And Canada beat Dominica 6-0 over two legs in the recently-completed WC qualifiers. So, yeah, looks like 12 points for Canada. Then again you would expect a top 10 nation to qualify fairly comfortably for a 16-team tournament (logically). I just hope they make qualifying for future Gold Cups a bit more balanced and interesting. Don't, for e.g., have all league "A" teams qualify automatically.
The Congress of the Republic of Guatemala has intervened and things are looking positive. According to certain congressmen they will have a solution in only a couple of days. The question is if we could still be squeezed into this tournament?
Concacaf Nations league stars with the qualifying rounds next September 2018 and ends in March 2020. In what period of time will the Concacaf qualifiers be played for Qatar 2022 ? Especially if, as Victor Montagliani suggests, more qualifying matches will be played so that the smaller countries of the region are not eliminated so quickly.
Here's how the current format could fit into the calendar, keeping in mind that the CNL qualifiers (Sep 2018 - Mar 2019) and CNL group stage matches (Sep - Nov 2019) don't allow for WC overlap: - June 2019 (1st rd playoffs - highly unlikely that any Gold Cup/Copa América participants would be involved in this) - March 2020 (2st rd playoffs - highly unlikely that any of the CNL League A semifinalists would be involved) - June 2020 (3nd rd playoffs - highly unlikely that any Copa América? participants would be involved) - September 2020 (semifinals) - October 2020 (semifinals) - November 2020 (semifinals) - March 2021 (Hex) - June 2021 (Hex) - September 2021 (Hex) - October 2021 (Hex) - November 2021 (Hex) - March 2022 (Intercontinental playoffs) Here, I'm guessing that WCQ will have to be done before June 2022 so they can keep the WC finals draw a half-year before the tournament kicks off. Also, this pretty much guarantees that the next CNL would have to wait until after the WC finals; and with CNL qualifiers no longer having to be played, the next WC cycle (Mar 2023 - Nov 2025) could fit two of them in alongside what the WCQ format becomes with 6 + 1/3 berths on the line (or 3 + 2/3 if NAFTA 2026 wins out). EDIT: scratch that. The next WC cycle only gives us 16 FIFA windows (Mar 2023 through Mar 2026), and Concacaf WCQ as we know it requires at least 12 (3 for first rounds, 3 for semifinals, 5 for the Hex and 1 for the intercontinental playoffs), so there'd barely be space for one CNL. Depends on what Concacaf has in mind. They could cop the AFC format: R1 - bottom 24 teams in CONCACAF (12 - 35) in 6 groups of 4 (scheduling the Gold Cup for July 2019 to allow two games in June) Semifinals - R1 group winners, runners-up and best 3rd place join 11 with bye --> 6 groups of 4, group winners + runners-up move on Final round - Two Hexes Here, the gamble would be missing out on USA-MEX WCQ showdowns in favor of them facing off more often in the Gold Cup (with 16-team formats no longer reserving it for the Final when that doesn't necessarily come to pass) and the Nations League. And, as @EvanJ has pointed out elsewhere, such a format could be retained for when more berths are on the line post-WC expansion.
The other WCQ alternative is to go full UEFA and have everyone play in the same round - 5 groups of 6 + 1 group of 5, followed by playoffs among the group winners. You only need 6 FIFA windows to wrap the whole thing up...OTOH, even when we can give WC berths to every group winner post-2022, you'll have teams getting eliminated from contention halfway through that would likely resort to withdrawals or scheduling shenanigans, e.g. playing "home" games in the US or at an opponent's venue to cut down on travel.
It was also said that the CNL would be used to seed the teams for the WC qualifiers. Taking into consideration the calendar described above, the Concacaf teams could be seeded according to their positions in the qualifying rounds of the CNL ( Sept 2018- March 2019 ) positions 7-35 . USA, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Honduras, Panama and Costa Rica would then be the intact top 6 .
What do you mean? AFC doesn't let any teams skip a WCQ Group Stage. The bottom teams shouldn't play 10 qualifiers, especially with a League of Nations also. Having everybody in one Group Stage like UEFA runs the risk of the top two winning every game except against each other (or having 7 wins and 1 loss each against the bottom four) and having goal differential against minnows determine who wins the group like what happened with Portugal and Switzerland.
That also had to do with WCQ doubling as Asian Cup qualifying...but point taken. Let me rephrase and say that Concacaf could get inspiration from (without completely cribbing) the AFC.
Perhaps I'm overlooking something, but it seems even the 2022 WCQ will be squeezed quite a bit with just the single NL taking place during the next 4-year cycle. The NL group-stage won't end until November 2019. Four years earlier, WCQ was already deep into round 4 at that point (i.e. the first group stage). The earliest that the first group stage could start is June 2020. Given that, is it possible that they could do a doubling of NL and 2022 WCQ? For e.g. only the group winners from League C enter WCQ? FIFA might show some flexibility there if the NL becomes a global tournament, which is where it seems to be headed.
Sorry to interrupt and go off topic but I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm doing a prediction contest for the upcoming World Cup. It basically consists of predicting the results of each match, from group play all the way to the final. Different points will be awarded based on whether you predicted the outcome (who won or was it a tie?) or the exact result (including penalties after extra-time). Depending on how much interest there is, I might do a second one starting from the Knockout Stages. Anyway, let me know if anyone is interested and please feel free to tell others (the more the better).
https://concacafnationsleague.com/e...-islands-excited-for-nations-league-challenge is titled "British Virgin Islands excited for Nations League challenge."
https://www.concacafnationsleague.com/en/article/forbes-sees-potential-in-turks-and-caicos-islands is titled "Forbes sees potential in Turks and Caicos Islands."
We should finally annex them: Reality check: Should Canada adopt Turks and Caicos as its 11th province? https://globalnews.ca/news/2621875/...-adopt-turks-and-caicos-as-its-11th-province/
Guatemala are back! ...and headed straight to League C The bad news is that they're already out of the 2019 Gold Cup - and the 2020 Copa América if 1) that tourney happens and 2) the CNL is used to distribute Concacaf's berths. The good news is that by way of breaking Guatemala's new generation into int'l ball, can't ask for much softer than games against the USVI and Montserrat
Do people actually like this league? Seems fine for the lower tier teams but kind of a pain for the top 6 to have to deal with regularly. Why would Mexico want to play some random game against guadeloupe
Or you have a full gold cup qualifying and do the gold cup every 4 years, not this 2 year nonsense this smells like a CONCACAF money grab
https://www.concacafnationsleague.c...yes-strong-start-to-nations-league-qualifying is titled "Dominica looks to rebound from devastation of Maria... eyes strong start to Nations League qualifying." https://www.concacafnationsleague.c...int-kitts-and-nevis-primed-for-nations-league is titled "Battle tested Saint Kitts and Nevis primed for Nations League." https://www.concacafnationsleague.c...nce-to-help-suriname-s-apai-in-nations-league is titled "SCCL experience to help Suriname's Apai in Nations League."
I believe this new Nations League qualifies teams for the Gold Cup, and if the Global NL becomes a thing then I assume this is how to qualify for it.
The one-time qualification round determines 2019 Gold Cup entrants (top 10 + 6 Hex teams). I'm not sure if it does going forward.
The possibility that (if it happens) Concacaf would make teams qualify to the 2020 Copa América based on the CNL, e.g. the four League A semifinalists + the two winners of playoffs amongst the four teams that finished runner-up in the League A group stage.