2017 CONCACAF U-20 Championship
# 2017 CONCACAF U-20 Championship

The 2017 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship was the 5th edition of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship (26th edition if all eras included), the men's under-20 international football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It was hosted in Costa Rica between 17 February and 5 March 2017.

The competition determined the four CONCACAF representatives at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea. The United States, Mexico, Honduras, and Costa Rica qualified.

The tournament also determined which two Caribbean nations participate in the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games.

## Qualification

| Team | Qualification | Appearances | Previous best performances | FIFA U-20 World Cup Participations |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| North American zone |||||
| Canada | Automatic | 22nd | Champions (1986, 1996) | 8 |
| Mexico (TH) | Automatic | 25th | Champions (1962, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1984, 1990, 1992, 2011, 2013, 2015) | 14 |
| United States | Automatic | 23rd | Runners-up (1980, 1982, 1986, 1992, 2009, 2013) | 14 |
| Central American zone qualified through the Central America qualifying |||||
| Costa Rica | Host nation | 19th | Champions (1988, 2009) | 8 |
| Honduras | First place | 18th | Champions (1982, 1994) | 6 |
| El Salvador | Second place | 16th | Champions (1964) | 1 |
| Panama | Fourth place | 10th | Runner-up (2015) | 5 |
| Caribbean zone qualified through the Caribbean qualifying |||||
| Antigua and Barbuda | Group A winner | 3rd | First Round (1980, 1986) | 0 |
| Bermuda | Group A runner-up | 12th | Second Round (1974, 1980) | 0 |
| Haiti | Group B winner | 8th | Second Round (1978) | 0 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | Group B runner-up | 19th | Runners-up (1990) | 2 |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | Best Third Place | 2nd | First Round (2007) | 0 |

### Notes

* ↑ On 28 October 2016, FIFA suspended the National Football Federation of Guatemala for political interference by the Government of Guatemala. Until the suspension is lifted, Guatemalan teams are not permitted to participate in international competitions. CONCACAF had set the deadline of 20 November 2016 for the suspension to be lifted, otherwise by rule, Guatemala would be disqualified from the 2017 CONCACAF U-20 Championship, and any replacement team or revision to the tournament format would be discussed once the deadline had passed. On 22 November, CONCACAF announced that Panama, fourth place in Central America qualifying, would take the place of Guatemala, third place in Central America qualifying.

## Venues

| San José | San José | San José |
| - | - | - |
| San José | Estadio Nacional | Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá |
| San José | Capacity: 35,175 | Capacity: 23,112 |

## Draw

The draw took place on November 29, 2016 at 18:00 CST (UTC−6) at El Cubo, Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica, and was streamed live via CONCACAF.com.

Different from previous tournaments, the 12 teams were drawn into three groups of four teams in the group stage. Costa Rica, Mexico and the United States were seeded into each of the three groups.

* Mexico, as champions of the 2015 CONCACAF U-20 Championship, were seeded in position A1.
* United States, as the best-ranked CONCACAF team in the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup, were seeded in position B1.
* Costa Rica, as hosts, were seeded in position C1.

The remaining nine teams were allocated to pots 2–4 designed to ensure balanced and competitive groups weighted equally by region. They were drawn in order and placed in the group position drawn from Pots A, B and C.

| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| - | - | - | - |
| Mexico  United States  Costa Rica | Panama  Honduras  El Salvador | Canada  Trinidad and Tobago  Haiti | Antigua and Barbuda  Bermuda  Saint Kitts and Nevis |

The top two teams from each group in the group stage advance to the classification stage, where the six teams are drawn into two groups of three teams. The positions of each group winner and runner-up from the group stage were then drawn in group pairs, randomly into the two groups (D and E) for the classification stage.

The top two teams from each group in the classification stage qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup, with the group winners also advancing to the final to decide the champions of the CONCACAF U-20 Championship.

## Squads

Each squad can contain 20 players (including two goalkeepers).

## Group stage

The top two teams from each group in the group stage advance to the classification stage.

### Tiebreakers (for both group stage and classification stage)

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

* Greater number of points in matches between the tied teams;
* Greater goal difference in matches between the tied teams (if more than two teams finish equal on points);
* Greater number of goals scored in matches among the tied teams (if more than two teams finish equal in points);
* Greater goal difference in all group matches;
* Greater number of goals scored in all group matches;
* Drawing of lots.

All times are local, CST (UTC−6).

