2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League A

The 2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League A was the top division of the 2019–20 edition of the CONCACAF Nations League, the inaugural season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 41 member associations of CONCACAF. League A culminated with the final championship in June 2021 to crown the inaugural champions of the CONCACAF Nations League.^[1]

2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League A

Tournament details
Dates	Group phase: 5 September – 19 November 2019 Nations League Finals: 3–6 June 2021
Teams	12
Final positions
Champions	United States (1st title)
Runners-up	Mexico
Third place	Honduras
Fourth place	Costa Rica
Relegated	Bermuda  Cuba  Haiti  Trinidad and Tobago
Tournament statistics
Matches played	28
Goals scored	83 (2.96 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Weston McKennie Jordan Morris (4 goals each)
2022–23 →

Format

League A consisted of twelve teams, with the six participants of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying hexagonal joined by the top six teams from qualifying. The league was split into four groups of three teams. The teams competed in a home-and-away, round-robin format over the course of the group phase, with matches played in the official FIFA match windows in September, October and November 2019. The four group winners qualified to the Nations League final championship, while the four last-placed teams in each group were relegated to League B for the next edition of the tournament.^[2][3][4]

The Nations League Finals took place in June 2021, and was played in a knockout format in the United States, the centralized location selected by CONCACAF. The four teams played the semi-finals, with the matchups determined by the group stage rankings (1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3), followed by the third place match and the final (Regulations Articles 12.8 and 12.10).^[5]

In September 2019, it was announced that the Nations League would also provide qualification for the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup.^[6] The top two teams from each of the four League A groups qualified for the Gold Cup, while the third-placed teams entered the first round of Gold Cup qualification.

Seeding

Teams were seeded into the pots of League A according to their position in the November 2018 CONCACAF Ranking Index.^[7][8]

Pot 1 Team Pts Rank   Mexico 1,998 1   United States 1,863 2   Costa Rica 1,752 3   Honduras 1,630 4

Pot 2 Team Pts Rank   Panama 1,579 5   Canada 1,471 7   Haiti 1,359 10   Trinidad and Tobago 1,342 11

Pot 3 Team Pts Rank   Martinique 1,286 12   Cuba 1,152 13   Curaçao 1,079 15   Bermuda 865 23

The draw for the group phase took place at The Chelsea in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States on 27 March 2019, 22:00 EDT (19:00 local time, PDT).^[9][10]

Groups

The fixture list was confirmed by CONCACAF on 21 May 2019.^[11][12][13]

Times are EDT/EST,^{[note 1]} as listed by CONCACAF (local times, if different, are in parentheses).^[14][15][16]

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	United States	4	3	0	1	15	3	+12	9	Qualification for Finals Qualification for 2021 Gold Cup		—	4–1	7–0
2	Canada	4	3	0	1	10	4	+6	9	Qualification for 2021 Gold Cup		2–0	—	6–0
3	Cuba (R)	4	0	0	4	0	18	−18	0	Advance to Gold Cup prelims Relegation to League B		0–4	0–1	—

Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(R) Relegated

7 September 2019 (2019-09-07)

20:00

Canada	6–0	Cuba
Hoilett   13', 50', 82' (pen.) David   21' Osorio   52' Henry   65'	Report

BMO Field, Toronto

Attendance: 10,224^[17]

Referee: Fernando Hernández (Mexico)

---

10 September 2019 (2019-09-10)

19:15 (18:15 UTC−5)

Cuba	0–1	Canada
	Report	Davies   9'

Truman Bodden Sports Complex, George Town (Cayman Islands)^{[note 2]}

Attendance: 420

Referee: Mario Escobar (Guatemala)

---

11 October 2019 (2019-10-11)

19:00

United States	7–0	Cuba
McKennie   1', 5', 13' Morris   9' Ramos   37' (o.g.) Sargent   40' Pulisic   62' (pen.)	Report

Audi Field, Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 13,784

Referee: José Torres (Puerto Rico)

