# 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF third round

The third round of CONCACAF matches for 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, nicknamed the Octagonal (for the eight teams participating), was played from September 2021 to March 2022. Canada (qualifying for the first time since 1986), Mexico, and the United States qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, while Costa Rica advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs. Panama, Jamaica, El Salvador, and Honduras were eliminated in this round.
The match on 16 November 2021 between Canada and Mexico, held in Edmonton, marked the coldest match played in Mexican football history, kicking off at −9 °C (16 °F) with a heavy snowstorm the day before. The match was seen by 2.1 million viewers in the United States on the day of its original broadcast, becoming Telemundo's most-watched sporting event since the 2019 Copa América final.

## Format

Eight teams (CONCACAF teams ranked 1 to 5 based on the FIFA rankings of July 2020, and the three winners of the second round) played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format for a total of 14 matches per team. The top three teams qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, while the fourth-placed team advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs to get one of the last 2 places in the tournament.

## Schedule

The third round was originally scheduled to begin in June 2021, but was postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The full schedule for the third round was announced on 16 June 2021, and confirmed on 9 August 2021.
| Matchday | Dates | Matches | Original dates |
| Matchday 1 | 2 September 2021 | 1 v 2, 3 v 4, 5 v 6, 7 v 8 | June 2021 |
| Matchday 2 | 5 September 2021 | 4 v 1, 3 v 2, 6 v 7, 8 v 5 | June 2021 |
| Matchday 3 | 8 September 2021 | 1 v 3, 2 v 4, 5 v 7, 6 v 8 | June 2021 |
| Matchday 4 | 7 October 2021 | 7 v 1, 2 v 6, 3 v 5, 4 v 8 | June 2021 |
| Matchday 5 | 10 October 2021 | 8 v 1, 7 v 2, 6 v 3, 5 v 4 | September 2021 |
| Matchday 6 | 13 October 2021 | 1 v 5, 2 v 8, 3 v 7, 4 v 6 | September 2021 |
| Matchday 7 | 12 November 2021 | 1 v 6, 2 v 5, 3 v 8, 4 v 7 | October 2021 |
| Matchday 8 | 16 November 2021 | 1 v 7, 6 v 2, 5 v 3, 8 v 4 | October 2021 |
| Matchday 9 | 27 January 2022 | 2 v 1, 4 v 3, 6 v 5, 8 v 7 | November 2021 |
| Matchday 10 | 30 January 2022 | 1 v 4, 2 v 3, 7 v 6, 5 v 8 | November 2021 |
| Matchday 11 | 2 February 2022 | 3 v 1, 4 v 2, 7 v 5, 8 v 6 | January 2022 |
| Matchday 12 | 24 March 2022 | 6 v 1, 5 v 2, 8 v 3, 7 v 4 | January 2022 |
| Matchday 13 | 27 March 2022 | 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6, 4 v 5 | March 2022 |
| Matchday 14 | 30 March 2022 | 5 v 1, 8 v 2, 7 v 3, 6 v 4 | March 2022 |

## Qualified teams

The top five teams based on the FIFA rankings of July 2020 (shown in parentheses) received a bye to the third round. For consistency, the three winners of the second round are shown with their FIFA rankings as of July 2020.
| Bye to third round | Second round winners |
| Mexico (11) United States (22) Costa Rica (46) Jamaica (48) Honduras (62) | El Salvador (69) Canada (73) Panama (81) |

## Draw

The draw for the third round was held, along with the draw for the first round, on 19 August 2020, 19:00 CEST (UTC+2), at the FIFA headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland.
Teams were drawn from a single pot, and then were allocated a position (from 1 to 8) to determine the match schedule. The identity of the three second round winners was not known at the time of the draw.
Note: Bolded teams qualified for the World Cup. Costa Rica advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.
| Draw position | Team |
| 1 | Canada |
| 2 | Honduras |
| 3 | El Salvador |
| 4 | United States |
| 5 | Panama |
| 6 | Costa Rica |
| 7 | Mexico |
| 8 | Jamaica |

## Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | | | | | |
| 1 | Canada | 14 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 23 | 7 | +16 | 28 | 2022 FIFA World Cup | — | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 |
| 2 | Mexico | 14 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 17 | 8 | +9 | 28 | 2022 FIFA World Cup | 1–1 | — | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 |
| 3 | United States | 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 21 | 10 | +11 | 25 | 2022 FIFA World Cup | 1–1 | 2–0 | — | 2–1 | 5–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| 4 | Costa Rica | 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 8 | +5 | 25 | Inter-confederation play-offs | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | — | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| 5 | Panama | 14 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 17 | 19 | −2 | 21 | | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | — | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| 6 | Jamaica | 14 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 22 | −10 | 11 | | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–3 | — | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| 7 | El Salvador | 14 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 18 | −10 | 10 | | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | — | 0–0 |
| 8 | Honduras | 14 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 7 | 26 | −19 | 4 | | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 0–2 | 0–2 | — |

## Statistics
### Goalscorers

There were 118 goals scored in 56 matches, for an average of 2.11 goals per match.
6 goals
* Cyle Larin
5 goals
* Jonathan David
* Christian Pulisic
4 goals
* Rolando Blackburn
3 goals
* Tajon Buchanan
* Michail Antonio
* Raúl Jiménez
* Cecilio Waterman
* Ricardo Pepi
2 goals
* Atiba Hutchinson
* Celso Borges
* Joel Campbell
* Anthony Contreras
* Bryan Ruiz
* Jairo Henríquez
* Brayan Moya
* Andre Gray
* Shamar Nicholson
* Henry Martín
* Alexis Vega
* Eric Davis
* Aníbal Godoy
* Brenden Aaronson
* Weston McKennie
* Antonee Robinson
1 goal
* Sam Adekugbe
* Alphonso Davies
* Junior Hoilett
* Jonathan Osorio
* Óscar Duarte
* Keysher Fuller
* Jimmy Marín
* Gerson Torres
* Juan Pablo Vargas
* Nelson Bonilla
* Darwin Cerén
* Cristian Gil
* Enrico Hernández
* Alex Roldan
* Eriq Zavaleta
* Alberth Elis
* Alexander López
* Kevin López
* Romell Quioto
* Ángel Tejeda
* Leon Bailey
* Oniel Fisher
* Daniel Johnson
* Ravel Morrison
* Kemar Roofe
* Edson Álvarez
* Uriel Antuna
* Sebastián Córdova
* Jesús Corona
* Rogelio Funes Mori
* Héctor Herrera
* Hirving Lozano
* Héctor Moreno
* Orbelín Pineda
* Jorge Sánchez
* Andrés Andrade
* Azmahar Ariano
* Freddy Góndola
* Gabriel Torres
* César Yanis
* Paul Arriola
* Sergiño Dest
* Jesús Ferreira
* Sebastian Lletget
* Timothy Weah
* Walker Zimmerman
1 own goal
* Leonel Moreira (against United States)
* Denil Maldonado (against Canada)
* Javain Brown (against Panama)
* Adrian Mariappa (against Canada)
* Michael Amir Murillo (against Canada)

### Awards
#### Best XI

CONCACAF announced the following squad as the best eleven of the third round of qualifying after the conclusion of the campaign.
| Goalkeeper | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards |
| Keylor Navas | César Montes Francisco Calvo Walker Zimmerman | Christian Pulisic Edson Álvarez Stephen Eustáquio Héctor Herrera | Joel Campbell Cyle Larin Jonathan David |