Dates, Venues Set for CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying

The dates and locations for next spring's CONCACAF Olympic qualifiers were announced this afternoon.

The eight-team tournament will be broken up into two groups of four. One group will play matches on March 22, 24, and 26 at LP Field in Nashville. The other group will play its games on March 23, 25, and 27 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. The top two teams from each group will then move on to the semifinals, which will be held at Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City on March 31. The final, also to be played in Kansas City, will then be held on April 2.

The two finalists will qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Currently, six teams have secured their spot in the field: the US, Mexico, Canada, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Panama. The final two teams will come out of the final Caribbean qualifying group, which consists of Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Cuba. Those matches will be played at the end of this month.

Akron University head coach Caleb Porter will lead the US U-23 national team as they look to earn an Olympic bid for the seventh time in the last eight tournaments.