2008 2008 CONCACAF Men's Pre-Olympic Tournament  | | Tournament details | | Host country |  USA | | City | Nashville, Tennessee | | Dates | 11 March – 23 March | | Teams | 8 (from 1 confederation) | | Venue(s) | 3 (in 3 host cities) | | Final positions | | Champions |  Honduras U-23 | | Runner-up | United States U-23 | | Third place |  Canada U-23 | | Fourth place |  Guatemala U-23 | | Tournament statistics | | Matches played | 16 | | Goals scored | 36 (2.25 per match) | | Top scorer(s) | Freddy Adu | The 2008 CONCACAF Men Pre-Olympic Tournament was an association football tournament that took place in three venues in the United States from March 11 to March 23, 2008. Honduras became new under-23 champion of CONCACAF by beating the United States in the final of the eight-team tournament. Canada and Guatemala took third and fourth places, respectively. The finalists, Honduras and United States, qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.[1] The final round of the 2008 competition had two groups of four in the first round competing on a round-robin basis from March 11 to March 16, 2008, followed by the semi-final round and the finals held on March 20 and March 23, 2008. Group A matches were held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, while Group B matches were held at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California with each venue staging three doubleheaders in group play. The knockout stage matches were held at LP Field in Nashville, Tennessee. [edit] Participating teams | North American Zone Central American Zone Caribbean Zone | [edit] Squads [edit] Group stage [edit] Group A All times EDT
[edit] Group B All times PDT
[edit] Knockout stage [edit] Semi-finals
[edit] Third place match Honduras and the United States qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. This match decided the CONCACAF U-23 men's championship. [edit] Top scorers (group and knockout stages) - 4 goals [2]
- 3 goals
- 2 goals
[edit] Cuban defections Following the Cuban draw against the United States, seven Cuban players defected, leaving the team with only 11 players. Because Roberto Linares was sent off from Cuba's match against the United States automatically suspended for the next match, Cuba was left with only 10 eligible players against Honduras. Cuba played its final game against Panama with no players available as substitutes.[3] [edit] Qualifying rounds Qualifying rounds for the 2008 CONCACAF Men's Pre-Olympic Tournament were held for the Central American and the Caribbean zones, narrowing the field from each zone to three nations and two nations, respectively. In the following tables: - P = total games played
- W = total games won
- D = total games drawn (tied)
- L = total games lost
- GF = total goals scored (goals for)
- GA = total goals conceded (goals against)
- Pts = total points accumulated
| Team qualified for the final round. | | | Team did not qualify for the final round | | Team advances to playoff | [edit] North American zone The 3 members of the North American zone automatically qualified to the final round: [edit] Central American zone Six teams were divided into two groups of three, or triangulars, and played a round of matches in round-robin format. The winner of each triangular advanced to the finals, and the runners-up played each other in a home-and-away playoff. [edit] Triangular 1
[edit] Triangular 2
[edit] Play-off The runners-up of each triangular met in a play-off qualified for a spot in the final round.
Panama 1–1 Costa Rica on aggregate. Panama won 4–3 on penalties. [edit] Caribbean zone The Caribbean zone qualifiers were divided into two rounds. In the first round, 22 teams were divided into six groups, Groups A through F, and the six group winners advanced to the second round. The six second round teams were divided into two groups of three, Groups G and H, and the winners advanced to the finals. [edit] First round August 31, 2007 September 2, 2007 September 4, 2007 September 9, 2007 September 11, 2007 September 13, 2007 September 9, 2007 September 11, 2007 September 13, 2007 September 9, 2007 September 11, 2007 September 13, 2007 September 9, 2007 September 11, 2007 September 13, 2007 September 2, 2007 - The British Virgin Islands withdrew at the last minute, leaving the Bahamas as the group champion.
[edit] Second round [edit] Group G [edit] Group H | Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |  Haiti | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | +6 |  Bahamas | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | -5 |  Jamaica | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -2 | [edit] References [edit] External links | |
