The biggest soccer tournament in North America is about to begin.

The CONCACAF Confederation is the representing soccer body of North America. This sets up great for soccer fans on the Western hemisphere because the Copa America is finishing up in Chile.

Brief History

Of the six continental tournaments, the Gold Cup is the youngest. While the Copa America dates back to 1916, the Gold Cup was first played in 1991 with the United States defeating Honduras in the finals. Mexico has won this tournament the most ever, six times. The United States has won it five times. The only year that neither Mexico and the United States did not make the finals was in 2000, when Canada beat Colombia. Mexico is 4-1 against the United States in the finals.

Groups, Teams and Rankings

This year there are 12 national teams in three separate groups.

Group A

United States (27)
Panama (54)
Honduras (75)
Haiti (76)

Group B

Costa Rica (14)
Jamaica (65)
El Salvador (89)
Canada (109)

Group C

Mexico (23)
Guatemala (93)
Trinidad and Tobago (67)
Cuba (107)

Group A is statistically the toughest group with an average team ranking of 58. It's the only group that doesn't feature a national team ranked over 100 in the world. Jürgen Klinsmann and the United States will be the favorites to win that group. Costa Rica is not only the highest-ranked team in Group B, but they are the highest-ranked team in this competition. Costa Rica has a good offense led by álvaro Saborío. And then of course there's Mexico. Mexico is the favorites to win it all once again this year with Javier Hernandez back in the starting lineup.

Venues

This year's Gold Cup will be played in the United States and Canada across 14 different cities. Those cities and arenas include:

East Rutherford, New Jersey. MetLife Stadium
Charlotte, North Carolina. Bank of America Stadium
Foxborough, Massachusetts. Gillette Stadium
Chicago, Illinois. Solder Field
Baltimore, Maryland. M&T Bank Stadium
Toronto, Canada. BMO Field
Kansas City, Missouri. Sporting Park
Chester, Pennsylvania. PPL Park
Frisco, Texas. Toyota Park
Houston, Texas. BBVA Compass Stadium
Glendale, Arizona. University of Phoenix Stadium
Carson, California. Stubhub Center
Atlanta, Georgia. Georgia Dome
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lincoln Financial Field

Schedule

The Gold Cup begins on Tuesday, July 7 with Haiti facing Panama and the United States playing Honduras, both in Group A. Group B games begin the very next day, and Mexico's first game will be against Cuba on July 9. All games will be shown on the Fox Sports Network.

Follow Damon Salvadore on Twitter