# 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship

The 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship was the 10th edition of the CONCACAF Women's Championship (also known as the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup or the CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament), the quadrennial international soccer championship organized by CONCACAF for the women's national teams of the North, Central American and Caribbean region. Eight teams played in the tournament, which took place from October 4 to 17, 2018 in the United States.
The tournament served as the CONCACAF qualifiers to the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France. The top three teams qualified for the World Cup, while the fourth-placed team advanced to a play-off against the third-placed team from the South American confederation, CONMEBOL. It also determined the CONCACAF teams playing at the 2019 Pan American Games women's football tournament in Lima, Peru.
The United States were the defending champions of the competition. They successfully defended their title as hosts, winning the final 2–0 against Canada for their 8th CONCACAF Women's Championship title.
This was the last CONCACAF tournament branded as the "Women's Championship". In August 2019, CONCACAF announced a rebranding of the competition as the CONCACAF W Championship.

## Qualification

Regional qualification tournaments were held to determine the teams playing in the final tournament.

### Qualified teams

The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament. Canada, Mexico, and the United States, as members of the North American Football Union (NAFU), qualified automatically. Two teams from the Central American Football Union (UNCAF) and three teams from the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) qualified from their regional qualifying competitions.
| Team | Qualification | Appearance | Previous best performance | Previous FIFA Women's World Cup appearances | FIFA ranking at start of event |
| North American Zone (NAFU) ||||||
| Canada | Automatic | 9th | Champions (1998, 2010) | 6 | 5 |
| Mexico | Automatic | 9th | Runners-up (1998, 2010) | 3 | 24 |
| United States (title holders & hosts) | Automatic | 9th | Champions (1991, 1993, 1994, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2014) | 7 | 1 |
| Costa Rica | Central American winners | 7th | Runners-up (2014) | 1 | 34 |
| Panama | Central American runners-up | 3rd | Group stage (2002, 2006) | 0 | 66 |
| Jamaica | Caribbean winners | 6th | Fourth place (2006) | 0 | 64 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | Caribbean runners-up | 10th | Third place (1991) | 0 | 52 |
| Cuba | Caribbean third place | 1st | Debut | 0 | 88 |

## Venues

The venues were announced by CONCACAF on April 8, 2018. Sahlen's Stadium in Cary, North Carolina and H-E-B Park in Edinburg, Texas hosted the group stage matches, while Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas hosted the four matches in the knockout stage.
| Cary, North Carolina | Edinburg, Texas | Frisco, Texas | CaryEdinburgFriscoclass=notpageimage| Location of the host cities of the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship. |
| Sahlen's Stadium | H-E-B Park | Toyota Stadium | CaryEdinburgFriscoclass=notpageimage| Location of the host cities of the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship. |
| Capacity: 10,000 | Capacity: 9,735 | Capacity: 20,500 | CaryEdinburgFriscoclass=notpageimage| Location of the host cities of the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship. |

## Draw

The draw for the final tournament was held on September 4, 2018, 10:00 EDT (UTC−4), at the Univision Studios in Miami, Florida, United States. The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. They were seeded into four pots. Pot 1 contained the United States, seeded in Group A, and Canada, seeded in Group B. The remaining six teams were allocated to Pots 2–4 based on the CONCACAF Women's Rankings. The two teams from UNCAF could not be drawn into the same group.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| United States (Position A1)  Canada (Position B1) | Mexico  Costa Rica | Trinidad and Tobago  Jamaica | Panama  Cuba |

## Squads

The provisional 35-player roster (4 must be goalkeepers) for each team was announced by CONCACAF on September 10, 2018. The final 20-player roster (2 must be goalkeepers) for each team was announced by CONCACAF on September 26, 2018. After the final 20-player roster was submitted, only injury-related changes would be submitted until 24 hours before each team's first match.

## Group stage

The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals.

### Tiebreakers

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). The rankings of teams in each group are determined as follows (regulations Article 12.12):
* points obtained in all group matches;
* goal difference in all group matches;
* number of goals scored in all group matches;
If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings are determined as follows:
* points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
* goal difference in the group matches between the teams concerned;
* number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
* fair play points in all group matches: first yellow card: minus 1 point;indirect red card (second yellow card): minus 3 points;direct red card: minus 4 points;yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points;
* drawing of lots by CONCACAF.

