CONCACAF makes an offer for an additional 1/2 WC slot

[DAKCrew]

I would also like Oceania get a direct spot. Wouldn't it be cool to see American Samoa in the WC?

[DoyleG]

The AFC is against any invovlement with the OFC, merger or otherwise. What bolsters the OFC's case is the way how FIFA has treated the OFC in the past.

1986- OFC v. UEFA
1990- OFC v. COMBENOL
1994- OFC v. CONCACAF v. COMBENOL
1998- OFC v. AFC
2002- OFC v. COMBENOL

FIFA can't seem to make up it's mind on how to oragnize the playoff system. FA's also don't want to have to pay for travel to Australia for what would be considered as a one-off match. The Aussies rarely lose at home. Urugay can count itself lucky that it got the return match.

Face it guys, OFC is going to get the spot.

[striker]

Originally posted by MLSNHTOWN
I am sorry but this just makes no sense to me. The rewards seem to be based more on Money, i.e. the big China market than what is best for the actual competition. CONCACAF I think has proved that if Asia, CONCACAF, or Oceania are up for an additional WC spot it should go to CONCACAF. Any way you cut it.

Oceania should play Asia for one of the spots.
CONCACAF should either play UEFA or get the other spot.

It all depends on how you look at it. If one takes a view with a longer time line, one may argue that countries like China have much more potential than countries like Honduras in producing higher caliber play in the long run. To me, the question is how do you strike a balance.

[lurking]

China has often been heralded to show potential that has never materialized. The fact that those same arguments arent made about India (the worlds second most populace nation) should tell you something.

As for the showing of South Korea and Japan, both played on their home field. Historicly neither team has performed well in the finals. Looking at the US and Mexico's performance, they did not share the same home field advantage. The US and Mexico also showed the ability to make the round of 16 in past cups (although the US did so at home). The showings of China and Saudi Arabia show more about the depth of the confederation. On the otherhand look at the performance of Costa Rica. They beat China soundly, and lost out on goal differential to Turkey.

I dont know how based on the results on the field that anyone can say that Asia deserves a 1/2 slot over CONCACAF. From a financial standpoint, Asia shares something of an advantage, as well as probably the greater inclination to give FIFA official bribes.

[Red Card]

The best argument for an Oceania slot is that this is the "World" Cup, not a tournament for the 32 best national teams. The geographical diversity is what makes the World Cup so special.

It seems that to make all the feds happy there should be about 36 slots. That is not feasible. 32 is already beyond the hosting capacity of the vast majority of countries doing it by themselves. The "36" is why we need a playoff of 6 teams for the remaining 2 slots, and that way we will have serenity. Maybe.

[BenReilly]

Originally posted by kasai
More than likely Oceania will get its full spot. The other half spot left will likely go to the AFC to give them 5 full spots. I don't see the CONCACF getting 3 1/2 spots because the AFC is a much larger confederation population vise and FIFA has more potential for making money in China than they do in Honduras.

The problem with this analysis is that it assumes Mexico and the USA will qualify. Both teams came very close to not making it. From a purely financial perspective, a good argument could be made for giving Concacaf another spot.

[GersMan]

wouldn't be surprised to see such a tournament as red card proposes someday. Maybe not in the same country, but a nearby one. using germany as an example, you could put it in Austria or Poland, countries that otherwise aren't going to get a world cup.

if it the WC comes back to the U.S., you could have the pre-tournament in Cuba. :-)

another format could be the nearest miss from each of 6 feds, 2 groups of 3, two group champions play a winner-takes all match.

so it could go like this:
World Cup format
host - 1
Oceania 1
CONCACAF 3
CONMEBOL 4
CAF 5
AFC 4
UEFA 13

the 32nd spot then goes to the winner of the play-in, play-in participants would be:

winner/loser of the draw of UEFA group 2nd place finishers; 5th place team in CONMEBOL, 4th place team in CONCACAF, 5th place team in AFC, Oceania runnerup. and a team from Africa. Not sure how you determine which one, unless have the runnerup from all 5 groups play a round robin (lot of match dates though).

the play-in could take 7-8 days.

[photar74]

There is a myth floating aorund that there is an extra space for the 2006 WC. This simply ins't true. Right now, each confederation believes it has the following spaces:

UEFA: 13.5
CAF: 5.0
CONMEBOL: 4.5
AFC: 4.5
CONCACAF: 3.0
OFC: 0.5

That's 31.0 spaces right there. The only way there will be an extra space will be if somehow Germany cuts into UEFA's 13.5, rather than adding to it. Otherwise, in order for CONCACAF, OFC or AFC to gain their desired extra half space, its going to come from another confederation.

I really don't see how AFC could pull it off--their fresh out of friends. After already being granted a double host for 2002 (and gaining 0.5 spaces in the process), they then gained another 0.5 spaces from UEFA on threat of a boycott. Who is left to support them now?

Part of CONCACAF's problem here is that they have no allies. There simply isn't a single confederation out there that would support CONCACAF getting another 0.5 of a slot. What possible political situation at FIFA can anyone imagine where CONCACAF is able to wrest 0.5 spaces form any other confederation? I simply can't think of any.

Here are the ranges of possible allocations for each confederation come 2006. Try to imagine what poiltical situation is the most likely, and stop talking about performance on the field. We all should know by now that FIFA really doesn't give a crap about results:

UEFA: 12.5-13.5 (non-Germany)
CAF: 5.0
AFC: 4.5-5.0
CONMEBOL: 4.0-4.5
CONCACAF: 3.0-3.5
OFC: 0.5-1.0

Its always possible that between now and December CAF will start making some noise about wanting another 0.5 spaces as some form of compensation for South Africa losing the WC to Germany. We'll have to wait and see.

[Jasonma]

Originally posted by photar74
There is a myth floating aorund that there is an extra space for the 2006 WC. This simply ins't true. Right now, each confederation believes it has the following spaces:

UEFA: 13.5
CAF: 5.0
CONMEBOL: 4.5
AFC: 4.5
CONCACAF: 3.0
OFC: 0.5

That's 31.0 spaces right there. The only way there will be an extra space will be if somehow Germany cuts into UEFA's 13.5, rather than adding to it. Otherwise, in order for CONCACAF, OFC or AFC to gain their desired extra half space, its going to come from another confederation.


But Asia only had 4.5 due to the fact that they were hosting. Remove 1 spot (at least) since they were no longer hosting, and these were the number of slots in J/K.

UEFA: 15
CAF: 5
CONMEBOL: 5
AFC: 3
CONCACAF: 3
Host: 1
Holders: 1

The holders no longer get a spot so right now the next time around will look like:

UEFA: 13.5
CAF: 5
CONMEBOL: 4.5
AFC: 3.5
CONCACAF: 3
OFC: .5
Host: 1

With 1 spot up in the air. You could make a case that UEFA should lose a spot since Germany are already qualified, which means 2 spots would be up in the air.