2008 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying

The 2008 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualification was the twelfth edition of the CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted football tournament organized by CONCACAF to determine which men's under-23 national teams from the North, Central America and Caribbean region qualify for the Olympic football tournament. It was held in the United States, from 11 and 23 March 2008.[1]

2008 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying
Tournament details
Host countryUnited States
Dates11–23 March
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)3 (in 3 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Honduras (2nd title)
Runners-up United States
Third place Canada
Fourth place Guatemala
Tournament statistics
Matches played16
Goals scored36 (2.25 per match)
Top scorer(s)United States Freddy Adu

Honduras won the title after with a 1–0 win over the United States in the final. As the top two teams, Honduras and the United States both qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in China as the CONCACAF representatives.[2]

Qualification
Further information: 2008 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying qualification

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the final tournament.

Zone Country Method of qualification Appearance1 Last appearance Previous best performance Previous Olympic appearances
(last)
North America  Mexico
(title holders)		 Automatic 9th 2004 Winners (1964, 1972, 1976, 1996, 2004) 9 (2004)
 Canada Automatic 6th 2004 Runners-up (1984, 1996) 3 (1984)
 United States (hosts) Automatic 8th 2004 Winners (1988, 1992) 13 (2000)
Central America  Honduras Triangular 1 winners 4th 2004 Winners (2000) 1 (2000)
 Guatemala Triangular 2 winners 6th 2000 Final round winner without outright champions (1968) 3 (1988)
 Panama Play-off winners 4th 2004 Fourth place (1964) 0
Caribbean  Cuba Second round winners 3rd 1984 Third place (1976, 1984) 2 (1980)
 Haiti Second round winners 1st 0 (debut) Debutant 0
1 Only final tournament.

Venues

Three cities served as the venues for the tournament.

Carson Nashville Tampa
Home Depot Center LP Field Raymond James Stadium
Capacity: 27,000 Capacity: 69,143 Capacity: 65,856

Squads
Main article: 2008 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying squads

Group stage

Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  United States (H) 3 2 1 0 3 1 +2 7 Advance to knockout stage
2  Honduras 3 2 0 1 3 1 +2 6
3  Panama 3 1 0 2 4 3 +1 3
4  Cuba 3 0 1 2 2 7 −5 1
Source: CONCACAF
(H) Hosts
Panama 0–1 Honduras
(Report) Thomas 90'
Attendance: 1,000
United States 1–1 Cuba
Adu 13' (Report) Linares 42', Yellow card 42' Red card 84'
Attendance: 4,359
Referee: Walter Adolfo López (Guatemala)
Honduras 2–0 Cuba
Sánchez 68'
Thomas 76'		 (Report)
Attendance: 1,050
United States 1–0 Panama
Adu 41' (pen.) (Report)
Attendance: 3,855
Referee: Dave Peterkin (Jamaica)
Cuba 1–4 Panama
Duarte 64' (Report) Aguilar 18', 65'
Barahona 26'
Urgelles 31' (o.g.)
Attendance: 10,974
Referee: Neal Brizan (Trinidad and Tobago)
United States 1–0 Honduras
Gaven 90+5' (pen.) (Report)
Attendance: 10,974

Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Guatemala 3 2 0 1 3 6 −3 6 Advance to knockout stage
2  Canada 3 1 1 1 7 3 +4 4
3  Mexico 3 1 1 1 7 4 +3 4
4  Haiti 3 1 0 2 3 7 −4 3
Source: CONCACAF
Haiti 0–1 Guatemala
(Report) Ávila 27'
Attendance: 9,949
Canada 1–1 Mexico
Johnson 3'. Red card 76' (Report) Landín 22' (pen.), Yellow card 67' Red card
Attendance: 9,949
Canada 1–2 Haiti
Rosenlund 17' (Report) Gustave 72'
Saint-Preux 84'
Attendance: 19,638
Mexico 1–2 Guatemala
Castillo 9' (Report) Villa 40'
López 67'
Attendance: 19,638
Guatemala 0–5 Canada
(Report) Johnson 45', 46'
Ricketts 57', 80'
Hall 90'
Attendance: 8,651
Referee: José Guerrero (Nicaragua)
Mexico 5–1 Haiti
Villaluz 18'
Andrade 61'
Fernández 70'
Esqueda 83'
Landín 89'		 (Report) Aveska Red card 29'
Saint-Preux 62'
Jean Paulin Yellow card 84' Red card
Attendance: 12,824

