Jamaica's Reggae Boyz will have to battle their way through yet another tough zone, this time at the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup, having been drawn in group A along with Canada, Costa Rica and El Salvador for the summer tournament.

The competition, which will run from July 3-26 will, gets under way in Los Angeles at The Home Depot Center, where the Jamaicans face Canada in a rematch of the country's final game in a failed bid to qualify for the 2010 World Cup Finals.

Costa Rica, who are currently second in the CONCACAF World Cup qualification final round, will then tackle El Salvador in the second game at the venue.

Jamaica narrowly missed out on a spot in the final round of the World Cup qualifiers, last October, after finishing behind Mexico on goal difference, despite a convincing 3-0 win over Canada. Honduras were the winners of zone, considered CONCACAF's Group of Death.

Honduras, who are currently third in the regional qualifying table, have been drawn in group B where they will face defending champions the United States, Haiti and Grenada. Matches in that zone will open on July 4 at the Quest field in Seattle.

Tackling Guadelope

In group C, Mexico, runners-up the last time the tournament was played, will tackle Guadelope, Nicaragua and Panama. Action in that group will kick off on Sunday, July 5, in San Francisco at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Panama will face Guadeloupe while Mexico play Nicaragua.

"We're excited at having created these groups. They are well balanced and will provide very interesting matches," CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer said in a release.

"Given the variety of teams and the cities we're going to, it offers something for everyone."

The Gold Cup, which has seen record attendances and television ratings in each of the last two competitions (2005 and 2007), will be played coast to coast at an unprecedented 13 venues this year.

The top two teams from each group advance to the quarter-finals, along with the two best third-place teams.