2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF Fourth Round
# 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF Fourth Round

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

## Format

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').

## Seeding

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.

The seeding was based on the FIFA World Rankings of August 2014 (shown in parentheses). 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). 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 |
| - | - |
| Costa Rica (15) Mexico (17) United States (18) | Honduras (43) Panama (63) Trinidad and Tobago (80) |
| Third round winners ||
| Jamaica (85) Haiti (117) Canada (122) El Salvador (127) Guatemala (134) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (134) ||

## Groups

* 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):
* Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
* Overall goal difference
* Overall goals scored
* Points in matches between tied teams
* Goal difference in matches between tied teams
* Goals scored in matches between tied teams
* Away goals scored in matches between tied teams (if the tie was only between two teams in home-and-away league format)
* 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
* Drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee

### Group A

| 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 | Advance to fifth round | 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 | — |

### Group B

| 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 | Advance to fifth round | 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 | — |

### Group C

| 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 | Advance to fifth round | 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 | — |

## Goalscorers

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

8 goals

* Carlos Ruiz

6 goals

* Jozy Altidore

4 goals

* Joevin Jones

3 goals

* Jesús Corona
* Oalex Anderson

2 goals

* Cyle Larin
* Christian Bolaños
* Bryan Ruiz
* Nelson Bonilla
* Rafael Morales
* Gerson Tinoco
* Romell Quioto
* Andrés Guardado
* Luis Tejada
* Trevin Caesar
* Levi Garcia
* Kenwyne Jones
* Geoff Cameron
* Sacha Kljestan
* Christian Pulisic
* Bobby Wood

1 goal

* David Edgar
* Nikolas Ledgerwood
* Manjrekar James
* Jhonny Acosta
* Randall Azofeifa
* Celso Borges
* Cristian Gamboa
* Rónald Matarrita
* Marco Ureña
* Johan Venegas
* Alexander Larín
* Pablo Punyed
* Jairo Arreola
* Stefano Cincotta
* Dennis López
* Minor López
* Jean Márquez
* Carlos Mejía
* Kevin Lafrance
* Duckens Nazon
* Alberth Elis
* Boniek García
* Anthony Lozano
* Mario Martínez
* Clayton Donaldson
* Je-Vaughn Watson
* Jürgen Damm
* Javier Hernández
* Héctor Herrera
* Raúl Jiménez
* Hirving Lozano
* Héctor Moreno
* Ángel Sepúlveda
* Carlos Vela
* Abdiel Arroyo
* Felipe Baloy
* Armando Cooper
* Gabriel Torres
* Nazir McBurnette
* Myron Samuel
* Shandel Samuel
* Sheldon Bateau
* Khaleem Hyland
* Kevin Molino
* Paul Arriola
* Matt Besler
* Clint Dempsey
* Fabian Johnson
* Gyasi Zardes
* Graham Zusi

1 own goal

* Wes Morgan (against Panama)
