Interesting they mention a qualification process as well. I think this is absolutely what needs to happen. Get CONCACAF teams playing again right after the world cup 2018 and into competitive matches. Quite Frankly USA, Mexico, Canada all need to be part of this as well. No free passes to the Gold Cup, make it legit.
Canada winning in 2000 took care of the whole "north zone" qualifying anomaly and let CONCACAF just claim that all past winners get an automatic spot. St. Pierre and Miquelon, or Greenland's application to CONCACAF can't come soon enough
World Cup qualifiers, Gold Cup, Gold Cup qualifiers, and Nations League? That's too many competitions.
Until we get the details next week, I'm not inclined to disagree with you. However, I imagine the Nations League seeding games would double as Gold Cup qualifiers. And, I'm sure the smaller teams that play fewer than 10 official games every WC cycle will appreciate having full schedules now.
http://www.fifa.com/live-scores/new...f-gold-cup-set-for-expansion-to-16-teams.html is titled "CONCACAF Gold Cup set for expansion to 16 teams." FIFA mistakenly claimed that every Gold Cup had 8 teams.
Yep, no separate GC qualifying as far as I can tell https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/03/07/concacaf-nations-league-format-rules-tiers-usa-mexico Copa Centroamericana and Caribbean Cup on the scrapheap? Possibly the Windward Islands tourney as well now that schedules will be a bit more occupied?
Mexico, USA, Costa Rica and Honduras are confirmed as the seeded nations for the 2019 Gold Cup. http://www.concacaf.com/en/article/...september-ranking-and-gold-cup-seeded-nations
On one hand, we finally got a Concacaf executive being asked straight up why there isn't a draw for the Gold Cup (at 6:35): Worth noting that it was the first time in the whole interview that Montagliani verbally tripped over himself - he had expressed himself smoothly with his limited Spanish up to that point. On the other, he gave a slippery answer ("We're not going to put all 16 teams in a pot, when even the World Cup doesn't that. So the top seeds are selected in advance, but we'll likely have a draw since we have a 16-team tournament") that avoided the eternal issue of the format favoring the US and Mexico. IMO the interviewer should have either 1) gone straight to that issue, or 2) had the guts to follow-up and ask Montagliani, "Why does the format keep the US and Mexico apart before the Final even if one of them finishes second in their group?" What's more damning is that program had touched on that exact subject in depth previously: @Bill Archer
No points for guessing what this is... Tune-in at 1:00PM ET to watch a historic announcement between @Concacaf and @fedefutbolcrc!¡Sintonice EN VIVO a las 1:00PM ET para presenciar un anuncio histórico entre Concacaf y Fedefutbol Costa Rica! 📺https://t.co/8jthnNrzRm #GoldCup #ThisIsOurs pic.twitter.com/jmTv2QzjyM— W Gold Cup (@GoldCup) November 26, 2018 EDIT: No, seriously, no points unless you know sign language! They forgot to check the audio
So no surprise there: Costa Rica will host the first matchday in its group. And reports are that the first matchday in Honduras's group will be in the Caribbean, leading to the question of how Concacaf will choose the venue: 1) Do they simply give it to T&T, or one of the teams involved in CNL qualifying and take the slight risk that the team might spectacularly crash out of the Gold Cup in March? 2) And do they pre-seed said team into Honduras's group, if they decide to hold a draw for once?
There has never been a Gold Cup game outside North America. I'm happy for Costa Rica and a Caribbean country to get to host a little.
The groups and schedule will be announced on April 10. As for the Caribbean venue, my speculations: - Concacaf already has one (or several?) lined up, but is just waiting for the potential host to officially qualify. - ...by which I mean that it won't be Trinidad and Tobago (they would've announced it a long time ago, otherwise). - Unless smaller islands like Curaçao are in consideration, the most likely candidates are Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.
Do you hear that? IT is the sound of CONCACAF officials rejoicing that El Salvador is one step closer to qualifying. Plug them into either Group B or C and the stands will be full of blue shirted supporters in most of the games in either Group.
