2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)
Tournament details
Dates 22 March 2015 – 10 October 2017
Teams 35 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played 58
Goals scored 163 (2.81 per match)
Attendance 136,703 (2,357 per match)
Top scorer(s) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Tevin Slater
(5 goals)

The North, Central American and Caribbean section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification acts as qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Russia, for national teams which are members of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF). A total of 3.5 slots (3 direct slots and 1 inter-confederation play-off slot) in the final tournament are available for CONCACAF teams.[1]

In a change to previous qualification tournaments for this confederation,[2] the first three rounds will be played as knockout rounds, with both the fourth round and the final round (referred to as 'The Hexagonal') played as group stages. The first round was played during the FIFA international dates of 23–31 March 2015.[3] CONCACAF announced the full format details on 12 January 2015.[4][5]

Format

The qualification structure is as follows:[4][6]

Entrants

All 35 FIFA-affiliated national teams from CONCACAF entered qualification.[7] The seeding – used to draw the first four rounds of the qualifiers – was based on the FIFA World Rankings of August 2014 (shown in parentheses).[4]

From the August 2014 FIFA World Rankings[8]
Bye to fourth round
(Ranked 1st to 6th)		 Bye to third round
(Ranked 7th to 8th)		 Bye to second round
(Ranked 9th to 21st)		 Competing in first round
(Ranked 22nd to 35th)
  1.  Costa Rica (15)
  2.  Mexico (17)
  3.  United States (18)
  4.  Honduras (43)
  5.  Panama (63)
  6.  Trinidad and Tobago (80)
  1.  Jamaica (85)
  2.  Haiti (117)
  1.  Canada (122)
  2.  Cuba (124)
  3.  Aruba (124)
  4.  Dominican Republic (126)
  5.  El Salvador (127)
  6.  Suriname (131)
  7.  Guatemala (134)
  8.  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (134)
  9.  Saint Lucia (138)
  10.  Grenada (142)
  11.  Antigua and Barbuda (149)
  12.  Guyana (153)
  13.  Puerto Rico (155)
  1.  Saint Kitts and Nevis (159)
  2.  Belize (162)
  3.  Montserrat (165)
  4.  Dominica (168)
  5.  Barbados (169)
  6.  Bermuda (173)
  7.  Nicaragua (175)
  8.  Turks and Caicos Islands (181)
  9.  Curaçao (182)
  10.  U.S. Virgin Islands (191)
  11.  Bahamas (193)
  12.  Cayman Islands (197)
  13.  British Virgin Islands (201)
  14.  Anguilla (207)

Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows.[4]

Round Matchday Date
First round First leg 22–31 March 2015
Second leg
Second round First leg 8–16 June 2015
Second leg
Third round First leg 31 August – 8 September 2015
Second leg
Fourth round Matchday 1 9–17 November 2015
Matchday 2
Matchday 3 21–29 March 2016
Matchday 4
Matchday 5 29 August – 6 September 2016
Matchday 6
Round Matchday Date
Fifth round Matchday 1 7–15 November 2016
Matchday 2
Matchday 3 20–28 March 2017
Matchday 4
Matchday 5 5–13 June 2017
Matchday 6
Matchday 7 28 August – 5 September 2017
Matchday 8
Matchday 9 2–10 October 2017
Matchday 10

The inter-confederation play-offs are scheduled to be played between 6–14 November 2017.[9]

First round

The draw for the first round was held on 15 January 2015, 19:40 EST (UTC−5), at the W Hotel at Miami Beach, Florida, United States.[10]

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Bahamas  0–8  Bermuda 0–5 0–3
British Virgin Islands  2–3  Dominica 2–3 0–0
Barbados  4–1  U.S. Virgin Islands 0–1 4–0
Saint Kitts and Nevis  12–4[note 1]  Turks and Caicos Islands 6–2 6–2
Nicaragua  8–0  Anguilla 5–0 3–0
Belize  1–1 (a)  Cayman Islands 0–0 1–1
Curaçao  4–3  Montserrat 2–1 2–2

Second round

The draw for the second round was held on 15 January 2015, 19:40 EST (UTC−5), at the W Hotel at Miami Beach, Florida, United States.[10]

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  6–6 (a)  Guyana 2–2 4–4
Antigua and Barbuda  5–4  Saint Lucia 1–3 4–1
Puerto Rico  1–2  Grenada 1–0 0–2
Dominica  0–6[note 1]  Canada 0–2 0–4
Dominican Republic  1–5  Belize 1–2 0–3
Guatemala  1–0  Bermuda 0–0 1–0
Aruba  3–2  Barbados 0–2 3–0[note 2]
Saint Kitts and Nevis  3–6  El Salvador 2–2 1–4
Curaçao  1–1 (a)  Cuba 0–0 1–1
Nicaragua  4–1  Suriname 1–0 3–1

