2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship

2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship

CONCACAF MEN'S OLYMPIC QUALIFYING 2015
Tournament details
Host country	United States
Dates	1 – 13 October
Teams	8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Mexico (7th title)
Runners-up	Honduras
Third place	United States
Fourth place	Canada
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	46 (2.88 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Alberth Elis Jerome Kiesewetter (4 goals each)
Best player(s)	Hirving Lozano
Best goalkeeper	Gibran Lajud
Fair play award	Mexico
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The 2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship was the fourteenth edition of the CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted football tournament organized by CONCACAF to determine which men's under-23 national teams from the North, Central America and Caribbean region qualify for the Olympic football tournament. It was held in the United States, from 1 and 13 October 2015^[1]

Mexico successfully defended their title after a 2–0 win over Honduras in the final. It was their seventh Pre-Olympic title and second in a row, after previous wins in 1964, 1972, 1976, 1996, 2004 and 2012.^[2] As the top two teams, Mexico and Honduras both qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil as the CONCACAF representatives, just as the same sides had in the previous Olympics. Third-placed United States later lost to Colombia in the CONCACAF–CONMEBOL play-off and failed to qualify for the Olympics for the second consecutive time.^[3]

The eight berths were allocated to the three regional zones as follows:^[4]

• Three teams from the North American Zone (NAFU), i.e., Canada, Mexico and the hosts United States, who all qualified automatically due to them being the only teams in the region
• Three teams from the Central American Zone (UNCAF)
• Two teams from the Caribbean Zone (CFU)

Regional qualification tournaments were held to determine the five teams joining Canada, Mexico, and the United States at the final tournament.

The following teams qualified for the final tournament.

Zone	Country	Method of qualification	Appearance	Last appearance	Previous best performance	Previous Olympic appearances (last)
North America	United States (hosts)	Automatic	10th	2012	Winners (1988, 1992)	14 (2008)
	Canada	Automatic	8th	2012	Runners-up (1984, 1996)	3 (1984)
	Mexico (title holders)	Automatic	11th	2012	Winners (1964, 1972, 1976, 1996, 2004, 2012)	10 (2012)
Central America	Panama	Group A winners	6th	2012	Fourth place (1964)	0
	Honduras	Group B winners	6th	2012	Winners (2000, 2008)	3 (2012)
	Costa Rica	Play-offs winners	6th	2004	Winners (1980, 1984)	3 (2004)
Caribbean	Haiti	Final round winners	2nd	2008	Group stage (2008)	0
	Cuba	Final round runners-up	5th	2012	Third place (1976, 1984)	2 (1980)

Four cities served as the venues for tournament.

Kansas City, Kansas	Carson, California (Los Angeles Area)	Commerce City, Colorado (Denver Area)	Sandy, Utah (Salt Lake City Area)
Sporting Park	StubHub Center	Dick's Sporting Goods Park	Rio Tinto Stadium
Capacity: 27,000	Capacity: 21,000	Capacity: 18,061	Capacity: 20,213
Carson Commerce City Kansas City Sandy class=notpageimage| Location of the host cities of the 2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship.

The draw for the tournament took place on 18 August 2015 at 09:00 PDT (UTC−7) at the Torrance Marriot Redondo Beach hotel in Torrance, California, United States.^[5] The draw was conducted by Eddie Lewis and Brad Friedel.^[6]

The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. Tournament host United States were seeded in Group A, while defending CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Mexico were seeded in Group B.^[7][8]

The draw took place before the UNCAF final qualifier (Costa Rica) had been confirmed.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
United States (Group A)  Mexico (Group B)	Honduras  Panama	Cuba  Haiti	Canada  Costa Rica

Players born on or after 1 January 1993 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team could register a maximum of 20 players (two of whom must be goalkeepers).^[9]

The top two teams of each group advanced to the semi-finals. The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order:^[9]

1. Goal difference in all group matches;
2. Greatest number of goals scored in all group matches;
3. Greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
4. Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
5. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned;
6. Drawing of lots.

The final round of fixtures in the group stage and the knockout stage fell within the FIFA International Match Calendar period of 5–13 October 2015. As a result, teams were able to call on their first choice under-23 players worldwide.

All times were local.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States (H)	3	3	0	0	13	2	+11	9	Knockout stage
2	Canada	3	1	1	1	6	6	0	4
3	Cuba	3	0	2	1	4	9	−5	2
4	Panama	3	0	1	2	2	8	−6	1

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Mexico	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6	9	Knockout stage
2	Honduras	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	6
3	Haiti	3	0	1	2	1	3	−2	1
4	Costa Rica	3	0	1	2	1	7	−6	1

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In the knockout stage, extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.^[9]

	Semi-finals				Final
	10 October – Sandy, UT
	United States	0
					13 October – Sandy, UT
	Honduras	2
					Honduras	0
	10 October – Sandy, UT
					Mexico	2
	Mexico	2
	Canada	0
					Third place play-off
					13 October – Sandy, UT
					United States	2
					Canada	0

The semi-final winners qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

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The winners advanced to the CONCACAF–CONMEBOL play-off.

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.^[10]

Golden Ball	Golden Boot	Golden Glove	Fair Play Award
Hirving Lozano	Jerome Kiesewetter (4 goals, 2 assists)	Gibrán Lajud	Mexico

Best XI

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Gibrán Lajud	Érick Aguirre Jhonatan Paz Jordan Silva Rodolfo Pizarro	Alberth Elis Víctor Guzmán Óscar Salas Hirving Lozano	Erick Torres Jerome Kiesewetter

As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time were counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by a penalty shoot-out were counted as draws.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final result
	Mexico	5	5	0	0	11	1	+10	15	Winners
	Honduras	5	3	0	2	6	4	+2	9	Runner-ups
	United States (H)	5	4	0	1	15	4	+11	12	Third place
4	Canada	5	1	1	3	6	10	−4	4	Fourth place
5	Cuba	3	0	2	1	4	9	−5	2	Eliminated in group stage
6	Haiti	3	0	1	2	1	3	−2	1
7	Panama	3	0	1	2	2	8	−6	1
8	Costa Rica	3	0	1	2	1	7	−6	1

The following two teams from CONCACAF qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics Men's football tournament.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament1
Honduras	10 October 2015	3 (2000, 2008, 2012)
Mexico	10 October 2015	10 (1928, 1948, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1992, 1996, 2004, 2012)

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

Country	Broadcaster		Ref.
	Free	Pay
United States (Host)	Telemundo	Universo	[11]

Four Cuban players were confirmed to have defected to the United States during the tournament: they were Emmanuel Labrada (CF Granma), Frank López García (FC Cienfuegos), Dairon Pérez (FC La Habana), and Yendry Torres (FC Cienfuegos).^[12]

• Olympic Qualifying – Men, CONCACAF.com