2018 CONCACAF U-20 Championship

2018 CONCACAF U-20 Championship

Concacaf UNDER-20 CHAMPIONSHIP USA 2018
Tournament details
Host country	United States
Dates	November 1 – 21, 2018
Teams	34 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	4 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	United States (2nd title)
Runners-up	Mexico
Tournament statistics
Matches played	87
Goals scored	397 (4.56 per match)
Top scorer(s)	José Juan Macías (10 goals)
Best player(s)	Alex Méndez
Best goalkeeper	Brady Scott
Fair play award	Mexico
← 2017 2020 →

The 2018 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship was the 6th edition of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship (27th edition if all eras included), the men's under-20 international football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It was hosted at United States between 1 – 21 November 2018.

A new format was announced, removing the regional Central American and Caribbean qualifiers and guaranteeing each entrant a minimum of four competitive games.^[1]

The competition would determine the four CONCACAF representatives at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland,^[1] The United States, Mexico, Panama and Honduras qualified. It would also determine the CONCACAF teams playing at the 2019 Pan American Games men's football tournament in Lima, Peru.^[2]

The United States were the defending champions of the competition. They successfully defended their title as hosts, winning the final 2–0 against Mexico for their 2nd CONCACAF U-20 Championship title.^[3]

Unlike previous tournament, there was no qualification for this edition, and a total of 34 teams (out of 41 CONCACAF members) directly entered the final tournament.^[1][4] Among them are all three members of the North American Football Union (NAFU), all seven members of the Central American Football Union (UNCAF), and 24 (out of 31) members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU).

Zone	Team	Appearance	Previous best performance	Previous FIFA U-20 World Cup appearances
NAFU	Canada	23rd	Champions (1986, 1996)	8
	Mexico	26th	Champions (1962, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1984, 1990, 1992, 2011, 2013, 2015)	15
	United States (title holders & hosts)	24th	Champions (2017)	15
UNCAF	Belize	2nd	First round (1994)	0
	Costa Rica	20th	Champions (1988, 2009)	9
	El Salvador	17th	Champions (1964)	1
	Guatemala	19th	Runners-up (1962, 1973)	1
	Honduras	19th	Champions (1982, 1994)	7
	Nicaragua	9th	Second round (1976)	0
	Panama	11th	Runners-up (2015)	5
CFU	Antigua and Barbuda	4th	First round (1980, 1986, 2017)	0
	Aruba	2nd	First round (2015)	0
	Barbados	6th	First round (1976, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1990)	0
	Bermuda	13th	Second round (1974, 1980)	0
	Cayman Islands	1st	Debut	0
	Cuba	13th	Runners-up (1970, 1974)	1
	Curaçao[a]	13th	Third place (1962)	0
	Dominica	1st	Debut	0
	Dominican Republic	5th	Second round (1976)	0
	Grenada	4th	First round (1978, 1980, 1990)	0
	Guadeloupe[b]	3rd	First round (1992, 2011)	0
	Guyana	3rd	Second round (1984)	0
	Haiti	9th	Second round (1978)	0
	Jamaica	20th	Third place (1970)	1
	Martinique[b]	3rd	First round (1994, 1996)	0
	Puerto Rico	8th	First round (1974, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 2013)	0
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	3rd	First round (2007, 2017)	0
	Saint Lucia	1st	Debut	0
	Saint Martin[b]	1st	Debut	0
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1st	Debut	0
	Sint Maarten[b]	1st	Debut	0
	Suriname	6th	First round (1976, 1980, 1986, 1990, 2011)	0
	Trinidad and Tobago	20th	Runners-up (1990)	2
	U.S. Virgin Islands	1st	Debut	0

Notes

Did not enter

Matches were at played at four stadiums in the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida:

• IMG Academy Stadium
• IMG Soccer Stadium
• IMG Soccer Complex Field #2
• IMG Soccer Complex Field #11

