2022 World Cup - How United States, Mexico and Canada can qualify

The race to the 2022 World Cup finals is drawing to a close, with three rounds of games to be played in March to decide which nations from the CONCACAF region will head to Qatar in November.

— <a href="/soccer/fifa-world-cup/story/3860182/2022-world-cup-how-qualifying-works-around-the-world?src=" https: www.espn.com target="_blank">World Cup 2022 qualifying: How it works around the world

The top three nations in CONCACAF qualify directly to the World Cup, which begins on Nov. 21 and runs through to the final on Dec. 18.

The fourth-place nation in the region will face a playoff against the winner of the Oceania region, most likely New Zealand.

The playoff will be one match only, and will be hosted by Qatar. The fixture is scheduled to be played in June.

Of the eight teams in the final stage of qualifying, El Salvador, Honduras and Jamaica have been eliminated.

That leaves Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama and United States still with hopes of making the finals.

March 24Costa Rica vs. CanadaPanama vs. HondurasJamaica vs. El SalvadorMexico vs. United States

March 27 Canada vs. Jamaica Honduras vs. Mexico El Salvador vs. Costa Rica United States vs. Panama

March 30 Panama vs. Canada Jamaica vs. Honduras Mexico vs. El Salvador Costa Rica vs. United States

1. Canada (25 points)

Coach John Herdman is all but certain to lead Canada to only its second men's World Cup finals. The previous appearance came in 1986, when it lost all three matches to France, Hungary and Soviet Union without scoring a goal.

Unbeaten throughout all 11 matches so far in this phase, Canada is guaranteed at least fourth and the place in the intercontinental playoff.

Canada needs a maximum of two points to qualify automatically for the World Cup, but