---

15 October 2019 (2019-10-15)

19:30

Canada	2–0	United States
Davies   63' Cavallini   90+1'	Report

BMO Field, Toronto

Attendance: 17,126^[18]

Referee: Daneon Parchment (Jamaica)

---

15 November 2019 (2019-11-15)

19:00

United States	4–1	Canada
Morris   2' Zardes   23', 89' Long   34'	Report	Vitória   72'

Exploria Stadium, Orlando

Attendance: 13,103

Referee: César Ramos (Mexico)

---

19 November 2019 (2019-11-19)

19:30

Cuba	0–4	United States
	Report	Sargent   1', 66' Morris   26', 39'

Truman Bodden Sports Complex, George Town (Cayman Islands)^{[note 2]}

Attendance: 1,966

Referee: John Pitti (Panama)

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Mexico	4	4	0	0	13	3	+10	12	Qualification for Finals Qualification for 2021 Gold Cup		—	3–1	2–1
2	Panama	4	1	0	3	5	9	−4	3	Qualification for 2021 Gold Cup		0–3	—	0–2
3	Bermuda (R)	4	1	0	3	5	11	−6	3	Advance to Gold Cup prelims Relegation to League B		1–5	1–4	—

Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(R) Relegated

5 September 2019 (2019-09-05)

18:00 (19:00 UTC−3)

Bermuda	1–4	Panama
Cummings   44' (o.g.)	Report	Torres   31', 66' Blackburn   45' Carrasquilla   90+3'

Bermuda National Stadium, Hamilton

Attendance: 189

Referee: Raúl Castro (Honduras)

---

8 September 2019 (2019-09-08)

21:00 (20:00 UTC−5)

Panama	0–2	Bermuda
	Report	Wells   22', 61'

Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City

Attendance: 12,053

Referee: Nitzar Sandoval (Nicaragua)

---

11 October 2019 (2019-10-11)

21:00 (22:00 UTC−3)

Bermuda	1–5	Mexico
Wells   56'	Report	Antuna   25' Macías   45+2', 53' Lozano   60' Herrera   71'

Bermuda National Stadium, Hamilton

Attendance: 705

Referee: Henry Bejarano (Costa Rica)

---

15 October 2019 (2019-10-15)

21:30 (20:30 UTC−5)

Mexico	3–1	Panama
Alvarado   28' Macías   75' Pizarro   90+2'	Report	Salcedo   42' (o.g.)

Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Attendance: 41,075

Referee: Iván Barton (El Salvador)

---

15 November 2019 (2019-11-15)

21:00

Panama	0–3	Mexico
	Report	Jiménez   8', 85' (pen.) Álvarez   70'

Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City

Attendance: 16,407

Referee: Ricardo Montero (Costa Rica)

---

19 November 2019 (2019-11-19)

21:30 (20:30 UTC−6)

Mexico	2–1	Bermuda
Córdova   27' Antuna   90+3'	Report	Leverock   10'

Estadio Nemesio Díez, Toluca

Referee: Ismael Cornejo (El Salvador)

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Honduras	4	3	1	0	8	1	+7	10	Qualification for Finals Qualification for 2021 Gold Cup		—	1–0	4–0
2	Martinique	4	0	3	1	4	5	−1	3	Qualification for 2021 Gold Cup		1–1	—	1–1
3	Trinidad and Tobago (R)	4	0	2	2	3	9	−6	2	Advance to Gold Cup prelims Relegation to League B		0–2	2–2	—

Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(R) Relegated

6 September 2019 (2019-09-06)

18:00

Martinique	1–1	Trinidad and Tobago
Mandouki   40'	Report	J. Jones   66' (pen.)

