| Tourney Name: | CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Other Titles: | CONCACAF MEN'S OLYMPIC QUALIFYING BEIJING 2008 |
| Country: | United States |
| Dates: | 11 – 23 March |
| Num Teams: | 8 |
| Confederations: | 1 |
| Venues: | 3 |
| Cities: | 3 |
| Count: | 2 |
| Matches: | 16 |
| Goals: | 36 |
| Top Scorer: |  Freddy Adu |
| Prevseason: | 2004 |
| Nextseason: | 2012 |
| Updated: | 27 April 2009 |
The 2008 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying was the twelfth edition of the CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted football tournament organized by CONCACAF to determine which men's under-23 national teams from the North, Central America and Caribbean region qualify for the Olympic football tournament. It was held in the United States, from 11 and 23 March 2008.[1]
Honduras won the title after with a 1–0 win over the United States in the final. As the top two teams, Honduras and the United States both qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in China as the CONCACAF representatives.[2]
The following teams qualified for the final tournament.
| Zone | Country | Method of qualification | Appearance1 | Last appearance | Previous best performance | width=10% | Previous Olympic appearances (last) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | (title holders) | Automatic | 9th | 2004 | Winners (1964, 1972, 1976, 1996, 2004) | 9 (2004) | |
| Automatic | 6th | 2004 | Runners-up (1984, 1996) | 3 (1984) | |||
| (hosts) | Automatic | 8th | 2004 | Winners (1988, 1992) | 13 (2000) | ||
| Central America | Triangular 1 winners | 4th | 2004 | Winners (2000) | 1 (2000) | ||
| Triangular 2 winners | 6th | 2000 | Final round winner without outright champions (1968) | 3 (1988) | |||
| Play-off winners | 4th | 2004 | Fourth place (1964) | 0 | |||
| Caribbean | Second round winners | 3rd | 1984 | Third place (1976, 1984) | 2 (1980) | ||
| Second round winners | 1st | 0 (debut) | Debutant | 0 |
1 Only final tournament.
Three cities served as the venues for the tournament.
| Tampa, Florida (Tampa Bay Area) | Carson, California (Los Angeles Area) | Nashville, Tennessee | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raymond James Stadium | Home Depot Center | LP Field | |
| Capacity: 65,856 | Capacity: 27,000 | Capacity: 69,143 | |
See main article: article and 2008 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying squads.
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The semi-final winners qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
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The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.
| + Best XI[4] | ||||||||
| Goalkeeper | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top | Kevin Hernández | valign=top | Carlos Castrillo Oscar Morales Michael Orozco | valign=top | Nelson Barahona José Manuel Contreras Maurice Edu Dax McCarty | valign=top | Freddy Adu Leonel Duarte Will Johnson |
The following two teams from CONCACAF qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics Men's football tournament.
| Team | Qualified on | data-sort-type="number" | Previous appearances in Summer Olympics1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| (2000) | |||
| (1904, 1924, 1928, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1972, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000) |
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
Following the Cuban draw against the United States, seven Cuban players defected, leaving the team with only 11 players which was reduced to 10 against Honduras. Cuba played its final game against Panama with no players available as substitutes because Roberto Linares was sent off from Cuba's match against the United States causing him to be automatically suspended for the team's next match.[5]
