The 2020 Concacaf Men’s Olympic Qualifying Championship is the latest soccer tournament affected by coronavirus, with Concacaf announcing the tournament’s postponement Friday morning.
Concacaf suspended all competitions for 30 days, including Olympic qualifying and the Champions League. The decision was made by the Concacaf Council, which convened Thursday via a conference call. The first round of 2021 Gold Cup qualifying, which were due to be played during the March FIFA window, have also been suspended.
The competition was set to be played from March 20 to April 1 in Guadalajara, Mexico. Coached by Jason Kreis and featuring 15 MLS-based players, the US team has been in Guadalajara since Monday.
The United States was drawn in the four-team Group A for the initial stage of the tournament with Costa Rica, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
The top two teams in the group will advance to the semifinals, with the winners of those games qualifying for Tokyo 2020. Group B of the tournament contains Honduras, Canada, El Salvador and Haiti.
The US have not qualified for the men's Olympic soccer tournament since 2008, falling in the group stage in 2012 qualifying and in the semifinals of the 2016 qualifying tournament.
Three of the four CCL quarterfinal matchups have been played, with LAFC and Cruz Azul's first leg postponed before it could kick off. The semifinals of the tournament were set to kick off on April 7.
In addition to Olympic Qualifying and the Champions League, 2021 Gold Cup qualifiers and the 2020 Carribbean Club Shield were also suspended.
UPDATE: On March 19, Concacaf additionally announced the suspension of the 2020 Women's Under-17 Championships (originally scheduled for April 18 to May 3 in Mexico) and the 2020 Futsal Championship (originally scheduled for May 1 to May 10 in Guatemala.)