Our 2019 @Concacaf Gold Cup Participants! ⚽️Mexico 🇲🇽Costa Rica 🇨🇷Panama 🇵🇦Honduras 🇭🇳USA 🇺🇸Trinidad and Tobago 🇹🇹Haiti 🇭🇹Canada 🇨🇦Martinique 🇫🇷Curaçao 🇨🇼Bermuda 🇧🇲Cuba 🇨🇺Guyana 🇬🇾Jamaica 🇯🇲El Salvador 🇸🇻Nicaragua 🇳🇮#ThisIsOurs #GoldCup2019— W Gold Cup (@GoldCup) March 25, 2019
I'd assume that if they were they to join CONCACAF, they'd be put in the Caribbean group, which already has the fourth North American team (Bermuda) along with South American minnows.
https://www.fifa.com/news/debutants-bermuda-guyana-break-new-ground is titled "Debutants Bermuda, Guyana break new ground." It says the Gold Cup will be co-hosted by USA and Costa Rica. It doesn't mention a Caribbean country, but Wikipedia says a Caribbean country will host. Wikipedia has the locations for each group, and the four seeded teams know where they will play: Group A with Mexico: Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA Broncos Stadium at Mile Hile in Denver, CO Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC Group B with Costa Rica: Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica in San Jose Toyota Stadium in Frisco, TX Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ (where Costa Rica beat USA 2-0 in a WCQ on September 1, 2017) Group C with Honduras: Caribbean BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, TX Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles, CA Group D with USA: Allianz Field in St. Paul, MN (a new stadium) FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, OH Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City, KS Group B teams have long flight from Texas to New Jersey. Group D teams don't have much travel.
Yes, but those teams have cultural and historic connections to the Caribbean. The Guyanas don't even have road connections to Venezuela or each other, and only recently did French Guiana put one in with Brazil. They're basically Caribbean islands separated by rivers instead of oceans. They also developed linguistically and politically and their FAs did too at a far more similar rate to CFU members than CONMEBOL, in which they'd be out of place. St. Pierre doesn't fit like that. It's a French island and they've sent teams to tournaments in Newfoundland before. The "north zone" (which seems to only exist in be CONCACAF statutes) is far more fitting
And Montagliani's working his damndest to make the bold as meaningless as possible, i.e. One Concacaf means the Caribbean and Central America practically no longer existing as semi-autonomous regions (in other words: die, CFU/UNCAF, die).
St. Pierre and Miquelon is much worse on the field than any of the three North American countries. In the ELO Ratings, which include areas that are not members of FIFA, they're 224th, and the only Concacaf teams worse than them are British Virgin Islands and Anguilla. A four team tournament with USA, Mexico, Canada, and St. Pierre and Miquelon would be like a tournament with two of the best Premier League clubs, an average Premier League club (analogous to Canada), and an amateur club. I'm fine with eliminating the sub-regions.
All true - but it's would be crazy to put them in a group of 4 with Canada, USA, and Mexico. (and what of the other "north" team - Bermuda?) Only geographically and culturally. I'd still pragmatically stick them with the other minnows. It's no less absurd than Australia being part of Asia.
Pats on the back @HomietheClown , we called it! So we know Jamaica will be in Honduras's group - the only question is whether they'll play each other in Kingston on that match day.
Bringing @GoldCup to Jamaica is a watershed moment for football in our Confederation, for football in the Caribbean and in this country. #ThisIsOurs pic.twitter.com/T0A3RLv3S6— Victor Montagliani (@VicMontagliani) April 2, 2019
Well Australia and Indonesia are right next to each other so there's at least some geographical continuity. As for Bermuda, it's part of the CFU and an associate member of Caricom - despite the geography it's far easier to accept as a Caribbean island. Supposedly they and Bahamas were part of NAFU at one time but that's changed. It doesn't matter anyway, the regional zones have been all but eliminated aside from the Caribbean club tournaments from what I can tell. If Saint Pierre does come in, they can start at the bottom of the Nations League like anyone else.