2024 CONCACAF Central American Cup group stage

The 2024 CONCACAF Central American Cup group stage was played from 30 July to 29 August 2024.[1] A total of 20 teams competed in the group stage to decide the 8 places in the knockout stage of the 2024 CONCACAF Central American Cup.[2]

Draw

The draw for the group stage was held on 6 June 2024 in Miami, Florida, United States. The 20 involved teams were previously seeded into five pots of four teams each based on their CONCACAF Club Ranking as of 3 June 2024.[3][4]

Pot 1
Team Rank
Saprissa 41
Olimpia 43
Alajuelense 50
Herediano 51
Pot 2
Team Rank
Municipal 52
Comunicaciones 54
Antigua 55
Motagua 56
Pot 3
Team Rank
Tauro 58
Marathón 59
Independiente 60
Guanacasteca 71
Pot 4
Team Rank
San Francisco 77
Alianza 80
Real Estelí 83
Águila 86
Pot 5
Team Rank
Diriangén 98
Luis Ángel Firpo 113
Managua 146
Port Layola 175

For the group stage, the 20 teams were drawn into four groups (Groups A–D) of five containing a team from each of the five pots. Teams from pot 1 were drawn first and were placed in the first position of their group, starting from Group A to Group D. The same procedure was followed for teams from pots 2, 3, 4 and 5, and they were placed in positions 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively, within the group to which they were drawn. Each group must contain no more than two clubs from the same national association.[3]

The draw resulted in the following groups:[5]

Group A
Pos Team
A1 Herediano
A2 Motagua
A3 Tauro
A4 San Francisco
A5 Diriangén
Group B
Pos Team
B1 Alajuelense
B2 Comunicaciones
B3 Marathón
B4 Alianza
B5 Luis Ángel Firpo
Group C
Pos Team
C1 Olimpia
C2 Antigua
C3 Independiente
C4 Águila
C5 Port Layola
Group D
Pos Team
D1 Saprissa
D2 Municipal
D3 Guanacasteca
D4 Real Estelí
D5 Managua

Format

In the group stage, each group was played on a single home-and-away round-robin basis, with teams playing against each other once, for a total of four matches per team (two home and two away). The teams were ranked according to the following criteria (Regulations Article 12.10.1):[2]

  1. Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss);
  2. Goal difference;
  3. Goals scored;
  4. If two or more teams are still tied after applying the above criteria, their rankings would be determined as follows:
    1. Head-to-head points in the matches played among the tied teams;
    2. Head-to-head goal difference in the matches played among the tied teams;
    3. Head-to-head goals scored in the matches played among the tied teams;
  5. The lowest number of fairplay points, based on the following criteria:
    1. Yellow card: plus 1 point;
    2. Second yellow card/indirect red card: plus 3 points;
    3. Direct red card: plus 4 points;;
    4. Yellow card and direct red card: plus 5 points;
  6. Drawing of lots by CONCACAF.

The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the quarter-finals of the knockout stage.

Schedule

Matches in the competition were played on either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday as decided by CONCACAF. The schedule of each week was as follows (Regulations Article 2).[2][5][6]

Weeks Dates Matches
Week 1 30 July – 1 August 2024 Team 1 vs. Team 3, Team 5 vs. Team 2
Week 2 6–8 August 2024 Team 5 vs. Team 1, Team 2 vs. Team 4
Week 3 13–15 August 2024 Team 4 vs. Team 5, Team 2 vs. Team 3
Week 4 20–22 August 2024 Team 4 vs. Team 1, Team 3 vs. Team 5
Week 5 27–29 August 2024 Team 1 vs. Team 2, Team 3 vs. Team 4

Groups

All match times are in EDT (UTC−4) and local times are in parentheses, as listed by CONCACAF.[6]

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification HER MOT DIR TAU SFR
1 Herediano 4 3 1 0 4 1 +3 10 Advance to Quarter-finals 1–1 1–0
2 Motagua 4 2 1 1 9 6 +3 7 4–1 3–2
3 Diriangén 4 2 1 1 4 3 +1 7 0–1 2–1
4 Tauro 4 1 0 3 4 8 −4 3 1–2 2–1
5 San Francisco 4 0 1 3 3 6 −3 1 0–1 0–0
Source: CONCACAF
Diriangén 2–1 Motagua
  • Cano 10'
  • Copete 89'
Report Vega 63'
Herediano 1–0 Tauro
J. Ruiz 52' Report
Referee: Nelson Salgado (Honduras)

Motagua 3–2 San Francisco
Report
Diriangén 0–1 Herediano
Report González 86'

Motagua 4–1 Tauro
Report Velíz 81'
San Francisco 0–0 Diriangén
Report
Estadio Universitario, Penonomé
Referee: Karen Hernández (Mexico)

Tauro 1–2 Diriangén
Quintero 74' Report Arteaga 59', 90+3'
San Francisco 0–1 Herediano
Report Y. Ruiz 85'
Estadio Universitario, Penonomé
Referee: Jaime Herrera (El Salvador)

Tauro 2–1 San Francisco
Report Góndola 73'
Referee: José García Meléndez (El Salvador)
Herediano 1–1 Motagua
J. Ruiz 54' Report Castillo 29' (pen.)

