MIAMI – Concacaf Friday announced the schedule for the 2020 Concacaf Men’s Olympic Qualifying.

The 15th edition of this competition will take place in Guadalajara, Mexico, from March 18-30.

Two host venues will be used for the competition, the Jalisco and Akron Stadiums.

The qualifiers were scheduled for March 2020, but due to the pandemic and the postponement of the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, they were rescheduled for 2021.

Concacaf has worked along with FIFA, the FMF and local stakeholders on the health protocols that will be implemented to ensure it takes place in a safe environment for all participants.

Group stage play will take place at Jalisco and Akron Stadiums, between March 18-25. After round-robin play, the first and second place finishers in each group will advance to the semifinals.

Both semifinal matches will be played March 28 at the Jalisco Stadium. The semifinal winners will qualify for the final of this competition, and will earn a spot to represent their country at the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament at the Tokyo Summer Games. The competition’s final is scheduled for Tuesday, March 30 at the Akron Stadium.

In January 2020, the eight participating teams were drawn into two groups of four as follows:

Group A: Mexico, USA, Costa Rica and Dominican Republic
Group B: Honduras, Canada, El Salvador and Haiti

The schedule (all times ET/local time)

Group Stage

Thursday, March 18 – Jalisco Stadium
17:00/15:00 USA vs Costa Rica
19:30/17:30 Mexico vs Dominican Republic

Friday, March 19 – Jalisco Stadium
15:30/13:30 Honduras vs Haiti
18:00/16:00 Canada vs El Salvador

Sunday, March 21 – Akron Stadium
19:00/17:00 Dominican Republic vs USA
21:30/19:30 Costa Rica vs Mexico

Monday, March 22 – Akron Stadium

18:00/16:00 Haiti vs Canada
20:30/18:30 El Salvador vs Honduras

Wednesday, March 24 – Jalisco Stadium
19:00/17:00 Costa Rica vs Dominican Republic
21:30/19:30 Mexico vs USA

Thursday, March 25 – Jalisco Stadium
19:00/17:00 El Salvador vs Haiti
21:30/19:30 Honduras vs Canada

Semifinals

Sunday, March 28 – Jalisco Stadium
18:00/16:00 1B vs 2A
21:00/19:00 1A vs 2B

Final

Tuesday, March 30 – Akron Stadium
21:00/19:00 Winner Semifinal 1 vs Winner Semifinal 2

All matches will be widely available for fans across the region to follow and enjoy live through the Confederation’s TV partner networks, including Fox Sports (USA), TUDN (Mexico and USA), One Soccer (Canada), Flow Sports (Caribbean), Teletica and Repretel (Costa Rica), TCS (El Salvador), Televicentro (Honduras) and other local partners.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.