1996 CONCACAF Pre-Olympic Tournament
The 1996 CONCACAF Pre-Olympic Tournament was the ninth edition of the CONCACAF Pre-Olympic Tournament, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted football tournament organised by CONCACAF to determine which men's under-23 national teams from the North, Central America and Caribbean region qualify for the Olympic football tournament. It was held in Canada, from 10 and 19 May 1996.
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Canada |
| Dates | 10–19 May |
| Teams | 6 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue(s) | 1 (in 1 host city) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Mexico (4th title) |
| Runners-up | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Canada |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 15 |
| Goals scored | 48 (3.2 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Rónald Gómez (4 goals) |
It was the first time in which teams that qualified for the Olympics were permitted to supplement their rosters with three players not restricted by age in its 18-man final list.[1]
Mexico, as winners qualified for the 1996 Summer Olympics together with the United States who automatically qualified as hosts. Second-placed Canada later lost to Australia in the CONCACAF–OFC play-off and failed to qualify for the Olympics for the third consecutive time.
Qualification
Qualified teams
The following teams qualified for the final tournament.
| Zone | Country | Method of qualification | Appearance1 | Last appearance | Previous best performance | Previous Olympic appearances (last) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | Canada (hosts) |
Automatic | 3rd | 1992 | Runners-up (1984) | 1 |
| Mexico |
First round winner | 6th | 1992 | Winners (1964, 1972, 1976) | 7 | |
| Central America | Costa Rica |
First round winner | 4th | 1984 | Winners (1980, 1984) | 2 |
 El Salvador |
First round winner | 3rd | 1988 | Winners (1968) | 1 | |
| Caribbean |  Jamaica |
First round winner | 2nd | 1972 | Fourth place (1972) | 0 |
 Trinidad and Tobago |
First round winner | 3rd | 1988 | Runners-up (1968) | 0 |
- 1 Only final tournament.
Venues
The matches were played in Edmonton.
| Edmonton | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Commonwealth Stadium | Clarke Stadium | ||
| Capacity: 60,081 | Capacity: 20,000 | ||
 |
 | ||
Squads
Final round
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mexico (C) |
5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 1 | +11 | 15 | Qualification to 1996 Summer Olympics |
| 2 | Canada (H) |
5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 8 | Advance to play-offs |
| 3 | Costa Rica |
5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 7 | |
| 4 | Jamaica |
5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 11 | −4 | 6 | |
| 5 | Trinidad and Tobago |
5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 10 | −4 | 4 | |
| 6 | El Salvador |
5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 14 | −7 | 3 |
| Mexico | 3–0 | El Salvador |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| El Salvador | 3–1 | Jamaica |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Mexico | 4–0 | Costa Rica |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | 4–2 | El Salvador |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Mexico | 2–0 | Trinidad and Tobago |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 2–1 | El Salvador |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
Statistics
Goalscorers
There were 48 goals scored in 15 matches, for an average of 3.2 goals per match.
6 goals
4 goals
3 goals
Qualified teams for Summer Olympics
The following two teams from CONCACAF qualified for the 1996 Summer Olympics, including the United States which qualified as hosts.
| Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in Summer Olympics1 |
|---|---|---|
 United States | 18 September 1990 | 11 (1904, 1924, 1928, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1972, 1984, 1988, 1992) |
| Mexico | 17 May 1996 | 7 (1928, 1948, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1992) |
- 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
References
- "CONCACAF.com – Olympic Qualifying - Men - About". Archived from the original on 2015-09-05. Retrieved 2015-08-14.