Viewing parties for today’s 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup group play game between the U.S. and Haiti will be held at five locations in Los Angeles County and in Tustin in Orange County.
The opening kickoff from Foxborough, Massachusetts, is set for 5:30 p.m. The game will be televised in English by cable’s Fox Sports 1 and in Spanish by UniMas and cable’s Univision Deportes.
The Los Angeles and Orange County watch parties will be held at:
— House of Wings Sportsbar, 2317 D St., La Verne
— The Man Cave Ultimate Sports Bar and Lounge, 3575 Cahuenga Blvd., Universal City;
— Q’s Billiard Club, 11835 Wilshire Blvd., Brentwood;
— Shannon’s On Pine, 209 Pine Ave., Long Beach;
— Underground Pub & Grill, 1332 Hermosa Ave., Hermosa Beach; and
— The Auld Dubliner, 2497 Park Ave., Tustin.
The viewing parties are organized by various chapters of American Outlaws, a nationwide support group for the U.S. men’s and women’s national soccer teams.
The U.S. began the biennial championship of the North American, Central American and Caribbean region by defeating Honduras, 2-1, Tuesday in Frisco, Texas. Haiti tied Panama, 1-1, in its tournament opener.
The 23-player U.S. team includes 16 players from the team that reached the round of 16 in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
The team has three players with ties to Southern California — Los Angeles Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez, Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando, a former UCLA and Montclair High School standout, both members of the 2014 U.S. World Cup team, and Gyasi Zardes, a Los Angeles Galaxy forward who was a standout at Leuzinger High School in Lawndale.
The U.S. team consists of 11 players who play in Major League Soccer, four in Germany, three each in England and Mexico and one each in France and the Netherlands.
The 23-player Haitian team consists of seven players who play for club teams in the U.S. — one in MLS, three in the second-tier North American Soccer League, two in the third-tier United Soccer League and one in the fourth-tier National Premier Soccer League — three in France, two each in Cyprus and Poland, and one each in Argentina, Belgium, Greece, Haiti, India, Malaysia, Romania, Russia and Switzerland.
Haiti leads the series, 6-5-5, with all its wins coming from 1968-73. The U.S. is 2-0-5 in the seven games since then.
The U.S. is 27th in the rankings compiled by FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, and Haiti 76th.
The U.S. is scheduled to complete group play Monday against Panama. The top two teams in each of the three four-team groups qualify for the quarterfinals, along with the two best third-place teams.
