Venue(s) 4 (in 4 host cities) Start date 2015 Teams 8 | Dates 1–13 October 2015 Matches played 16 Goals scored 46 | |
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Similar 2012 CONCACAF Men's Oly, 2015 FIBA Americas Championship, 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup, 2015 Africa U‑23 Cup of Nations, 2018 FIFA World Cup qualificati | ||
2015 concacaf men s olympic qualifying championship groups schedule
The 2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship was the 14th edition of the CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the quadrennial international age-restricted football tournament organised by CONCACAF to determine which men's under-23 national teams from the North, Central American and Caribbean region qualify for the Olympic football tournament. CONCACAF announced on 12 February 2015 that the United States would host the tournament between 1–13 October 2015. A total of eight teams played in the tournament.
Contents
- 2015 concacaf men s olympic qualifying championship groups schedule
- Qualification
- Qualified teams
- Venues
- Draw
- Squads
- Group stage
- Knockout stage
- Semi finals
- Third place playoff
- Final ranking
- Qualified teams for Olympics
- Goalscorers
- Awards
- Broadcasters
- Cuban defections
- References
The top two teams of the tournament qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics men's football tournament in Brazil as the CONCACAF representatives. The third-placed team advanced to the CONCACAF–CONMEBOL play-off where they played against the 2015 South American Youth Football Championship runner-up for the final berth in the Olympics.
Mexico won the tournament with a 2–0 final win over Honduras. This sealed Olympic qualification both finalists, with Mexico aiming to defend their gold medal in 2012, and Honduras qualifying for their third straight 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.
Qualification
The eight berths were allocated to the three regional zones as follows:
Regional qualification tournaments were held to determine the five teams joining Canada, Mexico, and the United States at the final tournament.
Qualified teams
The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament.
Venues
The four venues were announced by CONCACAF on 15 May 2015.
Draw
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. The draw was conducted by Eddie Lewis and Brad Friedel.
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.
The draw took place before the final UNCAF qualifier (Costa Rica) had been confirmed.
Squads
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).
Group stage
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:
- Goal difference in all group matches;
- Greatest number of goals scored in all group matches;
- Greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
- Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
- Greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned;
- 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.
Knockout stage
In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out would be used to decide the winner if necessary.
Semi-finals
Winners qualified for 2016 Summer Olympics.
Third place playoff
Winner advanced to CONCACAF–CONMEBOL play-off.
Final ranking
As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.
Qualified teams for Olympics
The following two teams from CONCACAF qualified for the Olympic football tournament.
Goalscorers
Awards
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.
Broadcasters
Cuban defections
Four Cuban players are confirmed to have defected to the United States during the tournament, they are; Emmanuel Labrada (CF Granma), Frank López García (FC Cienfuegos), Dairon Pérez (FC La Habana), and Yendry Torres (FC Cienfuegos).