Bradenton, Florida	class=notpageimage| Location of the host city of the 2018 CONCACAF U-20 Championship.
IMG Academy
27°26′27″N 82°36′29″W / 27.4409°N 82.6081°W / 27.4409; -82.6081 (IMG Academy)
Capacity: 5,000

The draw for the final tournament was held on 13 September 2018, 10:00 EDT (UTC−4), at the CONCACAF Headquarters in Miami, Florida, United States.^[5] Based on the CONCACAF Men's Under-20 Ranking, the top six ranked teams were seeded into position one of each group, while the remaining 28 teams were distributed in five pots as follows:^[4]

Seeded teams	Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5
United States (A1)  Mexico (B1)  Honduras (C1)  Panama (D1)  Costa Rica (E1)  El Salvador (F1)	Cuba  Guatemala  Trinidad and Tobago  Haiti  Canada  Jamaica	Antigua and Barbuda  Bermuda  Saint Kitts and Nevis  Curaçao  Aruba  Suriname	Nicaragua  Dominican Republic  Puerto Rico  Guadeloupe  Saint Lucia  Guyana	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  Grenada  Cayman Islands  Barbados  Belize  Dominica	U.S. Virgin Islands  Martinique  Sint Maarten  Saint Martin

The 34 teams were drawn into six groups: four groups of six teams and two groups of five teams. The winners from each group in the group stage advance to the qualification stage, where the six teams are divided into two groups of three teams (winners of Groups A, C and E in one group, winners of Groups B, D and F in another group). The top two teams from each group in the qualification stage qualify for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, with the group winners also advancing to the final to decide the champions of the CONCACAF U-20 Championship.

Players born on or after 1 January 1999 are eligible to compete. Each team must submit a provisional 35-player roster (4 must be goalkeepers) and a final 20-player roster (2 must be goalkeepers). After the completion of the group stage, a team advancing to the qualification stage may replace up to six players with those from the provisional roster.^[6]

The winners of each group in the group stage advance to the qualification stage. If the winners of a group is a non-FIFA member, the highest-ranked FIFA member in the group advances to the qualification stage (Regulations Article 12.9).^[6]

Tiebreakers (both group stage and qualification stage)

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). The rankings of teams in each group are determined as follows (regulations Articles 12.5 and 12.8):^[6]

If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings are determined as follows:

All times are local, EDT (UTC−4) up to 3 November, EST (UTC−5) starting 4 November.^[7]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States (H)	5	5	0	0	39	2	+37	15	Qualification stage
2	Suriname	5	3	0	2	18	12	+6	9
3	Puerto Rico	5	3	0	2	16	15	+1	9
4	Trinidad and Tobago	5	3	0	2	12	11	+1	9
5	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	5	1	0	4	8	15	−7	3
6	U.S. Virgin Islands	5	0	0	5	2	40	−38	0

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Mexico	5	4	1	0	31	2	+29	13	Qualification stage
2	Jamaica	5	4	1	0	24	3	+21	13
3	Grenada	5	2	0	3	7	14	−7	6
4	Nicaragua	5	2	0	3	4	13	−9	6
5	Aruba	5	1	1	3	6	20	−14	4
6	Saint Martin[a]	5	0	1	4	3	23	−20	1

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Honduras	5	5	0	0	30	5	+25	15	Qualification stage
2	Cuba	5	4	0	1	19	5	+14	12
3	Dominican Republic	5	3	0	2	23	10	+13	9
4	Antigua and Barbuda	5	2	0	3	10	11	−1	6
5	Belize	5	1	0	4	5	19	−14	3
6	Sint Maarten[a]	5	0	0	5	4	41	−37	0

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Panama	5	5	0	0	17	3	+14	15	Qualification stage
2	Canada	5	3	0	2	10	6	+4	9
3	Guadeloupe[a]	5	3	0	2	9	8	+1	9
4	Dominica	5	2	0	3	5	14	−9	6
5	Saint Kitts and Nevis	5	1	0	4	7	10	−3	3
6	Martinique[a]	5	1	0	4	4	11	−7	3

