2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)
The CONCACAF qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup will see teams competing for places at the finals in Brazil.
As in recent tournaments, CONCACAF will have three direct qualifiers for the finals tournament in addition to a further possible place via the inter-confederation play-offs against the OFC's first-placed team. This opponent was chosen through a random draw on 30 July 2011, rather than being decided by FIFA beforehand as in previous tournaments (e.g., 2010 against a team from CONMEBOL, 2006 against a team from AFC).
Format
In March 2011, following news that CONCACAF would not receive four spots in the 2014 World Cup, officials within CONCACAF indicated that the first format proposed (below) would be revised.[1] Several days later, officials within CONCACAF announced the qualifying format they would present to FIFA. The proposed format, which was subsequently accepted by FIFA, consists of 4 stages.[2]
- Round One. Teams ranked 26–35 will play-off to reduce the number of entrants to 30.
- Round Two. 6 groups of 4 teams. This round includes the 5 qualifiers from the preliminary round plus teams ranked 7–25. The top team in each group advances to the next stage.
- Round Three (Semifinal round). 3 groups of 4. Teams ranked 1–6 face off against the 6 group winners from the previous round. The top two in each group advance.
- Round Four (Hexagonal). The top two teams in each group from the semifinal round compete in one group of 6. The top three teams advance to the World Cup finals, while the 4th place team advances to an intercontinental play-off.
Entrants
All 35 FIFA-affiliated national teams from CONCACAF entered qualification. The seeding – used to draw the first three rounds of the qualifiers – were based on the FIFA World Rankings of March 2011.[3] (Rankings shown in brackets)[4]
| Bye to third round (Ranked 1st to 6th) |
Bye to second round (Ranked 7th to 25th) |
Competing in first round (Ranked 26th to 35th) |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
First round
The first round of the CONCACAF qualifiers saw the bottom 10 teams being paired up into five home-and-away series, with the highest ranked team facing the lowest ranked team and so on. The winners of these series proceeded to the second round.
Matches
The matchups were announced by FIFA on 26 April 2011.[5] Early indications were that the matches would be played on 3 and 7 June 2011; however subsequent releases have given the dates for the first round as 15 June to 17 July.[6]
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Montserrat 
|
3–8 |  Belize
|
2–5 | 1–3 |
Anguilla 
|
0–6 |  Dominican Republic
|
0–2 | 0–4 |
U.S. Virgin Islands 
|
4–1 |  British Virgin Islands
|
2–0 | 2–1 |
Aruba 
|
6–6 (4–5p) |  Saint Lucia
|
4–2 | 2–4 (aet) |
Turks and Caicos Islands 
|
0–101 |  Bahamas
|
0–4 | 0–6 |
- Note 1: Order of legs reversed from originally published draw.
Second round
The second round will see the teams ranked 7–25 joined by the 5 winners from the first round. These teams were drawn into six groups of four teams, at the World Cup Preliminary Draw at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 30 July 2011. The matches are foreseen to be played from 2 September to 15 November 2011.[2]
The top team from each group will advance to the third round.
Seeding
Teams were seeded into four pots – designated Pots 4 to 7 in the draw.[2] Pot 4 included teams ranked 7–12, Pot 5 teams ranked 13–18, Pot 6 teams ranked 19–24, and Pot 7 the team ranked 25 along with the 5 first round winners.
† First round winners
Groups
Group A
Template:2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF Second Round Group A
Group B
Template:2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF Second Round Group B
Group C
Template:2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF Second Round Group C
Group D
Template:2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF Second Round Group D
Group E
Template:2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF Second Round Group E
Group F
Template:2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF Second Round Group F
Third round
The third round will see the top 6 seeds joined by the 6 group winners from the second round. These teams were drawn into three groups of four teams, at the World Cup Preliminary Draw at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 30 July 2011. The matches are foreseen to be played from 8 June to 16 October 2012.[2]
The top two teams from each group will advance to the fourth round.
Seeding
As the draw for the third round was held before the previous matches were held, only the six teams with byes to the round were known at the time of the draw. Teams were seeded into three pots, with Pot 1 containing the top 3 seeds, Pot 2 seeds 4 to 6, and Pot 3 the 6 group winners from the second round. Each third round group contains one team from Pot 1, one team from Pot 2 and two teams from Pot 3.[2]
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 |
|---|---|---|
|
|
† Second round winners whose identity was not known at the time of the draw
Groups
Group A
Template:2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF Third Round Group A
Group B
Template:2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF Third Round Group B
Group C
Template:2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF Third Round Group C
Fourth round
The fourth round will see the 3 group winners and 3 runners-up from the third round compete in a single group.
The top three teams will qualify directly for the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals, while the fourth-placed team will enter the intercontinental play-offs.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Intercontinental play-off
The fourth-placed team of CONCACAF will play OFC's first-placed team in a home-and-away play-off. The winner of this play-off qualifies for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Finals.
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4th Place CONCACAF | – | 1st Place OFC | – | – |
Goalscorers
As of 14 November 2011, there have been 242 goals scored over 68 games, for an average of 3.56 goals per game. Players highlighted in bold are still active in competition.
- 11 goals
- 8 goals
- 5 goals
- 4 goals
- 3 goals
|
|
- 2 goals
|
- 1 goal
- 1 own goal
|
|
|
References
- ^ CONCACAF to seek change in World Cup qualifying
- ^ a b c d e 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil – Preliminary Competition Format and Draw Procedure – North, Central and Caribbean Zone
- ^ World Cup qualifying to begin June 3
- ^ FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking - March 2011 (CONCACAF)
- ^ "Play-off-matches in CONCACAF". The-FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 26 April 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
- ^ "Montserrat-Belize to open World Cup qualifying". CONCACAF.com. CONCACAF. 13 June 2011. Retrieved 13 June 2011.
- ^ "Bahamas withdraws from World Cup qualifying". concacaf.com. CONCACAF. 19 August 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
- ^ "Bahamas withdraw from 2014 World Cup qualifiers". fifa.com. FIFA. 22 August 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2011.