### Group A

All times are local, EDT (UTC−4).
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | United States (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0 | +18 | 9 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Panama | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Mexico | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 3 | |
| 4 | Trinidad and Tobago | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 14 | −13 | 0 | |

### Group B

All times are local, CDT (UTC−5).
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Canada | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 1 | +16 | 9 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Jamaica | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 2 | +8 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Costa Rica | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 3 | |
| 4 | Cuba | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 29 | −29 | 0 | |

## Knockout stage

In the semi-finals, if the match was level at the end of 90 minutes, no extra time would be played and the match would be decided by a penalty shoot-out. In the third place match and final, if the match was level at the end of 90 minutes, extra time would be played, and if still tied after extra time, the match would be decided by a penalty shoot-out (Regulations Article 12.14).

### Bracket

All times are local, CDT (UTC−5).
| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| October 14 – Frisco, TX | October 14 – Frisco, TX |
| Panama | 0 |
| Panama | 0 | October 17 – Frisco, TX | October 17 – Frisco, TX |
| Canada | 7 | October 17 – Frisco, TX | October 17 – Frisco, TX |
| Canada | 7 | Canada | 0 |
| October 14 – Frisco, TX | October 14 – Frisco, TX | | Canada | 0 |
| October 14 – Frisco, TX | October 14 – Frisco, TX | United States | 2 |
| United States | 6 | United States | 2 |
| Jamaica | 0 | | |
| Jamaica | 0 | Third place play-off | Third place play-off |
| | | October 17 – Frisco, TX | October 17 – Frisco, TX |
| | | Panama | 2 (2) |
| | | Jamaica (p) | 2 (4) |

### Semi-finals

Canada and United States qualified for 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. Panama and Jamaica entered into the third place play-off.

### Third place play-off

Jamaica qualified for 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. Panama entered CONCACAF–CONMEBOL play-off vs. Argentina.

### Final

* 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship winners
* United States 8th title

## Awards
### Individual awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.
| Award | Player |
| Golden Ball | Julie Ertz |
| Golden Boot | Alex Morgan (7 goals) |
| Golden Glove | Yenith Bailey |
| Young Player | Jody Brown |
| Fair Play | United States |

## Goalscorers

There were 83 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 5.19 goals per match.
7 goals
* Alex Morgan
6 goals
* Adriana Leon
4 goals
* Jordyn Huitema
* Christine Sinclair
* Jody Brown
* Tobin Heath
3 goals
* Nichelle Prince
* Khadija Shaw
* Rose Lavelle
* Carli Lloyd
* Megan Rapinoe
2 goals
* Janine Beckie
* Quinn
* María Barrantes
* Priscila Chinchilla
* Shirley Cruz
* Sashana Campbell
* Charlyn Corral
* Lineth Cedeño
* Julie Ertz
1 goal
* Jessie Fleming
* Diana Matheson
* Deanne Rose
* Melissa Herrera
* Fabiola Sánchez
* Gloriana Villalobos
* Deneisha Blackwood
* Christina Chang
* Marlo Sweatman
* Katie Johnson
* María Sánchez
* Marta Cox
* Erika Hernández
* Natalia Mills
* Kenia Rangel
* Karla Riley
* Jonelle Cato
* Crystal Dunn
* Lindsey Horan
* Sam Mewis
* Christen Press

## Qualification for international tournaments
### Qualified teams for FIFA Women's World Cup

The following three teams from CONCACAF qualified for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. Panama failed to qualify losing out the play-off to 2018 Copa América Femenina third-placed team, Argentina.
| Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in FIFA Women's World Cup |
| Canada | 14 October 2018 | 6 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015) |
| United States | 14 October 2018 | 7 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015) |
| Jamaica | 17 October 2018 | 0 (debut) |
    $^1$ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

### Qualified teams for Pan American Games

The tournament was used to determine the four teams from CONCACAF which would qualify for the 2019 Pan American Games women's football tournament. The top team from each of the three zones, i.e., Caribbean (CFU), Central American (UNCAF), and North American (NAFU), would qualify, with the fourth team to be determined by CONCACAF at a later date. However, both United States and Canada declined to participate to focus on the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, so Mexico qualified for the North American berth.
| Team | Zone | Qualified on | Previous appearances in Pan American Games |
| Jamaica | CFU | 11 October 2018 | 1 (2007) |
| Panama | UNCAF | 11 October 2018 | 1 (2007) |
| Mexico | NAFU | 2019 (confirmed by CONCACAF) | 5 (1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015) |
| Costa Rica | UNCAF | 2019 (confirmed by CONCACAF) | 4 (1999, 2003, 2011, 2015) |
    $^2$ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

## Controversy

In the 89th minute of the final match, Alex Morgan was offside when she scored the second goal for the USA, but the referee did not invalidate the goal. Video assistant referee was not used in this tournament.