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification ALA COM MAR ALI LAF
1 Alajuelense 4 4 0 0 11 6 +5 12 Advance to Quarter-finals 2–1 3–1
2 Comunicaciones 4 2 1 1 5 4 +1 7 2–1 1–0
3 Marathón 4 2 0 2 4 5 −1 6 1–0 1–0
4 Alianza 4 1 0 3 6 6 0 3 1–2 5–2
5 Luis Ángel Firpo 4 0 1 3 6 11 −5 1 3–4 1–1
Source: CONCACAF
Luis Ángel Firpo 1–1 Comunicaciones
Gustavo 47' Report Mejía 13'
Attendance: 6,000
Referee: Jorge Leira (Panama)
Alajuelense 3–1 Marathón
Report Bodden 30'

Luis Ángel Firpo 3–4 Alajuelense
Report
Comunicaciones 1–0 Alianza
Henríquez 83' (o.g.) Report

Alianza 5–2 Luis Ángel Firpo
Report
Referee: Cristopher Corado (Guatemala)
Comunicaciones 2–1 Marathón
Report Vega 63'

Alianza 1–2 Alajuelense
Mauricio 64' Report Campos 7', 58'
Referee: Fernando Hernández (Mexico)
Marathón 1–0 Luis Ángel Firpo
Ramírez 90+6' Report

Marathón 1–0 Alianza
Tejeda 66' Report
Alajuelense 2–1 Comunicaciones
Report Casas 59' (pen.)

Group C

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification ÁGU ANT OLI CAI PLA
1 Águila 4 3 1 0 10 1 +9 10 Advance to Quarter-finals 2–0 5–1
2 Antigua 4 2 2 0 7 3 +4 8 0–0 2–1
3 Olimpia 4 2 1 1 10 4 +6 7 1–1 3–0
4 Independiente 4 1 0 3 2 8 −6 3 0–3 1–0
5 Port Layola 4 0 0 4 3 16 −13 0 1–4 1–6
Source: CONCACAF
Port Layola 1–4 Antigua
Leslie 33' Report
Referee: Nitzar Sandoval (Nicaragua)
Olimpia 3–0 Independiente
Report

Antigua 0–0 Águila
Report
Referee: José Valladares (Honduras)
Port Layola 1–6 Olimpia
Orozco 22' Report
Referee: Norberto da Silva (Curaçao)

Antigua 2–1 Independiente
Report Ruíz 26'
Referee: Carly Shaw-MacLaren (Canada)
Águila 5–1 Port Layola
Report Garcia 34'
Referee: Fernando Morón (Panama)

Independiente 1–0 Port Layola
Modelo 84' Report
Águila 2–0 Olimpia
Report

Independiente 0–3 Águila
Report
Referee: Raúl Castro Zúñiga (Honduras)
Olimpia 1–1 Antigua
Solano 48' Report Gómez 53'

Group D

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification SAP EST MUN MAN GUA
1 Saprissa 4 3 0 1 10 4 +6 9 Advance to Quarter-finals 1–0 5–0
2 Real Estelí 4 2 1 1 6 3 +3 7 2–1 3–0
3 Municipal 4 1 1 2 4 4 0 4 1–1 3–1
4 Managua 4 1 1 2 4 7 −3 4 2–3 1–0
5 Guanacasteca 4 1 1 2 3 9 −6 4 1–0 1–1
Source: CONCACAF
Managua 1–0 Municipal
Bonilla 65' Report
Referee: Raúl Castro Zuniga (Honduras)
Saprissa 5–0 Guanacasteca
Report

Managua 2–3 Saprissa
Report
Municipal 1–1 Real Estelí
Altán 34' Report Medina 90+5'
Referee: José García Melendez (El Salvador)

Real Estelí 3–0 Managua
Report
Referee: Steven Madrigal (Costa Rica)
Municipal 3–1 Guanacasteca
Report Córdoba 51'

Real Estelí 2–1 Saprissa
Bonilla 7', 45+2' Report Rodríguez 90+6' (pen.)
Guanacasteca 1–1 Managua
Mora 30' Report Mendieta 41'

Guanacasteca 1–0 Real Estelí
Venegas 81' (pen.) Report
Saprissa 1–0 Municipal
Rodríguez 41' Report

References

  1. ^ "Concacaf confirms important details for 2024 Concacaf Central American Cup". CONCACAF. 9 May 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "CONCACAF Central American Cup 2024 Regulations" (PDF). CONCACAF. 11 June 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Concacaf confirms 2024 Concacaf Central American Cup participating clubs and draw pots". CONCACAF. 3 June 2024.
  4. ^ "Concacaf Club Ranking as of June 3, 2024". CONCACAF. 3 June 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Draw delivers groups for 2024 Concacaf Central American Cup". CONCACAF. 6 June 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Concacaf announces schedule for 2024 Concacaf Central American Cup". CONCACAF. 13 June 2024.