CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Coming Soon

The clumsily titled 2008 CONCACAF Men’s Pre-Olympic Tournament gets underway in less that two weeks time, with the USA hosting and two things getting decided. First, we’ll have a CONCACAF Under-23 Champion. But more importantly the two finalists will qualify for the 2008 Olympics. So in a bizarre way it’s actually the semi-finals that are more significant.

The eight team tourney begins March 11th with two round robin groups. There’s USA, Panama, Honduras and Cuba in Group A, which will all happen in Tampa, Florida, USA. And there’s Mexico, Canada, Guatemala and Haiti in Group B, which will all happen in Carson, California. The top two from each group make the all-important semifinals, both on March 20th in Nashville, Tennessee.

As an example of how competitive Olympic football can be, USA U-23 coach Pitr Nowak named his 24 man training squad today, and it looked like this:

GOALKEEPERS: Dominic Cervi (Chicago Fire), Tally Hall (Esbjerg fB), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS: Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Hunter Freeman (New York Red Bulls), Kamani Hil (Vfl Wolfsburg), Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Mike Randolph (LA Galaxy), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)
MIDFIELDERS: Arturo Alvarez (FC Dallas), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96)
FORWARDS: Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake)

Some very good players in there, with Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore and Benny Feilhaber catching the eye. There’s also the possibility of adding Michael Bradley and Jonathan Spector as the tournament gets nearer.

The actual, real deal 2008 Olympic tournament takes place this August in China. Sixteen Under-23 teams will participate, with each team allowed three overage players. Thirteen and a half nations are already qualified so far, by various methods:

China (as host nation)
Australia, South Korea, Japan (via Asian Football Confederation preliminary competition)
Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana/Nigeria* (via Confederation of African Football preliminary competition)
Brazil, Argentina (via 2007 South American Youth Championship)
Fiji (via Oceanic Football Confederation preliminary competition)
Holland, Serbia, Belgium, Italy (via 2007 UEFA Under-21 Championship)

*all depends on Nigeria U-23 vs South Africa U-23 on March 26th 2008. Nigeria need a win to qualify, otherwise Ghana go to the Olympics.