2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League A

2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League A
Tournament details
DatesGroup phase:
5 September – 19 November 2019
Nations League Finals:
3–6 June 2021
Teams12
Final positions
Champions United States (1st title)
Runners-up Mexico
Third place Honduras
Fourth place Costa Rica
Relegated Bermuda
 Cuba
 Haiti
 Trinidad and Tobago
Tournament statistics
Matches played28
Goals scored83 (2.96 per match)
Top scorer(s)United States Weston McKennie
United States Jordan Morris
(4 goals each)

The 2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League A was the top division of the 2019–20 edition of the CONCACAF Nations League, the inaugural season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 41 member associations of CONCACAF. League A culminated with the final championship in June 2021 to crown the inaugural champions of the CONCACAF Nations League.[1]

Format

League A consisted of twelve teams, with the six participants of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying hexagonal joined by the top six teams from qualifying. The league was split into four groups of three teams. The teams competed in a home-and-away, round-robin format over the course of the group phase, with matches played in the official FIFA match windows in September, October and November 2019. The four group winners qualified to the Nations League final championship, while the four last-placed teams in each group were relegated to League B for the next edition of the tournament.[2][3][4]

The Nations League Finals took place in June 2021, and was played in a knockout format in the United States, the centralized location selected by CONCACAF. The four teams played the semi-finals, with the matchups determined by the group stage rankings (1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3), followed by the third place match and the final (Regulations Articles 12.8 and 12.10).[5]

In September 2019, it was announced that the Nations League would also provide qualification for the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup.[6] The top two teams from each of the four League A groups qualified for the Gold Cup, while the third-placed teams entered the first round of Gold Cup qualification.

Seeding

Teams were seeded into the pots of League A according to their position in the November 2018 CONCACAF Ranking Index.[7][8]

Pot 1
Team Pts Rank
 Mexico 1,998 1
 United States 1,863 2
 Costa Rica 1,752 3
 Honduras 1,630 4
Pot 2
Team Pts Rank
 Panama 1,579 5
 Canada 1,471 7
 Haiti 1,359 10
 Trinidad and Tobago 1,342 11
Pot 3
Team Pts Rank
 Martinique 1,286 12
 Cuba 1,152 13
 Curaçao 1,079 15
 Bermuda 865 23

The draw for the group phase took place at The Chelsea in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States on 27 March 2019, 22:00 EDT (19:00 local time, PDT).[9][10]

Groups

The fixture list was confirmed by CONCACAF on 21 May 2019.[11][12][13]

Times are EDT/EST,[note 1] as listed by CONCACAF (local times, if different, are in parentheses).[14][15][16]

Group A

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation United States Canada Cuba
1  United States 4 3 0 1 15 3 +12 9 Qualification for Finals and Gold Cup — 4–1 7–0
2  Canada 4 3 0 1 10 4 +6 9 Qualification for Gold Cup 2–0 — 6–0
3  Cuba (R) 4 0 0 4 0 18 −18 0 Gold Cup prelims and League B 0–4 0–1 —
Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(R) Relegated
Canada 6–0 Cuba
 Report
Attendance: 10,224[17]
Referee: Fernando Hernández (Mexico)
Cuba 0–1 Canada
Report
Attendance: 420
United States 7–0 Cuba
 Report
Attendance: 13,784
Referee: José Torres (Puerto Rico)
Canada 2–0 United States
 Report
Attendance: 17,126[18]
Referee: Daneon Parchment (Jamaica)
United States 4–1 Canada
 Report
Attendance: 13,103
Referee: César Ramos (Mexico)
Cuba 0–4 United States
Report
Attendance: 1,966
Referee: John Pitti (Panama)

Group B

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation Mexico Panama Bermuda
1  Mexico 4 4 0 0 13 3 +10 12 Qualification for Finals and Gold Cup — 3–1 2–1
2  Panama 4 1 0 3 5 9 −4 3 Qualification for Gold Cup 0–3 — 0–2
3  Bermuda (R) 4 1 0 3 5 11 −6 3 Gold Cup prelims and League B 1–5 1–4 —
Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(R) Relegated
Bermuda 1–4 Panama
 Report
Attendance: 189
Referee: Raúl Castro (Honduras)
Panama 0–2 Bermuda
Report
Attendance: 12,053
Referee: Nitzar Sandoval (Nicaragua)
Bermuda 1–5 Mexico
 Report
Attendance: 705
Mexico 3–1 Panama
 Report
Attendance: 41,075
Referee: Iván Barton (El Salvador)
Panama 0–3 Mexico
Report
Attendance: 16,407
Mexico 2–1 Bermuda
 Report
Referee: Ismael Cornejo (El Salvador)

