A total of 35 countries take part to pursue their World Cup final dream which has 3.5 slots booked for the CONCACAF confederation. The first round involved the bottom 10 nations playing a two leg knock out ties. The winners’ join top 7-25 nations, who got a bye to the second round to make the round a 24 team affairs. The second round will be played from 2 September to 15 November 2011.
The 24 teams are then divided into six groups of four teams each and play in a round robin format.
Group A: El Salvador, Suriname, Cayman Islands and Dominican RepublicGroup B: Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Barbados and BermudaGroup C: Panama, Dominica, Nicaragua and BahamasGroup D: Canada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Puerto Rico, St. LuciaGroup E: Grenada, Guatemala, St. Vincent/Grenadines, BelizeGroup F: Haiti, Antigua and Barbuda, Curacao and US Virgin Island
The winner of each group qualifies for the third round where the top 6 nations await them to make the third round a twelve team affairs. The matches are slated from 8 June to 16 October 2012.
Top 6 Nations are: USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba, Honduras and Jamaica
In the third round, the twelve teams are divided into three groups of four teams each and again play a round robin matches where the top two teams from each group advances to the fourth round.
Group A: USA, Jamaica, Group E Winner, Group F WinnerGroup B: Mexico, Costa Rica, Group A Winner, Group B WinnerGroup C: Honduras, Cuba, Group C Winner, Group D Winner
The six teams in the fourth round play a round robin game amongst themselves from 6 February to 15 October 2013. The top three qualifies for the World Cup while the fourth place will have to take part in an intercontinental face off where they will have to face the winner of Oceania confederation.