Group Stage for 2020 CONCACAF Futsal Championships are now set

Here are the groups for the the 2020 CONCACAF Futsal Championships along with some analysis on Canada’s chances.

Overall, Canada will be happy with this draw as the primary objective is to reach the semi-final stage, which guarantees a ticket to the FIFA 2020 Futsal World Cup in Lithuania. They have been drawn in Group C along with Costa Rica and Haiti.

The qualifying round matchup between Saint Kitts and the Dominican Republic will round out Group C. Both are unproven nations in futsal, with Saint Kitts having previously participated at the 2012 tournament were they went 0-3 with a -17 goal difference. The Domincan Repubic are making their tournament debuts and will likely find it difficult to secure passage to the knockout rounds.

Haiti, although quite formidable in soccer and have strong and speedy players at their disposal, have not had much futsal competition experience and will be a huge question mark.

As two time defending champions, it is perfectly natural that Costa Rica are favoured to top the group. They are tough, fast, and very experienced. Having said that, Canada showcased they are more than capable of hanging with the best as proven with a win and draw against the Ticos in San Jose last month.

CONCACAF decided that the Group A winners and runners up will play the winners and runners up of Group D while those advancing from Groups B and C will dual it in the knockout stage.

Meaning, Canada will have a strong chance of advancing to the quarter-final stage which then could lead to a tough showdown with Panama or Mexico.

Panama have always been a very tough team in futsal and finished 2nd at CONCACAF in 2016 before finishing 3rd in a difficult group at the 2016 Futsal World Cup that featured hosts Colombia, Uzbekistan, and Portugal.

Despite being on of the most dominant teams in soccer with plenty of money at their disposal Mexico have underachieved in futsal, missing out on the 2016 World Cup and recently fired their head coach. This is a new opportunity for them to launch a successful program but with the tournament 2.5 months away they are going to be very hard pressed to deliver big results in such a small amount of time.

The CONCACAF Futsal Championships take place from May 1-10th in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Group A

Guatemala
Trinidad and Tobago
Guadeloupe
Winner of Matchup 1 (Sint Maarten vs Martinique)

Group B

Panama
Mexico
Curacao
Winner of Matchup 2 (Suriname vs French Guiana)

Group C

Costa Rica
Canada
Haiti
Winner of Matchup 3 (Saint Kitts vs Dominican Republic)

Group D

Cuba
USA
El Salvador
Winner of Matchup 4 (Nicaragua vs Puerto Rico)