A comparison of how the teams are doing based on the Pot they were drawn out of at the beginning: 7 of the 8 original Pot D teams are below the line to become League C teams. The only exception is Montserrat who is 3 spots above the line. The nine Pot C teams are now spread out from #14 to #30. Five of them are below the B/C line but several have a good shot at staying up in League B. Obviously at least 4 of them will wind up League C. Bermuda, Belize, and Antigua & Barbuda are in the most peril of falling. EDIT: I guess some Pot B teams could also drop to League C. The nine Pot B teams are mostly in the top half of the League B standings with Curacao and St. Kitts & Nevis up in the League A zone. The worst is in 18th place overall. They should pretty much all stay in League A or B. The eight Pot A teams are all in the top 16 unsurprisingly. French Guiana and Guadeloupe are the only two out of the top 10. Overall there will be a little shakeup but the qualifying results are not going to be drastically different than the original seeding order as far as league placement.
Yeah, other than Montserrat playing better than what I suspect everyone thought them capable of, there hasn't been any big shockers. Curacao has been better than I thought, but 6 teams were going to League A and after Canada, Jamaica/El Salvador and Haiti/Cuba, it was going to be pretty wide open for the other three spots. Perhaps going with the UEFA set-up and just starting with league levels already determined would've made games more competitive and perhaps been able to keep fans more interested in their teams instead of watching them win or lose by 5+ goals every game. Every competition has to start somewhere though. I wonder what is going to happen when the second iteration starts though and some of those League C teams are stuck having to be served up to Guatemala.
But wouldn't we always reach this same point in the CNL itself? Matchdays 5 and 6, bottom-feeders in League C have no mathematical shot of promotion but still have dead-rubbers to play out. Montagliani would do well to remember qualifying for the 2014 World Cup: with a similar goal of more games for the smaller teams, we had a group stage before the semifinal round of qualifying, with everyone except the teams that crashed out in the first-round playoffs guaranteed six games. The downside was that only the winner of each group would advance. ...then the Bahamas (who had shelled the TCI in the first round) balked at their schedule and withdrew before this first group stage began; and after Matchday 4, several teams started resorting to shenanigans to cut down costs for the remaining dead rubbers (e.g. since the schedule had everyone playing the same opponents home-and-away on Matchdays 5 and 6, teams would agree to have both games at the same venue). Tl;dr smaller Caribbean FAs talk about wanting more games, but their attitude when they actually have them suggests otherwise. And separately, what is the point of the FIFA-affiliated federations getting money for football if they're just going to sit at home? Concacaf should adopt a harsher stance - show up to play or face suspension.
League C of the CONCACAF Nations League will have 3 team groups. Teams will only be playing 4 games so the number of dead rubbers should be reduced. And the competition should be more even since teams will only be playing other League C teams.
On Twitter Montserrat liked and retweeted my speculation that they are one of the 10 that are struggling. Take from that what you will.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_–_CONCACAF_Second_Roundsays the only teams that played at the same venue on Matchdays 5 and 6 were Bermuda hosting Barbados. Barbados lost all 6 games, and Bermuda was eliminated on Matchday 5 when Guyana beat Trinidad and Tobago.
Ok, if you want to get that specific. Check back at Puerto Rico-St. Lucia: different venues (to be fair ) but St. Lucia agreed to play both games in Borinquen.
I didn't see that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_–_CONCACAF_Second_Round is the link. I missed the space at the end so it doesn't work.
Union of Dominican players threatens not to play against Cuba because they do not have health insurance. |COMUNICADO|: El sindicato de jugadores se planta y no viajará a Cuba en la @CNationsLeague hasta que no reciban los seguros médicos. Un derecho básico laboral. Mi absoluto apoyo a los jugadores por esta “Huelga”. Están luchando por el fútbol del país!!! 🇩🇴 pic.twitter.com/h6NxyuaPGx— CONCACAF DOMINICANA (@CONCACAFDOMINI) October 23, 2018
Insurance for the time spent with the NT, or insurance in general for daily life? Is it common for national federations to provide full time insurance to players? I know some federations provide insurance to Women's players, but in that case, due to lack of earning opportunities for women's players, they are essentially full-time NT members and part-time club players. Hopefully this gets resolved. The Dominican Republic has a very good chance to qualify for not just the Gold Cup, but League A if they can get any points from Cuba next month.
Apparently it's insurance for playing with the national team. The union is also pushing for the U 20 to have it too, before travelling to Florida. Yes, it would be a shame that the Dominican Republic is excluded from playing the CNL and Gold Cup due to the disorganization of its federation. Right now that the team is shaping up to be one of the best in the Caribbean...
