I would think African, Asian and Conmebol teams, besides other Hex Concacaf teams if they are played at all.
African teams have 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying with one game in September, two games in October, and one game in November. I'm guessing that they wouldn't want to play in the USA right before or after a qualifier.
What if we face them in Europe? For instance, I don't think it'd be too much asking of a Maghrebi team to play in Spain ahead of a home AFCON qualifier.
Here are the details. This will be great. 4 tiers, Promotion/Relegation(gasp! no complacency!). With any luck LoN will remove the meaningless second gold cup and concacaf championship match. Before you comment about the lack of benefits of competitive matches against say Guatamala and the "lesser concacaf" teams, I remind you the only team we beat away during qualifications was St Vincent and The Grenadines.
The article itself says there will be 3 tiers. The problem isn't the lesser teams, but the opportunity cost of playing these games vs friendlies against high-profile opponents. I hope CONCACAF would have the good sense to throw a carrot out there for the teams in Division 1 - namely, putting Copa América berths on the line.
What good did higher profile friendlies provide us though? Awarding special berths is a great idea(as long as it not for fake Copas )
Higher profile friendlies help you in the World Cup if you qualify. Since we didn't qualify, our win in Germany in 2015 is meaningless considering how they will probably do in the World Cup.
It will be (mildly) interesting to see what LON does to seedings for the WC. No one but Europe and anyone in Conmebol that manages a win against Bra or Arg is going to have any "quality wins."
I think it's a terrible idea for us. Pro soccer players are already burned out from too many matches. To add more matches "that count" puts more pressure to call in over worked guys. It will likely diminish the value of the American player. All things being equal, if you are a uefa team, are you going to sign the guy that has to fly 30+ hours during international breaks, to play with hack-a-caf level reffing (look at what happened to Lletget, were there even a foul called on that play? The Panamanians punched Puli up and down the field in the WCQ match. And, there's not a lot at stake. If there are 3 divisions, there will be like 13 teams per division? What are the chances we get relegated? It would be hilarious if we did, though. Let's say that somehow, because of LON, we don't make the Gold Cup. It would hurt the Gold Cup more than us. From a U.S. perspective, it's a joke. Who cares if we finish 1st, 5th or 10th in our division? The only upside I see is that it reduces the # of cash and fan grab friendlies that Concacaf teams can play in the U.S. And, it creates myriad opportunities to cap tie players. "You get cap tied! and You get cap tied! and You get cap tied!"
That's how it is now, though - as far as the FIFA ranking is concerned, you're basically better off not playing friendlies at all. See: how Poland gamed the system this time, and Switzerland going into 2014 to get a top seed. And beating Costa Rica or Mexico (I know - crazy, right? ) in a LoN match would get us literally 2.5x the ranking points from doing the same in a friendly.
Per Concacaf's release today, we officially don't start in the League of Nations until September 2019. We'll be in Tier A which will have 12 teams, four groups of three. Four games (2 home, 2 away) in Fall 2019 windows with a "Championship" in the March 2020 window.
More color here from Brian Straus (warning, Grant Wahl autoplay) -The four group winners go to the championship round -The four third place finishers are relegated to League B -The four League B group winners are promoted to League A Also in there: the Gold Cup will expand to 16 countries in 2019.
Agreed. People shit on friendlies, but would you rather watch the US play a friendly against good competition in Europe, or have to watch a slogfest in Central America with 90% humidity, crap ass fields on a TV stream that barely qualifies as standard definition? Add in more travel for Euro based players, terrible refs, and having to tire more players out by not having 6 subs....not a fan.
Personally, Option B every day of the week. I mean, not literally, just the two games during FIFA windows
The matches in our region are not always aesthetically pleasing, but they are entertaining enough for me. Those friendlies in Europe are often even sloggier than the ones we play in our region. More importantly this gives our guys a chance to play lower-stakes games in some of the the hostile locations they will be heading to for qualifying. I hope the championship round (should we make it) gives us the chance to go to Costa Rica and Mexico, though I have a sinking feeling it will be played entirely in Los Angeles.
I agree. Speaking of that, League of Nations should push our World Cup Qualifying back a bit from the last cycle. We started November 2015 if I remember correctly for 2018. With League of Nations we'd probably start June 2020 for 2022.
That also leaves the question of when the next Nations League will take place, with the fall of 2020 and the fall of 2021 presumably dedicated to WCQ. Perhaps the calendar year of 2022 (March, June, September, October), presuming FIFA goes through with the November WC in Qatar?
How the hell is no one in US soccer (players, coaches, ex-players, suits, etc) NO ONE....critical or speaking out against this ??? is it just a matter of no one feeling like they can do anything about it so no point in speaking against it?? or are the people who "matter" in US soccer just clueless and cant see how bad this is for the USMNT??? or - does the entire soccer community in the USA actually think this will be a positive???\ i think its a horrible plan and will only serve to cement the status quo....i.e. europe on top then south america...then everyone else......also, it will potentially help develop the game in places where the sport is undeveloped.....(which would benefit MLS but not the USMNT) so it will keep everyone basically in the same general ranking they are in the world whle also benefitting nations 150-300 in the world........ personally i hate watching the gold cup and usmnt games versus concacaf teams other than cr and mexico so i hate this idea.
This is as of yesterday https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/03/07/concacaf-nations-league-format-rules-tiers-usa-mexico Qualification for the new tournament will kick off this fall, and the USA and Mexico will begin Nations League play in September 2019. That ensures the Americans’ next competitive contest will be in about 15 months, at the first game of the 2019 Gold Cup. Before that Gold Cup, which will expand to 16 participants, 34 national teams will play four qualifying games each in order populate the three Nations League tiers. In addition, the results of those four matches will determine which 10 teams join the USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama and Trinidad & Tobago (the 2016-17 Hexagonal participants) at the 2019 Gold Cup. The Nations League will comprise three tiers—A, B and C—and will be contested following the Gold Cup in the fall of 2019. The aforementioned six seeds, including the USA and Mexico, will be joined in 12-team League A by six qualifiers and divided into four groups of three countries each. Each side will play four games—two home, two away—against the other two members of its group. The four group winners will advance to the championship round in March 2020
it's not only concacrap league of nations...its the end of all friendlies outside of concacaf....the uefa league of nations is what prompted this and us soccer should be speaking out against that as well.
I for one can never get enough of Gold Cup - the drama, the quality, the intensity that comes from playing something so meaningful. So LoN is great, but hopefully they double down and find even more opportunities for the US to test our mettle against Guatemala, Belize, and SV&G.
I was just this week remarking to my comrades that what we really needed was more matches against the likes of Nicaragua and Haiti and Cuba. I am so excited by this great development!
I know a few of you were disappointed to miss out on the World Cup, but frankly I am counting the days to the LoN draw and our first match. Kudos USSF!