2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship


The 2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship was the fourteenth edition of the [CONCACAF Men's Football at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Qualifying Championship|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 [Football at the Summer Olympics|Olympic association football|football tournament]. It was held in the United States, from [|1] and 13 October 2015
Mexico successfully defended their title after a 2–0 win over Honduras in the final. It was their seventh Pre-Olympic title and second in a row, after previous wins in 1964, 1972, 1976, 1996, 2004 and [2012 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship|CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship|2012]. As the top two teams, Mexico and Honduras both qualified for the [Football at the Football at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament|2016 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament|2016 Summer Olympics] in Brazil as the CONCACAF representatives, just as the same sides had in the previous Olympics. Third-placed United States later lost to Colombia in the CONCACAF–CONMEBOL play-off and failed to qualify for the Olympics for the second consecutive time.

Qualification

The eight berths were allocated to the three regional zones as follows:
Regional qualification tournaments were held to determine the five teams joining Canada, Mexico, and the United States at the final tournament.

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the final tournament.
ZoneCountryMethod of qualificationAppearanceLast appearancePrevious best performancePrevious Olympic appearances
North America Automatic10th2012Winners 14
North AmericaAutomatic8th2012Runners-up 3
North America
Automatic11th2012Winners 10
Central AmericaGroup A winners6th2012Fourth place 0
Central AmericaGroup B winners6th2012Winners 3
Central AmericaPlay-offs winners6th2004Winners 3
CaribbeanFinal round winners2nd2008Group stage 0
CaribbeanFinal round runners-up5th2012Third place 2

Venues

Four cities served as the venues for tournament.

Draw

The draw for the tournament took place on 18 August 2015 at 09:00 PDT at the Torrance Marriot Redondo Beach hotel in Torrance, California, United States. The draw was conducted by Eddie Lewis and Brad Friedel.
The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. Tournament host United States were seeded in Group A, while defending CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Mexico were seeded in Group B.
The draw took place before the UNCAF final qualifier had been confirmed.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4

  • Match officials

    ;Referees
    ;Assistant referees

    Squads

    Players born on or after 1 January 1993 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team could register a maximum of 20 players.

    Group stage

    The top two teams of each group advanced to the semi-finals. The teams were ranked according to [Three Three points for a win|points for a win|points]. If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order:
    1. Goal difference in all group matches;
    2. Greatest number of goals scored in all group matches;
    3. Greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
    4. Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
    5. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned;
    6. Drawing of lots.
    The final round of fixtures in the group stage and the knockout stage fell within the FIFA International Match Calendar period of 5–13 October 2015. As a result, teams were able to call on their first choice under-23 players worldwide.
    All times were local.

    Group A

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    Group B

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    Knockout stage

    In the knockout stage, extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.

    Bracket


    Semi-finals

    The semi-final winners qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
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    Third place play-off

    The winners advanced to the CONCACAF–CONMEBOL play-off.

    Statistics

    Goalscorers

    ;4 goals
    ;3 goals
    ;2 goals
    ;1 goal
    ;1 own goal

    Awards

    The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.
    Golden BallGolden BootGolden GloveFair Play Award
    Hirving Lozano Jerome Kiesewetter
    		Gibrán Lajud

    GoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards

    Gibrán Lajud
    Érick Aguirre

    Jhonatan Paz

    Jordan Silva

    Rodolfo Pizarro

    Alberth Elis

    Víctor Guzmán

    Óscar Salas

    Hirving Lozano

    Erick Torres

    Jerome Kiesewetter

    Final ranking

    As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time were counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by a penalty shoot-out were counted as draws.

    Qualified teams for 2016 Summer Olympics

    The following two teams from CONCACAF qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics Men's football tournament.
    TeamQualified onPrevious appearances in tournament1

    Cuban defections

    Four Cuban players were confirmed to have defected to the United States during the tournament: they were Emmanuel Labrada, Frank López García, Dairon Pérez, and Yendry Torres.