Here are the official allocation for 2019 AFC - 5 slots CAF - 3 slots CONCACAF - 3.5 slots CONMEBOL - 2.5 slots OFC - 1 slot UEFA - 8 slots Hosts - France (UEFA)
Okay, it's still a bit more than two years out, but I'll go for some qualification predictions: (Though we probably should stop talking about allocations and projections in the hosting candidates thread) AFC - easily Australia, Japan, China, and both Koreas CAF - completely up in the air; even stalwart Nigeria has fallen off their pedestal recently CONCACAF - easily USA, Canada, Mexico/Costa Rica CONMEBOL - Brazil easily, otherwise ??? Americas playoff - the other of Mexico/Costa Rica (CONMEBOL #3 just barely squeaked by CONCACAF #5 last year, so I'm betting on CONCACAF #4 winning easily enough) OFC - Tahiti! No, that's silly - New Zealand UEFA - Germany, England, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Netherlands, ??? host - France [already decided]
(cough, cough) I dare to say Venezuela, because of their impressive youth development that should end yielding a return, even ahead of Colombia, that's the most obvious choice, given the recent past. Chile ST was promising a pair of years ago, but they somehow stopped in their tracks. I frankly can't see any of Ecuador, Paraguay or Argentina manage to qualify. Bah, the useless qualifier. Give us some Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Papua New Guinea!!!
AFC - Australia, Japan, China, South Korea, North Korea CAF - Nigeria, Cameroon + ??? CONCACAF - USA, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica CONMEBOL - Brazil, Colombia UEFA - Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, England, Spain, Switzerland, Norway + ??? OFC - New Zealand
What about Trinidad and Tobago for CONCACAF? They almost beat Mexico in the 2014 World Cup Qualifying. I know they aren't the best but possibly if they are able to gain backing they might be able to qualify. Also. Its almost 2017 and Mexico is without a coach. They play Canada in early 2017.
it's possible if Trinidad & Tobago works hard during 2017. Schedules a bunch of friendlies against tougher opponents. Costa Rica is clearly the #3 team in CONCACAF, so whoever finishes 4th will likely face someone like Ecuador or Venezuela for that last spot.
It's possible, but only in the sense that anything is possible. T&T was only as good as they were with Randy Waldrum at the helm, and there was a falling out there a while ago. Also, consider CONCACAF's qualifying format. Assuming it doesn't change, you'd need to say T&T first qualifies from the CFU tournament (likely, but it wouldn't be surprising for both Haiti and Jamaica to finish ahead of them, and then your margin for error is slim for the 3rd slot) and then finish second in one of the two four-team groups in the first round. Considering the two groups of four should each have two of USA/CAN/MEX/CRC, I find it hard to believe T&T edges into second place in any combination there. The only way around would be if USA, MEX, and CRC get placed in one group (two of the three N.Amer. teams plus one of the two C.Amer. teams) and T&T gets placed in the other group with the only other strong team being CAN. Which, to be fair, is exactly what happened in the 2016 OG qualifying, this being CONCACAF after all, so *shrugs*...