Group C

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation Honduras Martinique Trinidad and Tobago
1  Honduras 4 3 1 0 8 1 +7 10 Qualification for Finals and Gold Cup — 1–0 4–0
2  Martinique 4 0 3 1 4 5 −1 3 Qualification for Gold Cup 1–1 — 1–1
3  Trinidad and Tobago (R) 4 0 2 2 3 9 −6 2 Gold Cup prelims and League B 0–2 2–2 —
Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(R) Relegated
Martinique 1–1 Trinidad and Tobago
 Report
Attendance: 4,678
Referee: José Kellys (Panama)
Trinidad and Tobago 2–2 Martinique
 Report
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: Diego Montaño (Mexico)
Trinidad and Tobago 0–2 Honduras
Report
Attendance: 2,500
Honduras 1–0 Martinique
 Report
Attendance: 34,265
Referee: Adonai Escobedo (Mexico)
Martinique 1–1 Honduras
 Report
Attendance: 1,453
Referee: Ted Unkel (United States)
Honduras 4–0 Trinidad and Tobago
 Report

Group D

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation Costa Rica Curaçao Haiti
1  Costa Rica 4 1 3 0 4 3 +1 6 Qualification for Finals and Gold Cup — 0–0 1–1
2  Curaçao 4 1 2 1 3 3 0 5 Qualification for Gold Cup, later withdrew[a] 1–2 — 1–0
3  Haiti (R) 4 0 3 1 3 4 −1 3 Gold Cup prelims and League B 1–1 1–1 —
Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Curaçao, who had originally qualified for the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup through the Nations League, eventually had to withdraw just before the start of the tournament due to an outbreak of COVID-19 in the team.
Curaçao 1–0 Haiti
 Report
Attendance: 8,346
Referee: Keylor Herrera (Costa Rica)
Haiti 1–1 Curaçao
 Report
Attendance: 9,654
Haiti 1–1 Costa Rica
 Report
Attendance: 4,012
Referee: Drew Fischer (Canada)
Costa Rica 0–0 Curaçao
Report
Attendance: 7,256
Referee: Armando Villarreal (United States)
Curaçao 1–2 Costa Rica
 Report
Attendance: 11,387
Referee: Marco Ortiz (Mexico)
Costa Rica 1–1 Haiti
 Report
Referee: Saíd Martínez (Honduras)

Nations League Finals

Main article: 2021 CONCACAF Nations League Finals

Seeding

The four teams were ranked based on their results in the group stage to determine the semi-final matchups.

Seed Grp Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 B  Mexico 4 4 0 0 13 3 +10 12
2 C  Honduras 4 3 1 0 8 1 +7 10
3 A  United States (H) 4 3 0 1 15 3 +12 9
4 D  Costa Rica 4 1 3 0 4 3 +1 6
Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) away goals scored; 5) disciplinary points; 6) drawing of lots (Regulations Article 12.9).[5]
(H) Hosts

Bracket

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
3 June – Denver, CO
 
 
 Honduras0
 
6 June – Denver, CO
 
 United States1
 
 United States (a.e.t.)3
 
3 June – Denver, CO
 
 Mexico2
 
 Mexico (p)0 (5)
 
 
 Costa Rica0 (4)
 
Third place play-off
 
 
6 June – Denver, CO
 
 
 Honduras (p)2 (5)
 
 
 Costa Rica2 (4)

Semi-finals

Honduras 0–1 United States
Report
Attendance: 34,451[22]
Referee: Oshane Nation (Jamaica)



Third place play-off


Final

Main article: 2021 CONCACAF Nations League final
United States 3–2 (a.e.t.) Mexico
 Report
Attendance: 37,648[26]
Referee: John Pitti (Panama)


Goalscorers

There were 83 goals scored in 28 matches, for an average of 2.96 goals per match.

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Notes

  1. ^ EDT (UTC−4) for matches in September and October 2019, and EST (UTC−5) for matches in November 2019.
  2. ^ a b Cuba played their home matches in Cayman Islands.
  3. ^ Haiti played their home match against Costa Rica at Thomas Robinson Stadium, Nassau in Bahamas, instead of Stade Sylvio Cator, Port-au-Prince, due to the political and social situation in Haiti.[19]
  4. ^ Though listed with a 17:30 kick-off time,[20] the match began at 17:36.[21]
  5. ^ Though listed with a 20:00 kick-off time,[23] the match began at 20:36.[21]
  6. ^ Though listed with a 16:30 kick-off time,[24] the match began at 16:36.[25]
  7. ^ Though listed with a 19:00 kick-off time,[27] the match actually began at 19:36.[25]