Knockout stage

Bracket
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
20 March – Nashville
 
 
  Guatemala 0 (5)
 
23 March – Nashville
 
  Honduras (p) 0 (6)
 
 Honduras (a.e.t.) 1
 
20 March – Nashville
 
  United States 0
 
 United States 3
 
 
 Canada 0
 
Third place play-off
 
 
23 March – Nashville
 
 
 Guatemala 0 (3)
 
 
  Canada (p) 0 (5)

Semi-finals

The semi-final winners qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Guatemala 0–0 (a.e.t.) Honduras
Noriega Yellow card 102' Red card Report
Penalties
Contreras soccer ball with check mark
Leon soccer ball with red X
Ávila soccer ball with check mark
Brown soccer ball with check mark
Marquez soccer ball with check mark
Lalin soccer ball with check mark
Morales soccer ball with red X		 5–6 soccer ball with check mark Morales
soccer ball with check mark Thomas
soccer ball with check mark Reyna
soccer ball with red X Guity
soccer ball with check mark Sánchez
soccer ball with check mark Padilla
soccer ball with check mark Norales
Attendance: 13,201
Referee: Neal Brizan (Trinidad and Tobago)
United States 3–0 Canada
Adu 27', 47'
Kljestan 78'		 Report
Attendance: 13,201

Third place play-off
Guatemala 0–0 (a.e.t.) Canada
Report
Penalties
Contreras soccer ball with check mark
Arreola soccer ball with red X
Ávila soccer ball with check mark
Brown soccer ball with check mark		 3–5 soccer ball with check mark Sánchez
soccer ball with check mark Ledgerwood
soccer ball with check mark Ayre
soccer ball with check mark Hemming
soccer ball with check mark Hall
Attendance: 12,663

Final
Honduras 1–0 (a.e.t.) United States
 Report
Attendance: 12,663

Statistics

Goalscorers
4 goals [3]
3 goals
2 goals

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.

Best XI[4]
Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards

Honduras Kevin Hernández

Guatemala Carlos Castrillo
Honduras Oscar Morales
United States Michael Orozco

Panama Nelson Barahona
Guatemala José Manuel Contreras
United States Maurice Edu
United States Dax McCarty

United States Freddy Adu
Cuba Leonel Duarte
Canada Will Johnson

Final ranking
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Final result
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Honduras 5 3 1 1 4 1 +3 10 Winners
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  United States (H) 5 3 1 1 6 2 +4 10 Runner-ups
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Canada 5 1 2 2 7 6 +1 5 Third place
4  Guatemala 5 2 2 1 3 6 −3 8 Fourth place
5  Mexico 3 1 1 1 7 4 +3 4 Eliminated in
group stage
6  Panama 3 1 0 2 3 4 −1 3
7  Haiti 3 1 0 2 3 7 −4 3
8  Cuba 3 0 1 2 2 7 −5 1
Source:
(H) Hosts

Qualified teams for Summer Olympics

The following two teams from CONCACAF qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Team Qualified on Previous appearances in Summer Olympics1
 Honduras20 March 20081 (2000)
 United States20 March 200813 (1904, 1924, 1928, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1972, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000)
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Cuban defections

Following the Cuban draw against the United States, seven Cuban players defected, leaving the team with only 11 players which was reduced to 10 against Honduras. Cuba played its final game against Panama with no players available as substitutes because Roberto Linares was sent off from Cuba's match against the United States causing him to be automatically suspended for the team's next match.[5]

References
  1. "Campeonato Sub-23 CONCACAF se jugará en los USA". CONCACAF. 6 November 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-12-23.
  2. "Honduras claim first-place in CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualification; Canada finish third". CONCACAF. 23 March 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-03-27.
  3. 2008 CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualification All-Tournament Team unveiled Archived March 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  4. "2008 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualification All-Tournament Team unveiled". CONCACAF. 22 March 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-03-26.
  5. "Cuba calls soccer desertions in US a "low blow"". Associated Press. March 14, 2008.
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