Hexagonal (CONCACAF)

The United States and Mexico were the most successful teams in the Hexagonal, with Mexico qualifying for every World Cup since 1994. Indeed, the Mexico–United States soccer rivalry has been hotly contested during the Hexagonal. Matches between the two opponents hosted by Mexico often sell out the 100,000 seat Estadio Azteca in Mexico City; matches hosted in the United States are often held in cold northern cities such as Columbus, Ohio.

The first hexagonal round was played in 1997, between 2 March and 16 November. Mexico topped the round robin undefeated, being the only team to do so.[5] Jamaica qualified to their first (and so far, only) FIFA World Cup.[6] It was Canada's only participation in the hexagonal round, and their last appearance at the final stage of a FIFA World Cup qualification.[7]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Mexico	10	4	6	0	23	7	+16	18	Qualification to 1998 FIFA World Cup		—	0–0	6–0	3–3	5–0	4–0
2	United States	10	4	5	1	17	9	+8	17			2–2	—	1–1	1–0	4–2	3–0
3	Jamaica	10	3	5	2	7	6	+1	14			0–0	0–0	—	1–0	1–0	1–0
4	Costa Rica	10	3	3	4	13	12	+1	12			0–0	3–2	3–1	—	0–0	3–1
5	El Salvador	10	2	4	4	11	16	−5	10			0–1	1–1	2–2	2–1	—	4–1
6	Canada	10	1	3	6	5	20	−15	6			2–2	0–3	0–0	1–0	0–0	—

The second edition of The Hex was played in 2001, between 28 February and 11 November. It was topped by Costa Rica, who totaled a record 23 points.[8] The Costa Ricans marked the first defeat Mexico ever had at a World Cup qualification match at home soil, in a match known as El Aztecazo.[9]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Costa Rica	10	7	2	1	17	7	+10	23	Qualified to the 2002 FIFA World Cup		—	0–0	2–0	2–2	2–1	3–0
2	Mexico	10	5	2	3	16	9	+7	17			1–2	—	1–0	3–0	4–0	3–0
3	United States	10	5	2	3	11	8	+3	17			1–0	2–0	—	2–3	2–1	2–0
4	Honduras	10	4	2	4	17	17	0	14			2–3	3–1	1–2	—	1–0	0–1
5	Jamaica	10	2	2	6	7	14	−7	8			0–1	1–2	0–0	1–1	—	1–0
6	Trinidad and Tobago	10	1	2	7	5	18	−13	5			0–2	1–1	0–0	2–4	1–2	—

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
United States	10	7	1	2	16	6	+10	22[lower-alpha 1]		—	2–0	3–0	1–0	2–0	2–0
Mexico	10	7	1	2	22	9	+13	22[lower-alpha 1]		2–1	—	2–0	2–0	5–2	5–0
Costa Rica	10	5	1	4	15	14	+1	16		3–0	1–2	—	2–0	3–2	2–1
Trinidad and Tobago	10	4	1	5	10	15	−5	13		1–2	2–1	0–0	—	3–2	2–0
Guatemala	10	3	2	5	16	18	−2	11		0–0	0–2	3–1	5–1	—	2–1
Panama	10	0	2	8	4	21	−17	2		0–3	1–1	1–3	0–1	0–0	—

• United States finished ahead of Mexico based on results between tied teams which were the first tiebreaker.
• Mexico, United States and Costa Rica directly advanced to the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
• Trinidad and Tobago advanced to the AFC-CONCACAF play-off, where they would defeat Bahrain 2–1 on aggregate to advance to the World Cup.

The six teams that reached the fourth round formed one double-round-robin, home-and-away group nicknamed the "Hexagonal." The top three teams qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The fourth place team qualified for a home-and-away play-off against the fifth-place team from CONMEBOL.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
United States (Q)	10	6	2	2	19	13	+6	20		—	2–0	2–1	2–2	2–1	3–0
Mexico (Q)	10	6	1	3	18	12	+6	19		2–1	—	1–0	2–0	4–1	2–1
Honduras (Q)	10	5	1	4	17	11	+6	16		2–3	3–1	—	4–0	1–0	4–1
Costa Rica (A)	10	5	1	4	15	15	0	16		3–1	0–3	2–0	—	1–0	4–0
El Salvador	10	2	2	6	9	15	−6	8		2–2	2–1	0–1	1–0	—	2–2
Trinidad and Tobago	10	1	3	6	10	22	−12	6		0–1	2–2	1–1	2–3	1–0	—

In the fourth round, the three group winners and three runners-up from the third round competed in a double round robin, including a home and away match against the other five teams between 6 February and 15 October 2013. The draw for 'The Hex' was conducted by FIFA on 7 November 2012.[10]

The top three teams qualified directly for the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals, while the fourth-placed team will play a home-away series against New Zealand, the winner of Oceania. Teams are ranked first by total points in all games, then, if tied, by best goal differential in all games, then by total goals in all games. If still tied, the same criteria are applied to games among the tied teams.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
United States	10	7	1	2	15	8	+7	22	Qualification to 2014 FIFA World Cup		—	1–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	2–0
Costa Rica	10	5	3	2	13	7	+6	18			3–1	—	1–0	2–1	2–0	2–0
Honduras	10	4	3	3	13	12	+1	15			2–1	1–0	—	2–2	2–2	2–0
Mexico	10	2	5	3	7	9	−2	11	Advance to inter-confederation play-offs		0–0	0–0	1–2	—	2–1	0–0
Panama	10	1	5	4	10	14	−4	8			2–3	2–2	2–0	0–0	—	0–0
Jamaica	10	0	5	5	5	13	−8	5			1–2	1–1	2–2	0–1	1–1	—

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Mexico	10	6	3	1	16	7	+9	21	Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup		—	2–0	1–0	3–0	1–1	3–1
2	Costa Rica	10	4	4	2	14	8	+6	16			1–1	—	0–0	1–1	4–0	2–1
3	Panama	10	3	4	3	9	10	−1	13			0–0	2–1	—	2–2	1–1	3–0
4	Honduras	10	3	4	3	13	19	−6	13	Advance to inter-confederation play-offs		3–2	1–1	0–1	—	1–1	3–1
5	United States	10	3	3	4	17	13	+4	12			1–2	0–2	4–0	6–0	—	2–0
6	Trinidad and Tobago	10	2	0	8	7	19	−12	6			0–1	0–2	1–0	1–2	2–1	—

• Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama qualified directly for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
• Honduras advanced to the CONCACAF–AFC playoff; they would be defeated by Australia 3–1 on aggregate.
• The United States failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since the Hexagonal was introduced; they had qualified for every World Cup between 1990 and 2014.

The Hexagonal was initially the top-seeded round in the CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup,[11] but, following FIFA's decision on 25 June 2020 to postpone the September international window due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CONCACAF noted that "The challenges presented by postponements to the football calendar, and the incomplete FIFA rankings cycle in our confederation, means our current World Cup qualifying process has been compromised and will be changed."[12] The confederation eventually announced on 27 July its new qualifying format for the World Cup, replacing the Hexagonal with an eight-team final round.[13]