References

  1. ^ "CONCACAF's top teams gear up for Nations League A". CONCACAFNationsLeague.com. Las Vegas: CONCACAF. 27 March 2019. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  2. ^ "CONCACAF Nations League to Kickoff this September with Qualifiers". CONCACAF.com. The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football. 5 March 2018. Archived from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  3. ^ "CONCACAF Nations League Officially Launched". CONCACAFNationsLeague.com. The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football. 7 March 2018. Archived from the original on 21 November 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  4. ^ "Regulations CONCACAF Nations League 2018/20 Edition" (PDF). res.cloudinary.com. CONCACAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Regulations CONCACAF Nations League 2018/20 Edition" (PDF). res.cloudinary.com. CONCACAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  6. ^ "CONCACAF Nations League to Serve as Pathway for 2021 Gold Cup". CONCACAF.com. The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football. 4 September 2019. Archived from the original on 11 September 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  7. ^ "CONCACAF Ranking: As of November 2018" (PDF). CONCACAF. 6 March 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 March 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  8. ^ "Stage set for 2019 CONCACAF Nations League draw". CONCACAFNationsLeague. Miami: CONCACAF. 25 March 2019. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  9. ^ "2019 CONCACAF Nations League Draw to Take Place March 27". CONCACAFNationsLeague.com. Miami: CONCACAF. 6 March 2019. Archived from the original on 7 March 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  10. ^ "Draw Delivers Groups for the Inaugural Edition of the CONCACAF Nations League". CONCACAFNationsLeague.com. Miami: CONCACAF. 28 March 2019. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  11. ^ "Schedule confirmed for the inaugural edition of the CONCACAF Nations League". CONCACAFNationsLeague.com. Miami: CONCACAF. 21 May 2019. Archived from the original on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  12. ^ "2019 CONCACAF Nations League schedule" (PDF). CONCACAF. 21 May 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  13. ^ "CONCACAF Nations League: Official schedule 2019" (PDF). CONCACAF. 21 May 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  14. ^ "2019-2020 Concacaf Nations League September Group Stage Schedule". CONCACAF. Archived from the original on 6 September 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  15. ^ "2019-2020 Concacaf Nations League October Group Stage Schedule" (PDF). CONCACAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  16. ^ "2019-2020 Concacaf Nations League November Group Stage Schedule" (PDF). CONCACAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
  17. ^ Davidson, Neil. "Announced attendance of 10,224 for Canada-Cuba match". Twitter. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  18. ^ Molinaro, John. "Davies helps Canada vanquish U.S. in Concacaf Nations League". Canadian Premier League. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  19. ^ "Alternate Venue Announced for the Concacaf Nations League Match Between Haiti and Costa Rica". concacafnationsleague.com. CONCACAF. 2 October 2019. Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  20. ^ "2021 Concacaf Nations League Finals provisional rosters and kick off times confirmed". CONCACAF. 9 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  21. ^ a b Goff, Steven [@SoccerInsider] (3 June 2021). "USMNT vs. Honduras kickoff: 5:36 pm local (7:36 ET). TV: CBS Sports Network, Univision, TUDN. Mexico-Costa Rica match listed at 8 pm local but won't kick off until 8:36 local (Univision, TUDN)" (Tweet). Retrieved 6 June 2021 – via Twitter.
  22. ^ a b Tannenwald, Jonathan (3 June 2021). "Jordan Siebatcheu's late goal gives USMNT ugly 1–0 win over Honduras in Nations League semifinal". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  23. ^ "2021 Concacaf Nations League Finals provisional rosters and kick off times confirmed". CONCACAF. 9 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  24. ^ "2021 Concacaf Nations League Finals provisional rosters and kick off times confirmed". CONCACAF. 9 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  25. ^ a b Goff, Steven [@SoccerInsider] (6 June 2021). "Concacaf Nations League matchday – 3rd-place game: Costa Rica v Honduras, 4:36 pm local kickoff/6:36 ET (UniMas, TUDN, Paramount+). Final: United States v Mexico, 7:36 pm local kickoff/9:36 ET (CBS Sports Network, Univision, TUDN, Paramount+)" (Tweet). Retrieved 6 June 2021 – via Twitter.
  26. ^ a b Keeler, Sean (6 June 2021). "Highlands Ranch native Ethan Horvath, Christian Pulisic lift U.S. to 3–2 win over Mexico". The Denver Post. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  27. ^ "2021 Concacaf Nations League Finals provisional rosters and kick off times confirmed". CONCACAF. 9 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.