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NEW YORK -- CONCACAF announced Wednesday the schedule of matches for the third round of FIFA World Cup qualifying in the region, starting next June.

In the upcoming round (also known as the semifinal round), winners of the six second round groups (El Salvador, Guyana, Panama, Canada, Guatemala and Antigua & Barbuda) join six teams that have thus far received byes (Costa Rica, Cuba, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico and the United States) to form three groups of four teams each.

Matchday 1 opens on Friday, June 8, highlighted by a Group A pairing between the USA, the nation with largest population in the confederation, and Antigua & Barbuda, which at approximately 88,000 inhabitants has the smallest population of any country remaining in the competition.

Group B is led by 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup champion Mexico and is expected to be highly competitive.A game between El Salvador and Costa Rica on Matchday 5 could decide the group's fate.

Honduras, which qualified for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa along with the USA and Mexico, heads Group C.The current Central American champion starts play on June 8 at home against regional-rival Panama.

Matchdays 3 and 4 promise much excitement, as the top seeds from each group will meet each other on both days in a home-and-home series.

Times and locations for all matches will be confirmed at a later date.

The top two teams from each of the semifinal groups will advance to round four of qualifying - commonly known as the "hexagonal".

Three teams from CONCACAF are guaranteed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, with the fourth-placed team from the hexagonal facing off against the Oceania winner.