2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifiers Suspended Amid Coronavirus Concerns

CONCACAF confirmed Friday that the men's Olympic qualifiers have been suspended because of concerns about the spread of coronavirus:

The confederation issued a statement to confirm the news, per USSoccer.com.

"Concacaf is committed to working with key stakeholders to consider options to reconvene our competitions at an appropriate time in the future."

The matches were due to start on March 20 in Guadalajara, Mexico.    

Jason Kreis, the U.S. Under-23 men's national team head coach, had named a 20-man squad for the tournament.

The U.S. team were due to play Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Mexico in the group stage as they bid for a place in the Olympics for the first time since 2008.

The top two teams from the group would go through to the semi-finals, where victory would be enough to secure one of the last two remaining places at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The decision to suspend the tournament follows news that Major League Soccer has been called off for 30 days because of the coronavirus outbreak:

Meanwhile, U.S. Soccer announced Thursday it had cancelled all men's and women's international games that were scheduled for March and April.

Friday also brought confirmation that the Premier League, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga have also now been postponed, bringing a halt to all top-level football in Europe:

The worsening coronavirus pandemic continues to fuel doubts as to whether the 2020 Olympics will take place as originally scheduled.

U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested postponing the event until next year, per Reuters:

Japan's Olympic minister, Seiko Hashimo, told reporters on Friday the International Olympic Committee are "absolutely not" considering postponing or cancelling the Games, which are due to start July 24.