Curaçao, Haiti Into Concacaf Nations League Quarters; USMNT, Mexico Await

Curaçao and Haiti clinched Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal spots, with Mexico, the U.S., Canada and Panama awaiting as Group B decides the final bracket.

Curaçao and Haiti have booked their places in the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals, where home-and-home series against the region's top-ranked teams await in November. The two Caribbean nations, both of whom already qualified for the 2026 World Cup, claimed the top two spots in League A Group A, settling that group with only the other still to be decided.

Neither team had lost across its opening three group matches, taking three wins apiece, and the two never met on the field. Concacaf generated the fixtures through a “Swiss-style” system in which not every team in a group faces every other.

The final matchday on Sunday, Oct. 4 did not derail either qualification bid. Curaçao played to a draw with Trinidad and Tobago, while Haiti lost 2-0 to Costa Rica — its first defeat of the group stage — but the points both had already banked were enough to seal advancement.

Waiting in the last eight are the four leading teams in the Concacaf rankings: Mexico, the United States, Canada and Panama. Those four nations received byes straight to the quarterfinal stage, which is why they filled the current international window with friendlies instead of competitive matches. The November series mark their return to official play.

The competition's rules pair group winners with the lower-seeded qualifiers. That points toward Curaçao drawing Panama, the lowest-ranked of the four seeded teams, though a Canada matchup has not been ruled out. Haiti's opponent will be Mexico or the United States, depending on the Concacaf ranking of the team that emerges from the other group.

League A Group B concludes Monday, Oct. 5 with its standings unresolved, and its top two will complete the quarterfinal field. Suriname leads on seven points and faces Guatemala — four points — in Guatemala City, where a home win would lift Guatemala above its visitor. Jamaica sits second on six points ahead of a game with Honduras, while Martinique and El Salvador stay mathematically alive but need a series of results to fall their way.

Should Monday's results leave the Group B order unchanged, the quarterfinal matchups would be Mexico versus Jamaica, the United States versus Haiti, Canada versus Suriname and Panama versus Curaçao. Any change in the order would shuffle those pairings, because seeding follows the Concacaf rankings.

Venues for the second legs are already known for three of the four seeded teams. The United States will host its return leg in Cincinnati, Mexico will play in Monterrey and Canada has chosen Toronto. Panama, the fourth seeded side, typically stages its home fixtures at the Estadio Rommel Fernández in Panama City.

Haiti, meanwhile, has not staged a match on home soil since 2021. A political crisis and gang violence in the country made hosting there impossible.