Third round

The draw for the third round was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Curaçao  0–2  El Salvador 0–1 0–1
Canada  4–1  Belize 3–0 1–1
Grenada  1–6  Haiti 1–3 0–3
Jamaica  4–3  Nicaragua 2–3 2–0
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  3–2  Aruba 2–0 1–2
Antigua and Barbuda  1–2  Guatemala 1–0 0–2

Fourth round

The draw for the fourth round was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Groups

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Mexico 2 2 0 0 5 0 +5 6 Advance to fifth round — 29 Mar 3–0 6 Sep
2  Canada 2 1 1 0 1 0 +1 4 25 Mar — 6 Sep 1–0
3  El Salvador 2 0 1 1 0 3 −3 1 2 Sep 0–0 — 25 Mar
4  Honduras 2 0 0 2 0 3 −3 0 0–2 2 Sep 29 Mar —
Updated to match(es) played on 17 November 2015. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Costa Rica 2 2 0 0 3 1 +2 6 Advance to fifth round — 6 Sep 29 Mar 1–0
2  Panama 2 1 0 1 3 2 +1 3 1–2 — 2 Sep 29 Mar
3  Jamaica 2 1 0 1 1 2 −1 3 25 Mar 0–2 — 6 Sep
4  Haiti 2 0 0 2 0 2 −2 0 2 Sep 25 Mar 0–1 —
Updated to match(es) played on 17 November 2015. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Group C

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  United States 2 1 1 0 6 1 +5 4 Advance to fifth round — 6 Sep 29 Mar 6–1
2  Trinidad and Tobago 2 1 1 0 2 1 +1 4 0–0 — 2 Sep 29 Mar
3  Guatemala 2 1 0 1 5 2 +3 3 25 Mar 1–2 — 6 Sep
4  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 2 0 0 2 1 10 −9 0 2 Sep 25 Mar 0–4 —
Updated to match(es) played on 17 November 2015. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Fifth round

As with every World Cup qualification campaign since 1998, CONCACAF will hold a six-team, home-and-away round-robin group known as the 'Hexagonal', or 'Hex', as its final and decisive round. As a result of the abolition of the February and August fixtures from the FIFA calendar, the 'Hex' will for the first time not be contained within a single calendar year, but instead will begin in November 2016 and conclude in October 2017.[4][5]

The draw for the fifth round (to decide the fixtures) will be held after the fourth round is completed.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6
1 Team 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup — TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD
1 Team 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TBD — TBD TBD TBD TBD
1 Team 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TBD TBD — TBD TBD TBD
1 Team 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to inter-confederation play-offs TBD TBD TBD — TBD TBD
1 Team 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TBD TBD TBD TBD — TBD
1 Team 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD —
First match(es) will be played on TBD. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Inter-confederation play-offs

The draw for the inter-confederation play-offs was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg.[13] The fourth-placed team from CONCACAF was drawn against the fifth-placed team from AFC, with the CONCACAF team hosting the first leg.[14]

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
CONCACAF 4th place Play-off 1 AFC 5th place 6 Nov '17 14 Nov '17

Goalscorers

As of all matches played on 17 November 2015

Note: Players in bold are still active in the competition.

5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 own goal

Notes

  1. 1 2 Order of legs reversed from originally published draw.
  2. ↑ FIFA awarded Aruba a 3–0 win as a result of Barbados fielding the ineligible player Hadan Holligan. Holligan failed to serve an automatic one match suspension for receiving two yellow cards earlier in the competition.[11] The match originally ended 1–0 to Barbados.

References

  1. ↑ "Current allocation of FIFA World Cup™ confederation slots maintained". FIFA.com. 30 May 2015.
  2. ↑ "Concacaf estrenará formato de eliminatoria; sigue el Hexagonal" [New format for Concacaf qualification - Hexagonal retained] (in Spanish). ESPN Mexico. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  3. ↑ "Canada begins 2018 World Cup qualification in June". Sportsnet. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "CONCACAF to Hold Preliminary FIFA World Cup Qualifying Draw in Miami on January 15". CONCACAF. 12 January 2015.
  5. 1 2 "USMNT to start 2018 World Cup qualifying in November of 2014". Sports Illustrated. 12 January 2015.
  6. ↑ "Draw Procedures – North, Central American and Caribbean Zone" (PDF). FIFA.com.
  7. ↑ "Road to Russia with new milestone". FIFA.com. 15 January 2015.
  8. ↑ "FIFA Men's Ranking – August 2014 (CONCACAF)". FIFA.com. 14 August 2014.
  9. ↑ "FIFA Calendar". FIFA.com.
  10. 1 2 "Official Draw: CONCACAF Qualifiers for FIFA World Cup Russia 2018". CONCACAF.com. 15 January 2015.
  11. ↑ "Barbados sanctioned for fielding ineligible player". FIFA. 29 June 2015.
  12. 1 2 "Regulations – 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia" (PDF). FIFA.com.
  13. ↑ "Preliminary Draw procedures outlined". fifa.com. 9 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  14. ↑ "The Preliminary Draw results in full". FIFA.com. 25 July 2015.
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