1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)

CONCACAF Qualifiers
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The 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification, CONCACAF zone ran from March 1996 to November 1997 in order to determine the three CONCACAF representatives at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. For an overview of the qualification rounds, see 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification.

A total of 30 CONCACAF teams entered the competition. Mexico, the USA, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador and Canada, the six highest-ranked teams according to FIFA, received byes and advanced to the third round directly. The remaining 24 teams were divided into two zones, based on geographical locations.

Format

• Caribbean Zone: The 20 teams played in three rounds of knockout matches on a home-and-away basis to determine four winners advancing to the third round. Bahamas and Bermuda withdrew before playing one game. 18 countries stay in the race.
• Central American Zone: The four teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis. The winners would advance to the third round.

In the third round, the 12 teams were divided into three groups of four teams each. They played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners and runners-up would advance to the final round.

In the final round, the six teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The top three teams would qualify.

Preliminary round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Dominican Republic	6–3	Aruba	3–2	3–1
Guyana	1–8	Grenada	1–2	0–6
Saint Kitts and Nevis	w/o	Bahamas	—	—
Dominica	6–4	Antigua and Barbuda	3–3	3–1

Group A

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Dominican Republic won 6-3 on aggregate.

Group B

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Grenada won 8-1 on aggregate.

Group C

The Bahamas withdrew, so Saint Kitts and Nevis advanced to the first round automatically.

Group D

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Dominica won 6-4 on aggregate.

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Dominican Republic	2–1	Netherlands Antilles	2–1	0–0
Haiti	7–1	Grenada	6–1	1–0
Cayman Islands	0–6	Cuba	0–1	0–5
Saint Kitts and Nevis	6–1	Saint Lucia	5–1	1–0
Puerto Rico	1–9	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1–2	0–7
Dominica	0–2	Barbados	0–1	0–1
Suriname	0–2	Jamaica	0–1	0–1
Trinidad and Tobago	w/o	Bermuda	—	—

Group 1

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Dominican Republic won 2-1 on aggregate.

Group 2

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Haiti won 7-1 on aggregate.

Group 3

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Note:Both matches were played in Cayman Islands.

Cuba won 6-0 on aggregate.

Group 4

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Saint Kitts and Nevis won 6-1 on aggregate.

Group 5

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Saint Vincent and the Grenadines won 9-1 on aggregate.

Group 6

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Barbados won 2-0 on aggregate.

Group 7

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Jamaica won 2-0 on aggregate.

Group 8

Bermuda withdrew, so Trinidad and Tobago advanced to the second round automatically.

Second round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Caribbean Zone
Cuba	7–2	Haiti	6–1	1–1
Dominican Republic	1–12	Trinidad and Tobago	1–4	0–8
Barbados	0–3	Jamaica	0–1	0–2
Saint Kitts and Nevis	2–2 (a)	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	2–2	0–0
Central American Zone
Nicaragua	1–3	Guatemala	0–1	1–2
Belize	2–6	Panama	1–2	1–4

Caribbean Zone

Group A

This match was played on neutral ground instead of in Cuba.

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Cuba won 7-2 on aggregate.

Group B

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Trinidad and Tobago won 12-1 on aggregate.

Group C

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Jamaica won 3-0 on aggregate.

Group D

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Saint Kitts and Nevis 2-2 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on aggregate. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines won on the away goals rule.

Central American Zone

Group E

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Guatemala won 3-1 on aggregate.

Group F

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Panama won 6-2 on aggregate.

Third round

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	United States	6	4	1	1	10	5	5	13
2	Costa Rica	6	4	0	2	9	5	4	12
3	Guatemala	6	2	2	2	6	9	-3	8
4	Trinidad and Tobago	6	0	1	5	3	9	-6	1

The United States and Costa Rica advanced to the final round. Guatemala played their home games in Los Angeles and San Salvador instead of at home due to FIFA stadium standards not followed by the Estadio Mateo Flores, in Guatemala City, where over 80 people died due to structural flaws and overcrowding in October 16, 1996, when the home match against Costa Rica was due to be played.

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Canada	6	5	1	0	10	1	9	16
2	El Salvador	6	3	1	2	12	6	6	10
3	Panama	6	1	2	3	8	11	-3	5
4	Cuba	6	1	0	5	4	16	-12	3

Canada and El Salvador advanced to the final round.

Cuba played all their matches away from home.

Group 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Jamaica	6	4	1	1	12	3	9	13
2	Mexico	6	4	0	2	14	6	8	12
3	Honduras	6	3	1	2	18	11	7	10
4	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	6	0	0	6	6	30	-24	0

Jamaica and Mexico advanced to the final round.

Fourth round

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Mexico	10	4	6	0	23	7	16	18
2	United States	10	4	5	1	17	9	8	17
3	Jamaica	10	3	5	2	7	12	–5	14
4	Costa Rica	10	3	3	4	13	12	1	12
5	El Salvador	10	2	4	4	11	16	–5	10
6	Canada	10	1	3	6	5	20	–15	6

• Mexico, the United States, and Jamaica qualified for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Qualified teams

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

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1
Mexico	Fourth round winners	12 October 1997	10 (1930, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1978, 1986, 1994)
United States	Fourth round runners-up	9 November 1997	5 (1930, 1934, 1950, 1990, 1994)
Jamaica	Fourth round third place	16 November 1997	0 (debut)

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

Goalscorers

There were 295 goals scored in 98 matches, for an average of 3.01 goals per match.

11 goals

9 goals

8 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Broadcasting rights

Americas

• Canada: TSN
• Costa Rica: Teletica
• Mexico: Televisa
• United States: ABC, CBS (English); Telemundo, Univision (Spanish)
• Puerto Rico:

Europe

References