Plus, Cuba vs. Dominican Republic looks to be THE matchup of Matchday Three. Canada vs. St Kitts & Nevis and Curacao vs. Guadeloupe should be of high quality as well, but not quite like Cuba vs. Dominican Republic. Especially considering the French Territories haven't been all that impressive thus far, even Martinique with 6pts hasn't looked overly good.
Cuba vs DR in an important match? Oh yea... for sure the main course of that matchday.. Faux siblings, Sporting rivalry in baseball and boxing.. Now futbol! I like this little tournament.
Naw, son - it's the rematch between Nicaragua and Haiti, without question. They humiliated us in the Gold Cup playoff, and the time for revenge has come
Plus, an loss by either team could be devastating. Cuba plays Haiti on Matchday Four, and I'd bet my rent cheque on Haiti winning that one. Dominican Republic plays Bermuda on Matchday Four, and while DR would be favoured, Bermuda has the players in Nakhi Wells and Reggie Lambe to be a tricky opponent. Cuba pretty much has to win to get into the Gold Cup. There don't look to be many dropped points for top teams, so 9 points may not actually be enough. Probably will be, especially with that 11-goal game on Day One, but wouldn't want to risk it. A draw and Cuba could be seriously looking at 7 points, which I doubt would be Gold Cup-worthy.
For once, a positive venue change (political background aside): Nicaragua have been cleared to host their home game in Managua
UPDATED: 2019-20 CONCACAF Nations League Qualifying Round Home team first, times are ET Matchday 3 Friday, November 16 Br. Virgin Is. v. Bonaire @ Anguilla 1:45 pm Grenada v. Saint Martin 6:00 pm Bermuda v. El Salvador 7:00 pm Aruba v. Montserrat @ Curacao 8:00 pm Belize v. Puerto Rico 9:00 pm Saturday, November 17 Cuba v. Dominican Republic 3:30 pm Nicaragua v. Haiti 7:00 pm Jamaica v. Suriname 8:00 pm Cayman Islands v. Saint Lucia 8:00 pm Sunday, November 18 Turks & Caicos Islands v. St. Vincent & the Grenadines 3:00 pm Bahamas v. Anguilla 6:00 pm Barbados v. US Virgin Islands 6:00 pm St. Kitts & Nevis v. Canada 8:00 pm Monday, November 19 Curacao v. Guadeloupe 7:00 pm Martinique v. Antigua & Barbuda 8:00 pm Tuesday, November 20 Sint Maarten v. Dominica @ Anguilla 1:45 pm Fr. Guiana v. Guyana 5:30 pm Matchday 4: March 21-26, 2019
Thank you for posting that. I got an e-mail from Concacaf at 11:13 A.M. saying that. Beyond the fact that I don't normally check e-mail in the morning, I didn't know I would get e-mail from Concacaf about anything.
Highlights: Belize 1 - 0 @FutbolPRResumen: Belice 1 - 0 Puerto Rico#CNL #TheDreamStartsNow pic.twitter.com/wZ4uKMuJ5l— Concacaf Nations League (@CNationsLeague) November 17, 2018 Highlights: Aruba 0 - 2 Montserrat#CNL #TheDreamStartsNow pic.twitter.com/9hNVdXNbXD— Concacaf Nations League (@CNationsLeague) November 17, 2018 .@GrenadaFootball gets a 5-2 victory over Saint Martin. Here are the highlights! #CNL #TheDreamStartsNow pic.twitter.com/HVTVv6h7il— Concacaf Nations League (@CNationsLeague) November 17, 2018
Bermuda beat El Salvador! It's a shame CONCACAF's stream screwed up and I couldn't see it. Interestingly enough, Bermuda won at home against El Salvador and lost on the road to Aruba while Monsterrat won at Aruba and lost to El Salvador at home. Secondly, they should really put a cap on the number of foreign-born players a team can utilize. It's one thing to have a few players here and there born outside of the country but essentially Monsterrat's entire team are English-born guys that have probably never been to Monsterrat in their entire life.
I do not know if Puerto Rico has bad luck or they do not have a good team. Aruba with contradictory results, it's a pity I expected more from them after their victory against Bermuda.
From the point of view of fans, a cap on foreign-born players may sound fair. However, think about it from the players' point of view. Imagine a national team at their limit of foreign-born players has another foreign-born player who wants to play for them and is better than the foreign-born players they already have. Imagine being a foreign-born player who loses national team playing time because of a new guy without being able to change to playing for his birth national team even if they wanted him because he's cap-tied to a national team that doesn't want him anymore but would still want him if there wasn't a cap on foreign-born players.