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Costa Rica	4	4	0	0	14	0	+14	12	Qualification stage
2	Haiti	4	3	0	1	9	1	+8	9
3	Saint Lucia	4	2	0	2	3	8	−5	6
4	Barbados	4	0	1	3	1	8	−7	1
5	Bermuda	4	0	1	3	0	10	−10	1

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	El Salvador	4	3	0	1	7	5	+2	9	Qualification stage
2	Guatemala	4	2	1	1	10	5	+5	7
3	Curaçao	4	2	0	2	10	10	0	6
4	Cayman Islands	4	1	1	2	8	11	−3	4
5	Guyana	4	1	0	3	7	11	−4	3

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The top two teams of each group in the qualification stage qualify for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, with the winners of each group also advancing to the final to decide the champions of the CONCACAF U-20 Championship.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States (H)	2	2	0	0	5	0	+5	6	Final and 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup
2	Honduras	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1	2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup
3	Costa Rica	2	0	1	1	1	5	−4	1

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Mexico	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	4[a]	Final and 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup
2	Panama	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	4[a]	2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup
3	El Salvador	2	0	0	2	0	2	−2	0

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In the final, if the match is level at the end of 90 minutes, extra time is played, and if still tied after extra time, the match is decided by a penalty shoot-out (Regulations Article 12.10).^[6]

2018 CONCACAF U-20 Championship winners
United States 2nd title

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.^[8]

Award	Player
Golden Ball	Alex Méndez
Golden Boot	José Juan Macías (10 goals)
Golden Glove	Brady Scott
Fair Play Award	Mexico

Best XI^[9]

Goalkeepers	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Brady Scott	Sergiño Dest Chris Gloster Mark McKenzie Gilberto Sepúlveda	Brandon Servania Alex Méndez Diego Lainez	Ayo Akinola Ulysses Llanez José Juan Macías

There were 397 goals scored in 87 matches, for an average of 4.56 goals per match.

10 goals

8 goals

7 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

The following four teams from CONCACAF qualify for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA U-20 World Cup1
Mexico	16 November 2018[10]	15 (1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017)
Panama	16 November 2018[10]	5 (2003, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2015)
United States	16 November 2018[10]	15 (1981, 1983, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017)
Honduras	19 November 2018[11]	7 (1977, 1995, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2015, 2017)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

The tournament was used to determine the four teams from CONCACAF which would qualify for the 2019 Pan American Games men's football tournament. The top team from each of the three zones, i.e., Caribbean (CFU), Central American (UNCAF), and North American (NAFU), would qualify, with the fourth team to be determined by CONCACAF at a later date.^[2] However, United States declined to participate, so Mexico qualified for the North American berth.

Team	Zone	Qualified on	Previous appearances in Pan American Games2
Jamaica	CFU	10 November 2018	4 (1971, 1975, 1999, 2007)
Panama	UNCAF	19 November 2018	1 (2015)
Mexico	NAFU	2019 (confirmed by CONCACAF)	14 (1955, 1959, 1967, 1971, 1975, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015)
Honduras[12]	UNCAF	2019 (confirmed by CONCACAF)	4 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2007)

² Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Twelve of the Cuban players (Arturo Hector Godoy, Bruno Manuel Rendon Cardoso, Christopher Yoel Llorente Fernandez, Danny Echeverria Diaz Frank Leidam Nodarse Chavez, Geobel Perez Oquendo, Josue Vega Alvarez, Juan Manuel Andreus Milanes, Omar Perez Ramirez Omar Proenza Calderon, Rivaldo Ibarra Thompson, Rolando Aldahir Oviendo Valdez and Yandri Romero Clark.) opted to stay in United States following the team's exit from the competition.^[13]

Octavio Rodríguez, the assistant coach of the Guatemalan staff team and four players; Carlos Orellana (Guastatoya), Carlos Monterroso (Municipal), Nelso Iván García (Communications) and Luis Francisco Estrada (Siquinalá) were denied visas to participate in the tournament.^[14] A further seven players from Honduras were also denied visas.^[15]

• Under 20s – Men, CONCACAF.com