Stade Pierre-Aliker, Fort-de-France

Attendance: 4,678

Referee: José Kellys (Panama)

---

9 September 2019 (2019-09-09)

21:00

Trinidad and Tobago	2–2	Martinique
Molino   17' Telfer   46'	Report	Carr   60' (o.g.) Delem   80'

Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Diego Montaño (Mexico)

---

10 October 2019 (2019-10-10)

19:00

Trinidad and Tobago	0–2	Honduras
	Report	Moya   52' Martínez   90'

Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain

Attendance: 2,500

Referee: Mario Escobar (Guatemala)

---

13 October 2019 (2019-10-13)

22:00 (20:00 UTC−6)

Honduras	1–0	Martinique
Barthéléry   4' (o.g.)	Report

Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula

Attendance: 34,265

Referee: Adonai Escobedo (Mexico)

---

14 November 2019 (2019-11-14)

20:00 (21:00 UTC−4)

Martinique	1–1	Honduras
Rivière   5'	Report	Mejía   65'

Stade Pierre-Aliker, Fort-de-France

Attendance: 1,453

Referee: Ted Unkel (United States)

---

17 November 2019 (2019-11-17)

20:00 (19:00 UTC−6)

Honduras	4–0	Trinidad and Tobago
Toro   5' Moya   20' Elis   45+2' (pen.), 54'	Report

Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula

Referee: Joel Aguilar (El Salvador)

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Costa Rica	4	1	3	0	4	3	+1	6	Qualification for Finals Qualification for 2021 Gold Cup		—	0–0	1–1
2	Curaçao	4	1	2	1	3	3	0	5	Qualification for 2021 Gold Cup, later withdrew^[a]		1–2	—	1–0
3	Haiti (R)	4	0	3	1	3	4	−1	3	Advance to Gold Cup prelims Relegation to League B		1–1	1–1	—

Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Curaçao, who had originally qualified for the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup through the Nations League, eventually had to withdraw just before the start of the tournament due to an outbreak of COVID-19 in the team.

7 September 2019 (2019-09-07)

18:00

Curaçao	1–0	Haiti
Hooi   70'	Report

Ergilio Hato Stadium, Willemstad

Attendance: 8,346

Referee: Keylor Herrera (Costa Rica)

---

10 September 2019 (2019-09-10)

18:00

Haiti	1–1	Curaçao
Pierrot   15'	Report	Hooi   41'

Stade Sylvio Cator, Port-au-Prince

Attendance: 9,654

Referee: Walter López (Guatemala)

---

10 October 2019 (2019-10-10)

21:00

Haiti	1–1	Costa Rica
Pierrot   82'	Report	Ortiz   53'

Thomas Robinson Stadium, Nassau (Bahamas)^{[note 3]}

Attendance: 4,012

Referee: Drew Fischer (Canada)

---

13 October 2019 (2019-10-13)

20:00 (18:00 UTC−6)

Costa Rica	0–0	Curaçao
	Report

Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela

Attendance: 7,256

Referee: Armando Villarreal (United States)

---

14 November 2019 (2019-11-14)

18:30 (19:30 UTC−4)

Curaçao	1–2	Costa Rica
Janga   20'	Report	Venegas   14' (pen.) Calvo   84'

Ergilio Hato Stadium, Willemstad

Attendance: 11,387

Referee: Marco Ortiz (Mexico)

---

17 November 2019 (2019-11-17)

18:00 (17:00 UTC−6)

Costa Rica	1–1	Haiti
Calvo   27'	Report	Nazon   38' (pen.)

Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San José

Referee: Saíd Martínez (Honduras)

Nations League Finals

Main article: 2021 CONCACAF Nations League Finals

Seeding

The four teams were ranked based on their results in the group stage to determine the semi-final matchups.

Seed	Grp	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	B	Mexico	4	4	0	0	13	3	+10	12
2	C	Honduras	4	3	1	0	8	1	+7	10
3	A	United States (H)	4	3	0	1	15	3	+12	9
4	D	Costa Rica	4	1	3	0	4	3	+1	6

Source: CONCACAF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) away goals scored; 5) disciplinary points; 6) drawing of lots (Regulations Article 12.9).^[5]
(H) Host

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	3 June 2021 – Denver
	Honduras	0
					6 June 2021 – Denver
	United States	1
					United States (a.e.t.)	3
	3 June 2021 – Denver
					Mexico	2
	Mexico (p)	0 (5)
	Costa Rica	0 (4)
					Third place play-off
					6 June 2021 – Denver
					Honduras (p)	2 (5)
					Costa Rica	2 (4)

