The 2013 Gold Cup is set to kickoff on July 7 in Pasadena, California at the Rose Bowl. Group A matches between Canada and Martinique followed up by Panama and Mexico headline the opening day in the regional tournament.

Seeing Panama on the list usually means that FC Dallas forward Blas Perez will be involved somehow but according to reports and a confirmation by the club, Perez will be skipping the Mexico match while he is with the club in LA to face the LA Galaxy on Sunday.

Other Panama news, as @DavidSakata reminds me, Blas Perez won't play in opener v. Mexico. He'll join up after FC Dallas plays the LA Galaxy. — Jon Arnold (@ArnoldcommaJon) July 1, 2013

The club versus country debate is always a good one and given how Panama just needs to place third in the group to reach the knockout round in this tournament, seeing him miss the Mexico game probably isn't that big of a deal.

But this is big for FC Dallas on Sunday. The club will be dealing with two games this week, a home match on July 4th against Chivas USA followed up by the west coast trip to Hollywood to face the Galaxy on Sunday evening. So with four games in the month of July on tap for FC Dallas, it now looks like Perez may only miss two of them.

Perez and Panama will play Martinique on July 11 in Seattle and finish up group play with a match in Denver on July 14 against Canada. Should Panama advance out of their group, the quarterfinals will begin on July 20 or 21.