Why can't we just do away with the two ways? If we have 4 confeds with .5 spots, then why don't we just do a round robin? This year Bahrain, New Zealand, Uruguay, and Costa Rica. Either pick two neutral sites for each match day, maybe even a warm up for the next host (This round it would be Brazil) Or have one game at the last host, and one at the next, (Germany, Brazil) Or choose neutral sites based on geography half way between countries. So Uruguay and Costa Rica would play in say Ecuador or Venezuela. Costa Rica and New Zealand would play in Fiji, or French Polynesia or Chile, Bahrain and Uruguay would play in Africa somewhere, you get the idea. Or play the games in the countries competing and have a set schedule for the games and draw lots for the number of your team in the draw. 1st game day : 4 vs 1, 2 vs 3 2nd game day : 1 vs 2, 3 vs 4 3rd game day : 3 vs 1, 4 vs 2 So each team is guaranteed one of the 3 games at home. Obviously you want to draw 1 or 2. Top 2 teams advance. I just think there has to be a better way to settle this niggling nitpicking over .5 of a slot.
Intercontinental Playoff 2014 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup_qualification#Qualification_spots_by_continent spots per continent For 2014 Europe 13 Africa 5 Asia/Oceania 5 South America 4.5 + Host North America/Caribbean 3.5
I wouldn't believe this allocation, even if it had been published in FIFA's official web site, let alone on Wikipedia. FIFA have a history of reneging on WC allocations, even after announcing them officially, after being lobbied by UEFA &/or CONMEBOL (eg latest being WC 2006). Bottom line is that we won't know for certain until after the confederational WCQ's actually have been PLAYED and the intercontinental playoffs are underway.
Things do leak on wikipedia . according to wikipedia it seems Oceania Qualifying 1st place team in 2014 era will go into the final round of asian qualifiers . Alot of people thought Oceania(without Australia) would be annex to Asia , so this is somewhat not surprising ,sorry .
People can write ANYTHING on wikipedia. You might want to recall that 4 years ago the OFC itself put out actual official press releases saying that 2010 qualification would be done with the top OFC team playing in the second round of the Asian group stage. Didn't happen, because the AFC didn't want it. You might also want to note that the AFC has put out it's structure for 2014 AFC qualification (with rounds and dates for all matches). There is no place in that for the OFC EXCEPT as a playoff at the end like this time. J
You are correct people can write anything , as for WIKIpedia I have been following their soccer post since 2007 (2yrs) and its a source of good information for me .We'll wait until December 2010 for FIFA to make an announcement regarding Intercontinental playoff fixtures but until then wikipedia have satisfied my curiosity i.e Concacaf # 4 meets Conmebol #5 again in 2014 era.
I have been saying the same thing for a while. CAF needs to use a system like you mentioned that has the final round come down to 4 groups of 4 with the second place finishers entering a 4 team playoff for the 5th spot.
I really think that can't be right. I certainly can't imagine what number is meant to follow in that series. J
Well, assuming that wasn't a reference to the typo... They're moving the tournament to June/July to prevent it clashing with the northern hemisphere club season. Because it's biennial, this means it needs to also move from even- to odd-numbered years so that every second edition doesn't clash with the World Cup.
Of course it was a reference to the typo - anything else would be thoughtful discourse man. This is BigSoccer, not Point of View. Interesting in the implications for World Cup qualifying being combined with CAN qualifications. They can't use 2013 edition (as that needs to be done by early 2013 at the latest - to allow for draws and prep etc - and that's WAY WAY WAY before the 2014 tournament). But 2015 is impossible too (too late). Actually I don't see how you can run the current types of qualifications for 2013 and 2015 continental tournaments and a 2014 World Cup qualification at the same time - this isn't like Concacaf where the big guys get byes to the continental finals (and the little guys are out of WC quals very early and then play little round-robin single venues tournaments for GC qualification) J
Some CONMEBOL Teams have advantages in High Altitude Grounds i.e Stadium in cities way above sea level like Bolivia ,Peru ,Equador , if Uruguay , Colombia or even Venezuelia finishes 5th it would be somewhat favorable for the CONCAcaf #4 team .
It'd only be fair, considering CAF got six this time around. I'd contend the Top 6 CONMEBOL teams are a notch or two better on average than the Top 6 CAF teams.
No one is arguing against that, but 60% is just too much. Argentina is already laughing, that they will probably still qualify with their U-21 AND Maradona as their coach.
Humbug. Argentina's A-team barely beat Peru in Buenos Aires 2-1 with a goal in extra time. And they needed desperately to win. Argentina U-21 could be good enough to win friendlies in Africa, Asia and North America, but in South America they'd get abused.
I just meant that it would be very easy for them. As it will be for the European top teams from the EURO 2016 qualification onward.
Brazil 2014 could have as-much-as 9 Latin american teams i.e 6 Conmebol + Mexico,honduras and Costa Rica , all three central american teams are capable to finish 1st-3rd in Concacaf , imagine if USA Claims the 4th place .
It'll be interesting because of the format change that's on the way. If Concacaf can maintain 3.5 spots, and in all the possible new formats I can't see any way it doesn't make it even easier for USA and Mexico, I would have to say they finish 1-2 in either order yet again. A change in format would probably be harmful for Honduras and Costa Rica who always get through to the end, but beneficial for Canada and Jamaica, who each have their one qualification and nothing but struggles since because they don't have the amount of games they need to make an impact. It would essentially be those 4 + MAYBE El Salvador, Panama and T&T fighting for the final 1.5 spots