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Mexico | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | +9 | 9 | Classification stage |
| 2 | Honduras | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 6 | Classification stage |
| 3 | Canada | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 3 | |
| 4 | Antigua and Barbuda | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | −8 | 0 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Panama | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | +7 | 9 | Classification stage |
| 2 | United States | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 6 | Classification stage |
| 3 | Haiti | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 8 | −1 | 3 | |
| 4 | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 13 | −11 | 0 | |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | El Salvador | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 6 | Classification stage |
| 2 | Costa Rica (H) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 6 | Classification stage |
| 3 | Trinidad and Tobago | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | |
| 4 | Bermuda | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 1 | |

## Classification stage

The top two teams from each group in the classification stage qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup, with the group winners also advancing to the final to decide the champions of the CONCACAF U-20 Championship.

### Group D

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | United States | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 6 | Final and 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup |
| 2 | Mexico | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 3 | 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup |
| 3 | El Salvador | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 | −6 | 0 | |

### Group E

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Honduras | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 6 | Final and 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup |
| 2 | Costa Rica (H) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 1 | 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup |
| 3 | Panama | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 1 | |

## Final

Since the final ended in a tie at the end of 90 minutes, no extra time was played and the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out.

## Awards

### Winners

* 2017 CONCACAF U-20 Championship winners
* United States First title

### Individual awards

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

**Golden Ball**

* Erik Palmer-Brown

**Golden Boot**

* Ronaldo Cisneros (6 goals)

**Golden Glove**

* Jonathan Klinsmann

**Fair Play Award**

* Mexico

### Best XI

* Goalkeeper: Jonathan Klinsmann
* Right Defender: Marlon Fossey
* Central Defender: Edson Álvarez
* Central Defender: Justen Glad
* Left Defender: Andrés Andrade
* Right Midfielder: Uriel Antuna
* Central Midfielder: Jorge Álvarez
* Central Midfielder: Erik Palmer-Brown
* Left Midfielder: Brooks Lennon
* Attacking Midfielder: Randall Leal
* Forward: Ronaldo Cisneros

## Goalscorers

### 6 goals

* Ronaldo Cisneros

### 4 goals

* Ricardo Ávila
* Brooks Lennon

### 3 goals

* Randall Leal
* Jorge Daniel Álvarez
* Uriel Antuna
* Leandro Ávila

### 2 goals

* Oneko Lowe
* Fernando Castillo
* Roberto Domínguez
* Jonel Désiré
* Darixon Vuelto
* Eduardo Aguirre
* Kathon St. Hillaire
* Sebastian Saucedo

### 1 goal

* Luther Wildin
* Mazhye Burchall
* Shaan Hundal
* Kris Twardek
* Andy Reyes
* Josè Contreras
* Marvin Márquez
* Josue Rivera
* Alessandro Campoy
* Brian Chevreuil
* Ronaldo Damus
* Kenley Dede
* Jimmy-Shammar Sanon
* Foslyn Grant
* Denil Maldonado
* Douglas Martínez
* Sebastián Córdova
* Claudio Zamudio
* Andrés Andrade
* Isidoro Hinestroza
* Romario Martin
* Javier Sutton
* Jabari Mitchell
* Luca de la Torre
* Jonathan Lewis
* Erik Palmer-Brown
* Emmanuel Sabbi
* Eryk Williamson

### 1 own goal

* Vashami Allen (playing against Mexico)
* Jarmarlie Stevens (playing against Honduras)
* Tehvan Tyrell (playing against Costa Rica)
* Walter Ayala (playing against Mexico)

Source: CONCACAF.com

## Qualification for international tournaments

### Qualified teams for FIFA U-20 World Cup

The following four teams from CONCACAF qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

| Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in tournament |
| - | - | - |
| United States | 3 March 2017 | 14 (1981, 1983, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2015) |
| Honduras | 1 March 2017 | 6 (1977, 1995, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2015) |
| Mexico | 1 March 2017 | 14 (1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015) |
| Costa Rica | 3 March 2017 | 8 (1989, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2007, 2009, 2011) |

    $^1$ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

### Qualified teams for Central American and Caribbean Games

The competition was used to decide the two teams from the Caribbean Football Union which would qualify for the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games. As none of the five Caribbean teams reached the classification stage, all teams were ranked by their group stage performance.

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Trinidad and Tobago | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games |
| 2 | Haiti | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 8 | −1 | 3 | 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games |
| 3 | Bermuda | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 1 | |
| 4 | Antigua and Barbuda | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | −8 | 0 | |
| 5 | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 13 | −11 | 0 | |
