en 2021 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship

2021 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship
2021 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup CONCACAF qualifier
Tournament details
Host country	Costa Rica
City	San Rafael de Alajuela
Dates	17–23 May
Teams	11 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	El Salvador (2nd title)
Runners-up	United States
Third place	Guatemala
Fourth place	Mexico
Tournament statistics
Matches played	23
Goals scored	211 (9.17 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Frank Velásquez (11 goals)
Best player(s)	Rubén Batres
Best young player	Antonio Chávez
Best goalkeeper	Eliodoro Portillo
Fair play award	Mexico
	← 2019 2023 →

The 2021 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship was the ninth edition of the CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship, the premier beach soccer tournament contested by North, Central American and Caribbean men's national teams and organised the governing body of football in North America, CONCACAF. The tournament took place at the Sports Complex Fedefutbol-Plycem in San Rafael District, Alajuela, Costa Rica between 17 and 23 May 2021, with 12 nations contesting the title.^[1]^[2]

Mexico were the defending champions, but lost in the third-place match. El Salvador dominated the tournament, scoring fifty goals in six matches, and won their second title after beating the United States in the final, while Guatemala defeated Mexico to finish third.

The championship also acted as the CONCACAF qualification tournament for the 2021 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. El Salvador and the United States, as the top two teams, qualified for the World Cup as the representatives from CONCACAF.

Teams

A total of 12 teams entered the tournament.^[1]^[2]

Team	Appearance	Previous best performance
Bahamas	7th	Quarter-finals (2015, 2017, 2019)
Belize	4th	Round 1 (2015, 2017, 2019)
Costa Rica (hosts)	9th	Runners-up (2009, 2015)
Dominican Republic	1st	Debut
El Salvador	8th	Champions (2009)
Guadeloupe	4th	Fourth place (2017)
Guatemala	5th	Quarter-finals (2015, 2019)
Mexico (title holders)	9th	Champions (2008, 2011, 2015, 2019)
Panama	4th	Champions (2017)
Trinidad and Tobago	5th	Quarter-finals (2015, 2017, 2019)
Turks and Caicos Islands	4th	Round 1 (2015, 2017, 2019)
United States	9th	Champions (2006, 2013)

Draw

The draw to split the 12 teams into three groups of four was held at 11:00 EST on 8 March 2021 at CONCACAF headquarters in Miami, United States.^[1]^[2]^[3]

The procedure was as follows:^[4]

The teams were first divided into four pots of three based on their CONCACAF Beach Soccer Ranking as of December 2019. The highest ranked teams were placed in Pot 1, down through to the lowest ranked teams placed in Pot 4. The three teams in Pot 1 were seeded and each automatically assigned to the head of one of the groups. The teams from Pots 2–4 were then drawn, drawing all teams from one pot before moving onto the next. From each pot, the first team drawn was placed into Group A, the second team drawn placed into Group B and the final team drawn placed into Group C.

Pot 1 (seeds)	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Mexico (1) (assigned to A1) El Salvador (2) (assigned to B1) United States (3) (assigned to C1)	Panama (4) Costa Rica (5) (hosts) Bahamas (6)	Guadeloupe (7) Trinidad and Tobago (8) Guatemala (9)	Belize (13) Turks and Caicos Islands (16) Dominican Republic (n/a)

The numbers in parentheses show the CONCACAF ranking of the teams as of December 2019, out of 19 nations.^[5]

Officials

The following 15 officials that will referee the tournament were revealed on 5 May.^[6]

Juan Angeles
Gumercindo Batista
Erlis Bermudez
Gonzalo Carballo
David Cruz
Robert Gomez
Miguel Lopez
Mario Nava
Arian Perez
Warner Porras
Alexander Rafoso
Julio Ramos
Jair Robles
Luis Torres
Jorge Tunon

Squads

Each team had to submit a squad of 12 players (including a minimum of two goalkeepers), from an initial provisional squad of 20 players (Regulations Articles 10.1; 10.2).^[7]

The final rosters were revealed on 11 May.^[8]

Players and staff were required to take regular COVID-19 tests during the competition, in respect to health and safety controls regarding the COVID-19 pandemic:

On 17 May, one player and one member of staff from the Dominican Republic tested positive and were required to self-isolate. The match schedule was unaffected.^[9]
On 18 May, one player from the United States tested positive and was required to self-isolate. The match schedule was unaffected.^[10]

Group stage

Each team earns three points for a win in regulation time, two points for a win in extra time, one point for a win in a penalty shoot-out, and no points for a defeat. The top two teams from each group and the two best third placed teams advance to the quarter-finals.^[1]^[2]

Tiebreakers

The ranking of teams in each group is determined as follows (Regulations Article 12.5):^[7]

Points obtained in all group matches;
Points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
Goal difference in the matches played between the teams in question;
Number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction could be applied to a player in a single match):
- Yellow card: −1 points;
- Indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points;
- Direct red card: −4 points;
- Yellow card and direct red card: −5 points;
Drawing of lots.

All times are local, CST (UTC−6).^[11]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Mexico	2	2	0	11	6	+5	6	Knockout stage
2	Panama	2	1	1	11	6	+5	3	Knockout stage
3	Belize	2	0	2	4	14	−10	0
4	Guadeloupe^[a]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew

Source: CONCACAF
Notes:

^ Guadeloupe's withdrawal was announced on 16 April.^[12] Concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic were cited.^[13]

17 May 2021

Panama	Cancelled	Guadeloupe

17 May 2021

10:00

Belize	3–6	Mexico
Meza 17' Mariano 25', 30' (pen.)	Report	Sámano 10', 17' Vizcarra 10' Martínez 16' (pen.) Wbias 20' Castillo 24'

Complejo Deportivo FEDEFUTBOL, San Rafael

Referee: Luis Torres (Costa Rica)

18 May 2021

10:00

Panama	8–1	Belize
Kelly 2', 34' E. García 3' Torres 8' Maquensi 17' Londoño 28' Villarreal 31' Carvajal 32'	Report	Meza 24'

Complejo Deportivo FEDEFUTBOL, San Rafael

Referee: Miguel Lopez (Guatemala)

18 May 2021

Mexico	Cancelled	Guadeloupe

19 May 2021

Guadeloupe	Cancelled	Belize

19 May 2021

10:00

Mexico	5–3	Panama
Castillo 1', 13' Alemán 9', 20' Rodriguez 14'	Report	E. García 3' Escobar 20' Maquensi 25'

Complejo Deportivo FEDEFUTBOL, San Rafael

Referee: Gonzalo Carballo (El Salvador)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	WP	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	El Salvador	3	3	0	0	29	4	+25	9	Knockout stage
2	Guatemala	3	1	1	1	14	11	+3	4
3	Bahamas	3	1	0	2	15	12	+3	3
4	Dominican Republic	3	0	0	3	4	35	−31	0

Source: CONCACAF

17 May 2021

11:30

Bahamas	3–3 (a.e.t.)	Guatemala
Williams 24' Beneby 34' Joseph 36'	Report	Flores 12' W. González 22' M. González 34'
Penalties
Julmis Joseph	1–3	W. González Sáenz M. González

Complejo Deportivo FEDEFUTBOL, San Rafael

Referee: Mario Nava (Mexico)

17 May 2021