2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)

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 would be revised. 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.

1. Round One. Teams ranked 26–35 will play-off to reduce the number of entrants to 30.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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 – was based on the FIFA World Rankings of March 2011. (World rankings shown in parentheses)

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.

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The inter-confederation play-off between the fourth-placed team from CONCACAF (Mexico) and the winning team from OFC (New Zealand) was played between 13 and 20 November 2013.

First round

Main article: 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF 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.

The matchups were announced by FIFA on 26 April 2011. Early indications were that the matches would be played on 3 and 7 June 2011; However, the matches were postponed to scattered days in June and July, between 15 June and 17 July. The 5 winners (in bold, below) advanced to the second round of the CONCACAF qualifiers: Belize, Dominican Republic, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Lucia, and the Bahamas.

The two wins for the U.S. Virgin Islands were their first two ever in World Cup play, with their only other win prior to this coming in 1998.

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• Note 1: Order of legs reversed from originally published draw.

Second round

Main article: 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF second round

In the second round, the teams ranked 7–25 were 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 were played from 2 September to 15 November 2011.

The top team from each group advanced to the third round.

Seeding

Teams were seeded into four pots – designated Pots 4 to 7 in the draw. 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

Group B

Group C

• withdrew from the tournament on 19 August 2011 and were not replaced.

Group D

Group E

Group F

Third round

Main article: 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF third round

The third round saw 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. These matches were played from 8 June to 16 October 2012.

The top two teams from each group advanced 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.

† Second round winners whose identity was not known at the time of the draw

Groups

Group A

Group B

Group C

Fourth round

Main article: 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF fourth round

In the fourth round, the three group winners and three runners-up from the third round competed in a double round robin, including a home and away match against the other five teams between 6 February and 15 October 2013. The round is informally referred to as the 'Hexagonal' or just 'The Hex'. The draw for 'The Hex' was conducted by FIFA on 7 November 2012.

The top three teams qualified directly for the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals, while the fourth-placed team, Mexico, played a home-away series against New Zealand, the winner of Oceania qualifying. Teams are ranked first by total points in all games, then, if tied, by best goal differential in all games, then by total goals in all games. If still tied, the same criteria are applied to games among the tied teams.

Inter-confederation play-offs

Main article: 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF–OFC play-off)

The winner of the OFC qualification tournament, New Zealand, played against CONCACAF's fourth-placed team, Mexico, in a home-and-away play-off. Mexico, the winner of this play-off, qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

The first leg was played on 13 November 2013 in Mexico City, and the second leg was played on 20 November 2013 in Wellington.

Qualified teams

The following four teams from CONCACAF qualified for the final tournament.

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

Top goalscorers

• Deon McCaulay

• Peter Byers

• Oribe Peralta

• Blas Pérez

• Jerry Bengtson

• Álvaro Saborío

• Clint Dempsey

• Carlo Costly

• Luis Tejada

• Tamarley Thomas

• Rocky Siberie

• Carlos Ruiz

• Osael Romero

• Lesly St. Fleur

• Erick Ozuna

• Jean-Eudes Maurice

• Javier Hernández Below are full goalscorer lists for each round:

• First round

• Second round

• Third round

• Fourth round

References

References

1. [http://www.concacaf.com/page/ConfederationDetail/0,,12813~2046674,00.html CONCACAF to seek change in World Cup qualifying] {{webarchive. link. (18 September 2012)
2. "2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil – Preliminary Competition Format and Draw Procedure – North, Central and Caribbean Zone". FIFA.com.
3. (27 August 2009). "World Cup qualifying to begin June 3". Concacaf.com.
4. "FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking - March 2011 (CONCACAF)". Fifa.com.
5. "FIFA Calendar". FIFA.com.
6. (26 April 2011). "Play-off-matches in CONCACAF". Fédération Internationale de Football Association.
7. (13 June 2011). "Montserrat-Belize to open World Cup qualifying". CONCACAF.
8. (8 June 2011). "Concacaf Fixtures". FIFA.
9. (19 August 2011). "Bahamas withdraws from World Cup qualifying". CONCACAF.
10. (22 August 2011). "Bahamas withdraw from 2014 World Cup qualifiers". FIFA.
11. (11 October 2012). "Whitecaps FC players set for important World Cup qualifying matches". WhiteCapsFC.com.
12. (19 October 2012). "World Cup qualifying - draw set for CONCACAF 'hex' round - ESPN FC". [[ESPN]].
13. "International Match Calendar 2013–2018". FIFA.com.