[desertfox2]

I know that there was a thread of this but it might have been deleted so i'm making a new one. The qualification format has been changed from having the CAN 2006 qualifiers serve as the 2006 WC qualifiers to the complete opposite. Now the 2006 WC qualifiers are serving as qualifying for CAN 2006. The new format looks something like this:

- 16 nations get a bye into Round 2.
- The other 36 nations must play in playoff series in Round 1. 18 winners advance to join the other 16 teams in Round 2.
- There will be 5 groups of 6 teams in Round 2 (which is interesting since 18+16=34 teams total but hopefully CAF will get it figured out).
- The top team in each group qualifies for the 2006 WC Finals.
- The top 3 in each group will qualify for the 2006 CAN Finals in Egypt (will be interesting to see what they do with Egypt since they have a bye into the 2006 CAN since they are hosting).

That's basically it. It should be interesting to see how they work this but overall I like it. It's much better than the first proposal that's for sure. It would also favor the favorites as they wouldn't have to face a team in a home-and-home series in Round 1 (remember, Senegal nearly lost to Benin in the 2002 WCQR and think about how that could have changed the 2002 WC) and they would have a large margin of error as they would be in a group with 5 other teams. If anyone has any thoughts about this please reply.

[Guinho]

This isn't that different from the existing format, except for the 16 teams getting byes and the deletion of the CAN quallification, right?

Guinho

[desertfox2]

That is correct Guinho, and I personally like this format. The original proposal that they had though just didn't satisfy me. That was the proposal that the CAN tournament would serve as the 2006 WCQR for CAF with the 4 semifinalists and one other team qualifying. The problem I had with this was that Egypt would've had a easier time qualifying since they were hosts which I thought was unfair. However, this format looks to be a good one.