MIAMI, Jul 9 (SW) - After it battered the island of Cuba on Friday, CONCACAF officials decided to postpone Saturday's and Monday's Group A matches at the Orange Bowl in Miami as Hurricane Dennis approaches the southern United States.

After killing 15 people in Cuba and Haiti with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (241 kph) and torrential rainfall and storm surge, the storm has weakened a bit with winds currently at 110 mph (177 kph), the strongest winds possible for a Category 2 hurricane.

Residents in the keys of Florida and in other places along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico have already been ordered to evacuate and several states have declared a state of emergency in preparation for the storm.

A doubleheader of matches between Panama and Trinidad & Tobago as well as Honduras and Colombia will now be played on Sunday while Colombia-Trinidad and Honduras-Panama will be played Tuesday, each a day later than scheduled.

CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer issued the following statement, "We are sorry for the fans, both at the Orange Bowl and in front of their TV sets, who were anticipating the Gold Cup games on their scheduled days but we understand full well why the decision was made. It is better to be safe than sorry."