1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)


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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.

1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)
Tournament details
DatesMarch 24th 1996 – November 16th 1997
Teams28[a] (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played98
Goals scored295 (3.01 per match)
Attendance2,065,454 (21,076 per match)
Top scorer(s)Mexico Carlos Hermosillo
(11 Goals)

← 1994

2002 →

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.

  • 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.

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

Dominican Republic won 6–3 on aggregate and advanced to the first round.

Group B

Grenada won 8–1 on aggregate and advanced to the first round.

Group C

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

Group D

Dominica won 6–4 on aggregate and advanced to the 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

Dominican Republic won 2–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Group 2

Haiti won 7–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Group 3

Cuba won 6–0 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Group 4

Saint Kitts and Nevis won 6–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Group 5

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines won 9-1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Group 6

Barbados won 2–0 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Group 7

Jamaica won 2–0 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Group 8

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

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
Group A

Cuba won 7–2 on aggregate and advanced to the third round.

Group B

Trinidad and Tobago won 12–1 on aggregate and advanced to the third round.

Group C

Jamaica won 3–0 on aggregate and advanced to the third round.

Group D

2–2 on aggregate. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines won on the away goals rule and advanced to the third round.

Central American Zone

edit

Group E

Guatemala won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the third round.

Group F

Panama won 6-2 on aggregate and advanced to the third round.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification        
1   United States 6 4 1 1 10 5 +5 13 Advanced to the fourth round — 2–1 2–0 2–0
2   Costa Rica 6 4 0 2 9 5 +4 12 2–1 — 3–0 2–1
3   Guatemala 6 2 2 2 6 9 −3 8 2–2 1–0 — 2–1
4   Trinidad and Tobago 6 0 1 5 3 9 −6 1 0–1 0–1 1–1 —

Source: [1]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification        
1   Canada 6 5 1 0 10 1 +9 16 Advanced to the fourth round — 1–0 3–1 2–0
2   El Salvador 6 3 1 2 12 6 +6 10 0–2 — 3–2 3–0
3   Panama 6 1 2 3 8 11 −3 5 0–0 1–1 — 3–1
4   Cuba 6 1 0 5 4 16 −12 3 0–2 0–5 3–1 —

Source: [1]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification        
1   Jamaica 6 4 1 1 12 3 +9 13 Advanced to the fourth round — 1–0 3–0 5–0
2   Mexico 6 4 0 2 14 6 +8 12 2–1 — 3–1 5–1
3   Honduras 6 3 1 2 18 11 +7 10 0–0 2–1 — 11–3
4   Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 6 0 0 6 6 30 −24 0 1–2 0–3 1–4 —

Source: [1]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification            
1   Mexico 10 4 6 0 23 7 +16 18 Qualification to 1998 FIFA World Cup — 0–0 6–0 3–3 5–0 4–0
2   United States 10 4 5 1 17 9 +8 17 2–2 — 1–1 1–0 4–2 3–0
3   Jamaica 10 3 5 2 7 12 −5 14 0–0 0–0 — 1–0 1–0 1–0
4   Costa Rica 10 3 3 4 13 12 +1 12 0–0 3–2 3–1 — 0–0 3–1
5   El Salvador 10 2 4 4 11 16 −5 10 0–1 1–1 2–2 2–1 — 4–1
6   Canada 10 1 3 6 5 20 −15 6 2–2 0–3 0–0 1–0 0–0 —

Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

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.

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

  1. ^ Bahamas and Bermuda withdrew before playing any matches.