The North, Central American and Caribbean zone was allocated two places (out of 24) in the final tournament.

This edition was marked by an upset as Mexico, traditional CONCACAF heavyweights and needing a win to go through, were eliminated by Honduras.

The 0–0 tie between Mexico and Honduras qualified El Salvador to participate in the World Cup as the CONCACAF runners-up.

Source:[1] Francisco Osorto Efraín Gutiérrez Jaime Villegas Ramón Maradiaga Carlos Caballero José Figueroa Hugo Sánchez To date, this is the last time that Mexico failed to qualify for a FIFA World Cup.

(Mexico did not appear in the 1990 FIFA World Cup as they were banned in light of a scandal in which they used overage players in a youth tournament.)