2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF fourth round


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The fourth round of CONCACAF matches for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification was played from 13 November 2015 to 6 September 2016.[1][2]

A total of 12 teams (teams ranked 1 to 6 in the CONCACAF entrant list and 6 third round winners) were divided into three groups of four teams each. In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format for a total of six matches per team. The top two teams of each group (three group winners and three runners-up) advanced to the fifth round (also called the 'Hexagonal' or 'Hex').[1]

The draw for the fourth round was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.[1][3][4]

The seeding was based on the FIFA World Rankings of August 2014 (shown in parentheses).[5] The six direct qualifiers are seeded into two pots:

  • Pot 1 contains the teams ranked 1–3.
  • Pot 2 contains the teams ranked 4–6.

Each group contained a team from Pot 1, a team from Pot 2, and two third round winners which were automatically allocated into each group (series winners 1 and 2 into Group A, series winners 3 and 4 into Group B, series winners 5 and 6 into Group C).[3] As the draw was held before the third round was played, the identities of the third round winners were not known at the time of the draw. The fixtures of each group were automatically decided based on the respective pot or series won of each team.

Note: Bolded teams qualified for the fifth round.

Pot 1 Pot 2
  1.   Costa Rica (15)
  2.   Mexico (17)
  3.   United States (18)
  1.   Honduras (43)
  2.   Panama (63)
  3.   Trinidad and Tobago (80)
third round winners
  1.   Jamaica (85)
  2.   Haiti (117)
  3.   Canada (122)
  4.   El Salvador (127)
  5.   Guatemala (134)
  6.   Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (134)
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification tiebreakers
In league format, the ranking of teams in each group was based on the following criteria (regulations Articles 20.6 and 20.7):[6]
  1. Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
  2. Overall goal difference
  3. Overall goals scored
  4. Points in matches between tied teams
  5. Goal difference in matches between tied teams
  6. Goals scored in matches between tied teams
  7. Away goals scored in matches between tied teams (if the tie was only between two teams in home-and-away league format)
  8. Fair play points
    • first yellow card: minus 1 point
    • indirect red card (second yellow card): minus 3 points
    • direct red card: minus 4 points
    • yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points
  9. Drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification        
1   Mexico 6 5 1 0 13 1 +12 16 Advance to fifth round — 0–0 2–0 3–0
2   Honduras 6 2 2 2 6 6 0 8 0–2 — 2–1 2–0
3   Canada 6 2 1 3 5 8 −3 7 0–3 1–0 — 3–1
4   El Salvador 6 0 2 4 4 13 −9 2 1–3 2–2 0–0 —
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification        
1   Costa Rica 6 5 1 0 11 3 +8 16 Advance to fifth round — 3–1 1–0 3–0
2   Panama 6 3 1 2 7 5 +2 10 1–2 — 1–0 2–0
3   Haiti 6 1 1 4 2 4 −2 4 0–1 0–0 — 0–1
4   Jamaica 6 1 1 4 2 10 −8 4 1–1 0–2 0–2 —
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification        
1   United States 6 4 1 1 20 3 +17 13 Advance to fifth round — 4–0 4–0 6–1
2   Trinidad and Tobago 6 3 2 1 13 9 +4 11 0–0 — 2–2 6–0
3   Guatemala 6 3 1 2 18 11 +7 10 2–0 1–2 — 9–3
4   Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 6 0 0 6 6 34 −28 0 0–6 2–3 0–4 —

There were 107 goals scored in 36 matches, for an average of 2.97 goals per match.

8 goals

6 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

  1. ^ a b c "CONCACAF to Hold Preliminary FIFA World Cup Qualifying Draw in Miami on January 15". CONCACAF. 12 January 2015. Archived from the original on 21 January 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  2. ^ "USMNT to start 2018 World Cup qualifying in November of 2015". Sports Illustrated. 12 January 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Draw Procedures – North, Central American & Caribbean Zone" (PDF). FIFA.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 July 2015.
  4. ^ "Draw shines light on CONCACAF's WCQ path". CONCACAF. 25 July 2015. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  5. ^ "FIFA Men's Ranking – August 2014 (CONCACAF)". FIFA.com. 14 August 2014. Archived from the original on 2 December 2014.
  6. ^ "Regulations – 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia" (PDF). FIFA.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016.