The 1973 CONCACAF Championship, the sixth edition of the CONCACAF Championship, was held in Haiti from 29 November to 18 December. All matches were played at Stade Sylvio Cator in Port-au-Prince. This is the first edition to double as qualification for the World Cup. Haiti became winners for the first time in the CONCACAF region and qualified for West Germany '74. The North, Central American and Caribbean zone was allocated 1 place (out of 16) in the World Cup.

Controversy

In quite a controversial match, Haiti defeated Trinidad and Tobago 2–1, with the referee disallowing four Trinidad and Tobago goals. As a result, referee Jose Roberto Henriquez and linesman James Higuet received lifetime bans from FIFA for their actions during the match.

There has been speculation that there might have been some collusion in favour of Haiti, due to the tournament taking place there during the military dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier in a pivotal tournament that would send the winner to the 1974 FIFA World Cup. However, at the time, this was just the team’s second match of a round-robin tournament, having already won its first at the score of 3–0 against the Netherlands Antilles with no such known controversy as well as the matches that followed.

Qualification

Teams

Venues

Port-au-PrinceLocation of the host city of the 1973 CONCACAF Championship.Port-au-Prince
Stade Sylvio Cator
Capacity: 15,000

Results

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Haiti (C)540183+581974 FIFA World Cup
2Trinidad and Tobago5302114+76
3Mexico5221105+56
4Honduras51316605
5Guatemala503246−23
6Netherlands Antilles5023419−152
Honduras2–1Trinidad and Tobago
Guifarro 33' Hernández 51'David 61'
Mexico0–0Guatemala
Haiti3–0Netherlands Antilles
Sanon 25', 61' Désir 29'
Honduras1–1Mexico
Guifarro 54'H. López 73'
Haiti2–1Trinidad and Tobago
Sanon 9' R. Saint-Vil 88'David 14'
Netherlands Antilles2–2Guatemala
Toppenberg 18' Schoop 75'Roldán 6' Morales 63'
Haiti1–0Honduras
G. Saint-Vil 59'
Mexico8–0Netherlands Antilles
H. López 10', 76' Muciño 32', 45', 46', 82' Pulido 35' Lapuente 78'
Trinidad and Tobago1–0Guatemala
David 30'
Honduras2–2Netherlands Antilles
Soza 33' Guifarro 50'Clemencia 62' St. Jago 73'
Haiti2–1Guatemala
Sanon 28', 72'Monterroso 4'
Trinidad and Tobago4–0Mexico
Cummings 35', 39' David 52' Archibald 62'
Honduras1–1Guatemala
Bran 15'Banegas 83'
Trinidad and Tobago4–0Netherlands Antilles
David 16', 51', 62' Brunken 33' (o.g.)
Haiti0–1Mexico
Borja 30'

Haiti qualified for the 1974 FIFA World Cup.

1973 CONCACAF Championship Winners
Haiti First title

Goalscorers

7 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

See also