I follow the USMNT and I recently noticed they are playing st Vincent grenadine.... to me, this is the definition of an unfair fight...well, at least it should be, but Jamaica and Panama should be too....no offense to st vincent, but the game is over before it starts Anyway, I started thinking what if there was a way to make it more fair. What if there was a way to divide CONCACAF up into 6 teams: the USA, Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean (all together as 1 team), central America and....Costa Rica (?). ....the hardest part is what to do with central America....costa rica and Honduras and Guatemala and el Salvador all together would leave only 5 teams...and plus im not sure this would work anyways....costa rica has had the most success from central America so maybe they could stay separate??? idk...not a perfect solution but I think this tournament would be great for the fans and would be truly competitive. Canada will need to improve a lot but they are such a big country as it is that they should really be better than they are anyway. so....the teams would look like this (in no particular order): 1.USA 2.Mexico 3.Canada 4. Costa Rica 5. the Caribbean (panama, Guatemala, el Salvador, Honduras,etc) 6. Central America (Jamaica, tnt, Haiti, cuba, etc...) I think this would be much more challenging for the US, Mexico and Costa Rica and would be better competition overall. Player for player, I think the Caribbean and Central America are better than the traditional powers they are just so limited by geography and miniscule populations. This format is really unfair to Costa rica but i dont know what other solution there could be (they could be like Uruguay of concacaf - they already are) My prediction if this tournament was held tomorrow on the results: 1.the Caribbean 2.Central America 3.mexico 4.USA 5.Costa Rica 6.Canada I know this isn't all the way thought-out but it is an interesting idea I thought I would share and see what other people think.....Personally, I think a Caribbean "all-star team" and a central American "all-star team" could be very good and be threats even at a world cup level....the USA certainly wouldn't be qualifying for every world cup anymore.
1. CONCACAF isn't the only confederation with unbalanced games. Bhutan has played 4 Group Stage games in Asia and lost three of them 6-0, 7-0, and 15-0. In nine Euro 2016 qualifiers each, San Marino has been outscored 34-1 with 1 point from a scoreless draw and Gibraltar has been outscored 50-2 with 0 points. 2. I like seeing how weaker countries and clubs do against each other. In qualifying for World Cup 2014, Antigua and Barbuda almost managed a draw against USA. USA won 3-1 at home and 2-1 at Antigua and Barbuda, but that's still impressive for Antigua and Barbuda, and if the Caribbean just had one All-Star team, how many players would there be from Antigua and Barbuda? Peter Byers?
yeah watching euro qualification is another reasonI thought of this....girbraltar vs spain? yawwwnnnnnn its wack. just becuz it happens worldwide doesn't mean it is a good thing. you like watching weak teams? okay.... if there was a Caribbean allstar team all the Antigua players would still be eligble...so if they are good enough they will play. I don't see the problem. theres a rack of usa and mexico players who are good enough who don't play...nothing new.
Have you seen our games recently? We aren't very good dude. T&T don't need charity to beat us but I can see maybe some of the very smallest Island nations joining to form an all start team of sorts. I don't think it is up to us to sabotage our chances of qualifications when the refs already work against us so often.
u make some good points but on a larger stage, tnt and Honduras etc don't really have much chance....it would give every concacaf representative a legit chance in a world cup setting not just within the region. besides, though the usa might suck right now they have made like 6 straight world cups and won the last 3 hexagonals....despite an idiot coach they really aren't being challenged much....
1. was kind of a joke 2. cricket essentially uses pro/rel for their WCQ: http://www.abhinaw.com/2013/11/nepals-road-map-for-t20-cricket-world.html
This is so wacky lol. You want different countries to group together to make a more competitive national football team? The football federations of each of those countries are extremely happy of being independent and holding a vote in CONCACAF and FIFA that's as important as US or Mexico.
sure it does. lesser national teams (like the US) should be forced to carry their freight against Canada, Puerto Rico, Upper Volta, etc before playing real countries like Mexico and Costa Rica.
yeah it is wacky but i just feel for the Caribbean nations...they are super talented just so small they cant really compete with the big boys. just making it to a world cup is like winning a world cup for an island. its just an idea anyway...not a serious proposal. who do you think who would win? an allstar Caribbean team or the us/mexico??