Semi-finals

3 June 2021 (2021-06-03)

17:30^{[note 4]}

Honduras	0–1	United States
	Report	Pefok   89'

Empower Field at Mile High, Denver

Attendance: 34,451^[22]

Referee: Oshane Nation (Jamaica)

---

3 June 2021 (2021-06-03)

20:00^{[note 5]}

Mexico	0–0	Costa Rica
	Report
Penalties
Antuna   Lozano   Pineda   Pulido   Romo   Gallardo	5–4	Venegas   Duarte   Alfaro   Lassiter   Calvo   Cruz

Empower Field at Mile High, Denver

Attendance: 34,451^[22]

Referee: Bryan López (Guatemala)

Third place play-off

6 June 2021 (2021-06-06)

16:30^{[note 6]}

Honduras	2–2	Costa Rica
E. Rodríguez   48' Elis   80'	Report	Campbell   8' Calvo   85'
Penalties
A. López   Elis   Benguché   Toro   Acosta   Alvarado	5–4	Venegas   Calvo   Lassiter   Torres   Mora   Tejeda

Empower Field at Mile High, Denver

Attendance: 37,648^[26]

Referee: Reon Radix (Grenada)

Final

Main article: 2020 CONCACAF Nations League Final

June 6, 2021 (2021-06-06)

19:00^{[note 7]}

United States	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Mexico
Reyna   27' McKennie   82' Pulisic   114' (pen.)	Report	Corona   2' Lainez   79'

Empower Field at Mile High, Denver

Attendance: 37,648^[26]

Referee: John Pitti (Panama)

Goalscorers

There were 83 goals scored in 28 matches, for an average of 2.96 goals per match.

4 goals

•   Weston McKennie
•   Jordan Morris

3 goals

•   Nahki Wells
•   Junior Hoilett
•   Francisco Calvo
•   Alberth Elis
•   José Juan Macías
•   Josh Sargent

2 goals

•   Alphonso Davies
•   Elson Hooi
•   Frantzdy Pierrot
•   Brayan Moya
•   Uriel Antuna
•   Raúl Jiménez
•   Gabriel Torres
•   Christian Pulisic
•   Gyasi Zardes

1 goal

•   Dante Leverock
•   Lucas Cavallini
•   Jonathan David
•   Doneil Henry
•   Jonathan Osorio
•   Steven Vitória
•   Joel Campbell
•   José Ortiz
•   Johan Venegas
•   Rangelo Janga
•   Duckens Nazon
•   Douglas Martínez
•   Juan Mejía
•   Edwin Rodríguez
•   Jonathan Toro
•   Roberto Alvarado
•   Edson Álvarez
•   Sebastián Córdova
•   Jesús Corona
•   Héctor Herrera
•   Diego Lainez
•   Hirving Lozano
•   Rodolfo Pizarro
•   Jordy Delem
•   Cyril Mandouki
•   Emmanuel Rivière
•   Rolando Blackburn
•   Adalberto Carrasquilla
•   Joevin Jones
•   Kevin Molino
•   Ryan Telfer
•   Aaron Long
•   Giovanni Reyna
•   Jordan Siebatcheu

1 own goal

•   Darío Ramos (against United States)
•   Romario Barthéléry (against Honduras)
•   Carlos Salcedo (against Panama)
•   Harold Cummings (against Bermuda)
•   Daniel Carr (against Martinique)

Notes

1. EDT (UTC−4) for matches in September and October 2019, and EST (UTC−5) for matches in November 2019.
2. Cuba played their home matches in Cayman Islands.
3. Haiti played their home match against Costa Rica at Thomas Robinson Stadium, Nassau in Bahamas, instead of Stade Sylvio Cator, Port-au-Prince, due to the political and social situation in Haiti.^[19]
4. Though listed with a 17:30 kick-off time,^[20] the match actually began at 17:36.^[21]
5. Though listed with a 20:00 kick-off time,^[23] the match actually began at 20:36.^[21]
6. Though listed with a 16:30 kick-off time,^[24] the match actually began at 16:36.^[25]
7. Though listed with a 19:00 kick-off time,^[27] the match actually began at 19:36.^[25]

