It won't be a mess. Before the current procedure for qualifying, they did run two independant qualifications. So going back to what they had previously won't be a big burden like you think. They did change procedure for the Europeans etc, the Europeans etc, never backed the idea and will now back fire on them.
I assume Spain vs. Uruguay is a shoe-in match in the first round, as will be Brazil vs. the Euro Champions... would love to see Brazil vs. Germany.... just a quick question, should Spain win these Euros, would the 2012 Euro runnerup qualify for the Confed cup, or will it be Holland as the WC runner up?
Add Zambia to the list of qualifiers... amazing story, almost 20 years after losing their entire team to a plane crash over Gabon during the 1994 WC qualifiers, they return to that very same country and win the African Nations Cup as rank outsiders, upsetting Ivory Coast on penalties! Amazing game this football!
Congratulations to them on the championship! ...but if they want in the 2013 Confederations Cup, the Chipolopolo will have to do it again next year in South Africa.
Rather see Ghana or Ivory Coast there with the likes of spain, brasil, mexico and whoever win Euro 12 which might be germany. It makes for a stronger and flashier tournament.
Sadly they use the 2013 edition, which is only a half-assed version of the ACON in my opinion. Well, it will be hard to combine the qualifying for the WC with the qualifying for (every second) AFCON. I think they should have decided to run the tournament every 4 years instead of every 2 years. So now we have this cycle: 2013 ACON 2014 WC 2015 ACON 2017 ACON 2018 WC 2019 ACON 2021 ACON 2022 WC etc. After every world cup there are only 6 months til the next ACON, so I think they should have one qualification for both tournaments. But currently the qualification for the WC 2014 won't include the qualification for ACON 2015.
Man that is just plain wrong. I dunno about the CAF but why does everytime they do, have to be the hard way.
Well at least they'll get some competitive matches as preparations to 2014 The main issue with changing it to odd years was the fact that ACON took too much energy from the teams prior to the World Cup and also tended to disrupt preparations if a given team flopped (like Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire losing coaches after the ACON in 2010).
It's incredible...Cote d'Ivoire got second place without conceding a single goal...(except penalties)
Yup, this is why I say it will turn into a mess. The ACN qualifying for 2013 is pure knockout, which was necessary given that WC qualifying is going on at the same time. Are they gonna stick to this mickey-mouse qualifying format for ACN 2017, 2021, etc or have a more normal group-stage qualifying process? If its the latter, it seems like February 2017 is too late to start WC qualifying, which means you'll have to combine the ACN and WC qualifying. But then ACN/WC qualifying would have to be completed by November 2016 which is more than 18 months before the World Cup.
I will be in Brasil for Confederations Cup 2013. Kind of sucks on a regular basis that some places in this world do not sell beer at the stadiums due to rowdy fans it ruins it for the rest of the civilized fans that want to take their wives or kids. I know that Fifa told Brasil it must sell beer at it's world cup stadiums as part of an agreement for the world cup 2014. But does anyone here think that they will test the sale of alcohol at the 2013 confederations cup before the big show the following year?
who cares if they sell beer or not as Brazilian beer is bleh, the real question is... will they sell caipirinhas?
lmfao People are more worried about drinking beer than being at the freaking world cup, if you want beer stay in your home and watch the WC on tv gosh man.. some people can really get on my nervs
the winner of this years African cup of nations does not qualify to the 2013 Confederations cup correct?
Correct. The 2013 ACN qualifies for the Confed Cup. For most of us it's not about getting completely trashed in the stadium. It's just nice to have a drink or two while attending a live football match. Especially when its 30 degrees outside. It also makes for a better atmosphere. What gets on my nerves are prudes that think a little bit of alcohol is the worst thing in the world. People who are that stuck-up can stay at home and watch on TV.
Correct and I think it's a bad decision. The 2013 edition has (obviously) a very rushed qualification with only play-off rounds, so we will probably see quite some surprises. Personally I think CAF should have make the same decision as CONMEBOL and AFC to held the continental cup every 4 years. It increases the value of the tournament and also ensures there is enough time for a proper qualification.
yeah having the continental cup every 2 years is bad enough.....having it in consecutive years, damn!
Seems to me CAF will revert to a standard qualifying format, the reason for the mickey mouse (as u put it) was not just the WC: CAF also had to factor in the 2012 competition.
I think that was brought up b4 & the final argument from CAF (unofficially) was that considering African infrastructure is still very much underdeveloped, holding the competition every 2 years (as opposed to 4) was seen as a means to help develop infrastructure across the continent & also expose African players who otherwise might never get a chance. I personally like that... European & South American players typically already have exposure from very commercially advanced leagues; something home-based African players don't even (even those playing in some of the big African leagues like Egypt's & Morocco's)
Ironically I think the fact that the competition is held every two years actually undermines the squad and team development to it's highest level. For many European and South American national teams, it takes more than a few years to build a strong team that will pass through into the second stage or quarter finals of the WC. With the CAF, time is a bit short to develop a world class national team that will get through to the quarter finals and they generally underperform at the world cup. Usually only one of the african teams will pass the group stage at the world cup. I don't remember more than two CAF teams getting pass the group stage. A CAF tournament every two years for the national teams does not polish the African players up for the WC. It's like every two years they have to rebuild their teams with a new coach and that changes the core team players and undermines the long term efforts for the world cup. There is so many coaches being fired with short stints for shot term results. This undermines the African national squads ahead of the world cup year. It does the opposite to the infrastructure in my opinion. This is to their shame, because they always have the new bleed players when you see how well they do in Olympics, but they alway bomb out in the world cup tournaments because of the lack of continuity and maturity to develop past a couple of years. TBH, I think the problem also lies in their African champions league in terms of player development and it should not be on the shoulders on the national teams. It comes down to scheduling, structure, and venues. They don't schedule their fixtures like the UEFA champions league timeline. African Champions League usually begins around January and finishes around November but most African national leagues begins around July, August, or September and finish around April, May, or June and therefore not at the same time with each other. So some are not put their best in-form teams for the competition.