OP's opening post on this might be the stupidest post I've ever seen... I don't think you understand the amount of pride and dedication people have in regards to their national teams. I know in the states its finally starting to be popular but in those countries people live and breath for the game, especially when it comes to their country's team. The USMNT is not very good man.. like not at all... and all the overrating and condescending that the US fans do on here is out of nothing more than lack of knowledge..
Despite some recent results, the USMNT is better than you say. The USMNT reached the Round of 16 in the last two World Cups. I agree with you that worse national teams should not be combined. Trinidad and Tobago planned on declaring a holiday the day after their last qualifier for World Cup 1990, but USA won to prevent that. Trinidad and Tobago did declare it a holiday when they qualified for World Cup 2006.
I agree we should all abandon rooting for the US and start rooting for a team that is actually likely to make the WC like Trinidad and Tobago.
I dont say that just because of recent results. It's the style of play, or lack there of, it's the poor tactical knowledge and lack of ability to carry out the coaches plan (watching Gyasi Zardes play gives me a headache) , it's the current talent pool (there is no one even half way to Landon Donovan's level, and even him at his prime wasn't good enough to cement a spot on a big european side even though I am a huge admirer of Landon and I think he could have made it in Europe). It is alot deeper than just a few recent results. This is just my opinion either way, it doesn't make either of us wrong or right. I just think OP really has no clue about football culture aside from the tiny bit he's seen in the states which doesn't really reflect anything even close to what it is truly about. Just the suggestion of MERGING NATIONAL TEAMS to "try" and beat the USA (as if it were some wildly improbable and unfair chance to others) is a clear reflection of that. USA doesn't play good football man it just is what it is, they may win here and there but its never with good football... maybe in the future but for now they will continue to scrape by with an ancient Clint Dempsey and a declining Micheal Bradley and no decent replacements in sight...
They don't. If anything, the usnt gets more benefits from reffing like the 2 noncalls on handballs in the Concacaf Cup.
A West Indies team (like in cricket) is an interesting idea but wouldn't get off the ground - it's been discussed on here and the Caribbean posters seem to think it's ridiculous, which I think reflects the general attitudes in those countries. Would be hard to keep it from being biased towards the big teams anyways.
you obviously didn't read my OP closely. grenadines has like 100k population. usa 320 million. its not a fair match...it will never be. Trinidad with 1.3 million can usually field 11 good players and be competitive internationally. and its not about the USA...its about international competitiveness....the island nations have no shot at a world cup even though they do have some amazing individual players. they never will. the usa, mexico, etc might if they can develop their games more because they have the resources. my whole point was that it would be interesting to watch .... even though no one involved wants to do it. I wasn't trying to imply the usa is better.
Many island nations have no shot at a World Cup, but Caribbean islands have qualified for two of the last five World Cups, Jamaica in 1998 and Trinidad and Tobago in 2006.
There is this road block... FIFA Association Admission Regulations: "Any Association which is responsible for organising and supervising football in all of its forms in its Country may become a Member of FIFA. Consequently, it is recommended that all Members of FIFA involve all relevant stakeholders in football in their own structure. Subject to par. 5 and par. 6 below, only one Association shall be recognised in each Country" FIFA Association Voting: "Each Member has one vote in the Congress and is represented by its delegates. Only the Members present are entitled to vote. Voting by proxy or by letter is not permitted." This new proposed association is probably not permitted based on the FIFA rules. If FIFA did allow it then it seems like all these Caribbean countries that decide join together would get one vote. So in your example team 5 "the Caribbean Team (panama, Guatemala, el Salvador, Honduras,etc)" would get 1 vote in the FIFA congress instead of 4 or more depending on all the countries that join this Caribbean association. I don't think these countries will want to give up the power of this vote.
The USA should be forced to play the 1st round instead of having a bye to the round before the Hex. They're struggling against Caribbean and Central American minnows.