gold Cup, was to be convened to consider the doping situation, including possibly allowing Mexico to replace the five suspended players. However, the meeting was postponed to allow for more information to be gathered.
Still with no conclusion from CONCACAF, the Mexican team finished out their group play on June 12 with a 4–1 victory over Costa Rica. All four of Mexico's goals were scored within the first half of play and came from four players.
On June 14, the Mexican Football Federation said that the "B" samples of those five involving players were negative.
As Group A winners, Mexico played Group B third-place finishers, Guatemala on June 18. Narrowly edging Canada on gold differential, Guatemala earned a berth in the quarterfinals thanks to a 4–0 victory over Grenada. In the fifth minute of play, Guatemala's Carlos Ruiz opened the scoring to give Los Chapines a 1–0 lead. For Mexico, it was the first time in the entire tournament they found themselves trailing their opposition. Three minutes into the second half, de Nigris scored for Mexico, tying the match at 1–1. Twenty minutes later, Hernández netted the match winning goal, to give Mexico a berth into the semifinals.
The following day, the Gold Cup Organizing Committee announced on June 19 that Mexico will be allowed to replace the suspended players. The replacements were able to travel in time for El Tri'''s semifinal fixture against Honduras.
With the semifinal match between the United States and Panama beforehand, it was determined that the winner of the match would play the United States in the Gold Cup final. Scoreless through regulation time, Mexico and Honduras had to play through a 30-minute extra time. Within the first two minutes, Mexico would score twice, to lift them to a 2–0 lead. Again, it was de Nigris and Hernandez who would score for El Tri'', both of whom scored in the same respective fashion as they did against Guatemala. Mexico was able to hold the two-goal advantage through the remainder of the first extra time period and the entire second period, giving them a third straight berth into the final.
United States
The Gold Cup hosts were drawn into Group C, along with Panama, Canada, and Guadeloupe.