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
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
tournament organized by
CONCACAF. It was hosted at
Bradenton,
Florida,
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.
The competition would determine the four CONCACAF representatives at the
2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup
The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 ...
in
Poland,
The
United States,
Mexico,
Panama and
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
qualified. It would also determine the CONCACAF teams playing at the
2019 Pan American Games men's football tournament in
Lima, Peru.
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.
Teams
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.
Among them are all three members of the
North American Football Union (NAFU), all seven members of the
Central American Football Union
The Unión Centroamericana de Fútbol (Central American Football Union), more commonly known by the acronym UNCAF, represents the national football teams of Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Pa ...
(UNCAF), and 24 (out of 31) members of the
Caribbean Football Union
The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) is the representative organization for football associations in the Caribbean. It represents 25 FIFA member nations, as well as 6 territories that are not affiliated to FIFA. The Union was established in Januar ...
(CFU).
;Notes
;Did not enter
*
*
*
*
*
* (withdrew)
*
Venues
Matches were at played at four stadiums in the IMG Academy:
*IMG Academy Stadium
*IMG Soccer Stadium
*IMG Soccer Complex Field #2
*IMG Soccer Complex Field #11
Draw
The draw for the final tournament was held on 13 September 2018, 10:00
EDT (
UTC−4), at the CONCACAF Headquarters in
Miami. 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:
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
The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 ...
, with the group winners also advancing to the final to decide the champions of the CONCACAF U-20 Championship.
Squads
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.
Group stage
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).
;Tiebreakers (both group stage and qualification stage)
Teams are ranked according to
points
Point or points may refer to:
Places
* Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland
* Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States
* Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland
* Point ...
(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):
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.
Group A
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Group B
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Group C
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Group D
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Group E
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Group F
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Qualification stage
The top two teams of each group in the qualification stage qualify for the
2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup
The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 ...
, with the winners of each group also advancing to the final to decide the champions of the CONCACAF U-20 Championship.
Group G
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Group H
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Final
In the final, if the match is level at the end of 90 minutes,
extra time
Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...
is played, and if still tied after extra time, the match is decided by a
penalty shoot-out (Regulations Article 12.10).
Awards
Winners
Individual awards
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.
Goalscorers
Qualification for international tournaments
Qualified teams for FIFA U-20 World Cup
The following four teams from CONCACAF qualify for the
2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup
The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 ...
.
:
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. ''Italic'' indicates hosts for that year.
Qualified teams for Pan American Games
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.
However,
United States declined to participate, so Mexico qualified for the North American berth.
:
2 Bold indicates champions for that year. ''Italic'' indicates hosts for that year.
Controversy
Cuban defectors
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.
Visa issues
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. A further seven players from Honduras were also denied visas.
Notes
References
External links
Under 20s – Men CONCACAF.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Concacaf U-20 Championship 2018
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
U-20 Championship
2018 Concacaf U-20 Championship
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 Bradenton, Florida, ...
2018 in youth association football
November 2018 sports events in the United States
Qualification tournaments for the 2019 Pan American Games
CONCACAF U-20 Championship
The CONCACAF Under-20 Championship is the second longest running international association football event in the North America, Central America and the Caribbean region, CONCACAF, and is the qualification tournament for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. ...
2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup qualification