Get Recruited Faster with a Player Profile on SoccerWire.com

LEARN MORE
+ GET RECRUITED
USMNT Dec 05, 2020

USMNT receives updated schedule for 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers

On Friday, Concacaf confirmed the updated schedule for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The new calendar includes a number of international windows extended by an additional day to allow for three matches to be played.

The original qualifying schedule was published following the official draw in August, but the competition was postponed due to the ongoing global health pandemic. For the final round, four of the five international windows will be packed with three matches each, making the qualifying road even more challenging.

While the schedule shifted, the sequence of opponents – which was determined for each nation during the draw – remained the same.

THE USMNT’S UPDATED SCHEDULE:

2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Schedule – Final Round
Matchday Date Home Away
1 Sept. 2021 Group A/F Winner USA
2 Sept. 2021 USA Group B/E Winner
3 Sept. 2021 Honduras USA
4 Oct. 2021 USA Jamaica
5 Oct. 2021 Group C/D Winner USA
6 Oct. 2021 USA Costa Rica
7 Nov. 2021 USA Mexico
8 Nov. 2021 Jamaica USA
9 Jan. 2022 USA Group A/F Winner
10 Jan. 2022 Group B/E Winner USA
11 Jan. 2022 USA Honduras
12 March 2022 Mexico USA
13 March 2022 USA Group C/D Winner
14 March 2022 Costa Rica USA

MAKING UP THE FINAL ROUND NUMBERS

While the USA, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Honduras and Mexico are already locked in for the Final Round, the remaining 30 Concacaf nations will compete through two rounds to determine the remaining three teams who will take part in the “Octagonal”. The draw to determine groups for the First Round also took place back in August.

Scheduled for the March and part of the June 2021 FIFA windows, the First Round will feature six groups (Groups A-F) of five teams each playing four matches (two home, two away).

2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifying – Concacaf First Round Groups
Group A Group B Group C Group D Group E Group F
El Salvador Canada Curaçao Panama Haiti Trinidad and Tobago
Antigua and Barbuda Suriname Guatemala Dominican Republic Nicaragua St. Kitts and Nevis
Grenada Bermuda St. Vincent and the Grenadines Barbados Belize Guyana
Montserrat Cayman Islands Cuba Dominica St. Lucia Puerto Rico
U.S. Virgin Islands Aruba British Virgin Islands Anguilla Turks and Caicos Bahamas

The winners of each group will then advance to the Second Round where they will compete in a home-and-away playoff during the second half of the June 2021 FIFA window to complete the eight-team Final Round.

The matchups for the playoffs were pre-determined and the winner of each was also assigned a corresponding number for the Final Round schedule: Group A winner vs. Group F winner (Team 3); Group B winner vs. Group E winner (Team 1); Group C winner vs. Group D winner (Team 5).