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As the lowest-ranked member of the North American Football Union, Canada didn't enter the CONCACAF Gold Cup automatically and had to play the qualification, held in 1999 in the United States. The Canadians qualified by leading the group ahead of Haiti, the other qualified nation, Cuba and El Salvador, both failed to qualify.
Colombia, a member of CONMEBOL was invited to the tournament by CONCACAF. Peru was also invited to the 2000 edition, making them the second South American countries to play the Gold Cup after Brazil, which participated in 1996 and in 1998. By reaching the final match, Colombia repeated the same record as Brazil in 1998.
Both, Colombia and Canada had been runner-ups in their groups during the first round, respectively Groups A and D. However, Canada and South Korea, another invited participant, tied in every criteria in Group D and the qualification had to be decided in the coin toss, favoring Canada.[2]
By the time of the competition, Canada hadn't win a major title since 1985 while Colombia was yet to win a big honor in its history.