2008 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying

The 2008 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying was the twelfth edition of the 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 Olympic football tournament. It was held in the United States, from 11 and 23 March 2008.^[1]

2008 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying

CONCACAF MEN'S OLYMPIC QUALIFYING BEIJING 2008
Tournament details
Host country	United States
Dates	11 – 23 March
Teams	8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	3 (in 3 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Honduras (2nd title)
Runners-up	United States
Third place	Canada
Fourth place	Guatemala
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	36 (2.25 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Freddy Adu
← 2004 2012 → All statistics correct as of 27 April 2009.

Honduras won the title after with a 1–0 win over the United States in the final. As the top two teams, Honduras and the United States both qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in China as the CONCACAF representatives.^[2]

Qualification

Further information: 2008 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying qualification

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the final tournament.

Zone	Country	Method of qualification	Appearance1	Last appearance	Previous best performance	Previous Olympic appearances (last)
North America	Mexico (title holders)	Automatic	9th	2004	Winners (1964, 1972, 1976, 1996, 2004)	9 (2004)
	Canada	Automatic	6th	2004	Runners-up (1984, 1996)	3 (1984)
	United States (hosts)	Automatic	8th	2004	Winners (1988, 1992)	13 (2000)
Central America	Honduras	Triangular 1 winners	4th	2004	Winners (2000)	1 (2000)
	Guatemala	Triangular 2 winners	6th	2000	Final round winner without outright champions (1968)	3 (1988)
	Panama	Play-off winners	4th	2004	Fourth place (1964)	0
Caribbean	Cuba	Second round winners	3rd	1984	Third place (1976, 1984)	2 (1980)
	Haiti	Second round winners	1st	0 (debut)	Debutant	0

¹ Only final tournament.

Venues

Three cities served as the venues for the tournament.

Tampa, Florida (Tampa Bay Area)	Carson, California (Los Angeles Area)	Nashville, Tennessee	Carson Nashville Tampa Location of the host cities of the 2008 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying.
Raymond James Stadium	Home Depot Center	LP Field
Capacity: 65,856	Capacity: 27,000	Capacity: 69,143

Squads

Main article: 2008 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying squads

Group stage

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States (H)	3	2	1	0	3	1	+2	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Honduras	3	2	0	1	3	1	+2	6
3	Panama	3	1	0	2	4	3	+1	3
4	Cuba	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5	1

Source: CONCACAF
(H) Hosts

11 March 2008 (2008-03-11)

17:30

Panama	0–1	Honduras
	(Report)	Thomas 90'

Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: Enrico Wijngaarde (Suriname)

11 March 2008 (2008-03-11)

20:00

United States	1–1	Cuba
Adu 13'	(Report)	Linares 42',  42'  84'

Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida

Attendance: 4,359

Referee: Walter Adolfo López (Guatemala)

---

13 March 2008 (2008-03-13)

17:30

Honduras	2–0	Cuba
Sánchez 68' Thomas 76'	(Report)

Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida

Attendance: 1,050

Referee: Roberto García Orozco (Mexico)

13 March 2008 (2008-03-13)

20:00

United States	1–0	Panama
Adu 41' (pen.)	(Report)

Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida

Attendance: 3,855

Referee: Dave Peterkin (Jamaica)

---

15 March 2008 (2008-03-15)

16:30

Cuba	1–4	Panama
Duarte 64'	(Report)	Aguilar 18', 65' Barahona 26' Urgelles 31' (o.g.)

Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida

Attendance: 10,974

Referee: Neal Brizan (Trinidad and Tobago)

15 March 2008 (2008-03-15)

19:00

United States	1–0	Honduras
Gaven 90+5' (pen.)	(Report)

Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida

Attendance: 10,974

Referee: Enrico Wijngaarde (Suriname)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Guatemala	3	2	0	1	3	6	−3	6	Advance to knockout stage
2	Canada	3	1	1	1	7	3	+4	4
3	Mexico	3	1	1	1	7	4	+3	4
4	Haiti	3	1	0	2	3	7	−4	3

Source: CONCACAF

12 March 2008 (2008-03-12)

17:30

Haiti	0–1	Guatemala
	(Report)	Ávila 27'

Home Depot Center, Carson, California

Attendance: 9,949

Referee: Roberto Moreno (Panama)

12 March 2008 (2008-03-12)

20:00

Canada	1–1	Mexico
Johnson 3'.  76'	(Report)	Landín 22' (pen.),  67'

Home Depot Center, Carson, California

Attendance: 9,949

Referee: Joel Aguilar (El Salvador)