References

1. "CONCACAF's top teams gear up for Nations League A". CONCACAFNationsLeague.com. Las Vegas: CONCACAF. 27 March 2019. from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
2. . CONCACAF.com. The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football. 5 March 2018. Archived from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
3. . CONCACAFNationsLeague.com. The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football. 7 March 2018. Archived from the original on 21 November 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
4. (PDF). res.cloudinary.com. CONCACAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
5. (PDF). res.cloudinary.com. CONCACAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
6. . CONCACAF.com. The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football. 4 September 2019. Archived from the original on 11 September 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
7. "CONCACAF Ranking: As of November 2018" (PDF). CONCACAF. 6 March 2019. (PDF) from the original on 7 March 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
8. "Stage set for 2019 CONCACAF Nations League draw". CONCACAFNationsLeague. Miami: CONCACAF. 25 March 2019. from the original on 26 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
9. "2019 CONCACAF Nations League Draw to Take Place March 27". CONCACAFNationsLeague.com. Miami: CONCACAF. 6 March 2019. from the original on 7 March 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
10. "Draw Delivers Groups for the Inaugural Edition of the CONCACAF Nations League". CONCACAFNationsLeague.com. Miami: CONCACAF. 28 March 2019. from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
11. "Schedule confirmed for the inaugural edition of the CONCACAF Nations League". CONCACAFNationsLeague.com. Miami: CONCACAF. 21 May 2019. from the original on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
12. "2019 CONCACAF Nations League schedule" (PDF). CONCACAF. 21 May 2019. (PDF) from the original on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
13. "CONCACAF Nations League: Official schedule 2019" (PDF). CONCACAF. 21 May 2019. (PDF) from the original on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
14. . CONCACAF. Archived from the original on 6 September 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
15. (PDF). CONCACAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
16. (PDF). CONCACAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
17. Davidson, Neil. "Announced attendance of 10,224 for Canada-Cuba match". Twitter. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
18. Molinaro, John. "Davies helps Canada vanquish U.S. in Concacaf Nations League". Canadian Premier League. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
19. . concacafnationsleague.com. CONCACAF. 2 October 2019. Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
20. "2021 Concacaf Nations League Finals provisional rosters and kick off times confirmed". CONCACAF. 9 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
21. Goff, Steven [@SoccerInsider] (3 June 2021). "USMNT vs. Honduras kickoff: 5:36 pm local (7:36 ET). TV: CBS Sports Network, Univision, TUDN. Mexico-Costa Rica match listed at 8 pm local but won't kick off until 8:36 local (Univision, TUDN)" (Tweet). Retrieved 6 June 2021 – via Twitter.
22. Tannenwald, Jonathan (3 June 2021). "Jordan Siebatcheu's late goal gives USMNT ugly 1–0 win over Honduras in Nations League semifinal". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
23. "2021 Concacaf Nations League Finals provisional rosters and kick off times confirmed". CONCACAF. 9 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
24. "2021 Concacaf Nations League Finals provisional rosters and kick off times confirmed". CONCACAF. 9 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
25. Goff, Steven [@SoccerInsider] (6 June 2021). "Concacaf Nations League matchday – 3rd-place game: Costa Rica v Honduras, 4:36 pm local kickoff/6:36 ET (UniMas, TUDN, Paramount+). Final: United States v Mexico, 7:36 pm local kickoff/9:36 ET (CBS Sports Network, Univision, TUDN, Paramount+)" (Tweet). Retrieved 6 June 2021 – via Twitter.
26. Keeler, Sean (6 June 2021). "Highlands Ranch native Ethan Horvath, Christian Pulisic lift U.S. to 3–2 win over Mexico". The Denver Post. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
27. "2021 Concacaf Nations League Finals provisional rosters and kick off times confirmed". CONCACAF. 9 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.

External links

• Official website