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14 March 2008 (2008-03-14)

17:30

Canada	1–2	Haiti
Rosenlund 17'	(Report)	Gustave 72' Saint-Preux 84'

Home Depot Center, Carson, California

Attendance: 19,638

Referee: Jair Marrufo (United States)

14 March 2008 (2008-03-14)

20:00

Mexico	1–2	Guatemala
Castillo 9'	(Report)	Villa 40' López 67'

Home Depot Center, Carson, California

Attendance: 19,638

Referee: Wálter Quesada (Costa Rica)

---

16 March 2008 (2008-03-16)

16:30

Guatemala	0–5	Canada
	(Report)	Johnson 45', 46' Ricketts 57', 80' Hall 90'

Home Depot Center, Carson, California

Attendance: 8,651

Referee: José Guerrero (Nicaragua)

16 March 2008 (2008-03-16)

19:00

Mexico	5–1	Haiti
Villaluz 18' Andrade 61' Fernández 70' Esqueda 83' Landín 89'	(Report)	Aveska  29' Saint-Preux 62' Jean Paulin  84'

Home Depot Center, Carson, California

Attendance: 12,824

Referee: Joel Aguilar (El Salvador)

Knockout stage

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	20 March – Nashville, TN
	Guatemala	0 (5)
					23 March – Nashville, TN
	Honduras (p)	0 (6)
					Honduras (a.e.t.)	1
	20 March – Nashville, TN
					United States	0
	United States	3
	Canada	0
					Third place play-off
					23 March – Nashville, TN
					Guatemala	0 (3)
					Canada (p)	0 (5)

Semi-finals

The semi-final winners qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

20 March 2008 (2008-03-20)

17:00

Guatemala	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Honduras
Noriega  102'	Report
Penalties
Contreras Leon Ávila Brown Marquez Lalin Morales	5–6	Morales Thomas Reyna Guity Sánchez Padilla Norales

LP Field, Nashville, Tennessee

Attendance: 13,201

Referee: Neal Brizan (Trinidad and Tobago)

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20 March 2008 (2008-03-20)

20:00

United States	3–0	Canada
Adu 27', 47' Kljestan 78'	Report

LP Field, Nashville, Tennessee

Attendance: 13,201

Referee: Wálter Quesada (Costa Rica)

Third place play-off

23 March 2008 (2008-03-23)

13:00

Guatemala	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Canada
	Report
Penalties
Contreras Arreola Ávila Brown	3–5	Sánchez Ledgerwood Ayre Hemming Hall

LP Field, Nashville, Tennessee

Attendance: 12,663

Referee: Enrico Wijngaarde (Suriname)

Final

23 March 2008 (2008-03-23)

16:00

Honduras	1–0 (a.e.t.)	United States
Welcome 102'	Report

LP Field, Nashville, Tennessee

Attendance: 12,663

Referee: Joel Aguilar (El Salvador)

Statistics

Goalscorers

4 goals ^[3]

• Freddy Adu

3 goals

• Will Johnson

2 goals

• Edwin Aguilar
• Tosaint Ricketts
• Leonel Saint-Preux
• Hendry Thomas
• Luis Ángel Landín

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.

Best XI^[4]

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Kevin Hernández	Carlos Castrillo Oscar Morales Michael Orozco	Nelson Barahona José Manuel Contreras Maurice Edu Dax McCarty	Freddy Adu Leonel Duarte Will Johnson

Final ranking

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final result
	Honduras	5	3	1	1	4	1	+3	10	Winners
	United States (H)	5	3	1	1	6	2	+4	10	Runner-ups
	Canada	5	1	2	2	7	6	+1	5	Third place
4	Guatemala	5	2	2	1	3	6	−3	8	Fourth place
5	Mexico	3	1	1	1	7	4	+3	4	Eliminated in group stage
6	Panama	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
7	Haiti	3	1	0	2	3	7	−4	3
8	Cuba	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(H) Hosts

Qualified teams for 2008 Summer Olympics

The following two teams from CONCACAF qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics Men's football tournament.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in Summer Olympics1
Honduras	20 March 2008	1 (2000)
United States	20 March 2008	13 (1904, 1924, 1928, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1972, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000)

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

Cuban defections

Following the Cuban draw against the United States, seven Cuban players defected, leaving the team with only 11 players which was reduced to 10 against Honduras. Cuba played its final game against Panama with no players available as substitutes because Roberto Linares was sent off from Cuba's match against the United States causing him to be automatically suspended for the team's next match.^[5]