Maybe I missed it if I did Trucha go ahead and delete this thread but I couldn’t find the thread for the next World Cup. Anyhow it looks like they are going to kill the previous qualifying format and create a hex based on fifa rankings at the end of June 2020. The teams not in the top 6 will fight it out for one of them to play against the fourth place team for the right to most likely then play a South American team for the final World Cup spot. This sounds like an awful idea that I hope they don’t actually do. At the moment we would be in the top six however it now would be important to just work the ranking for the next year if this is how they decide to do qualifiers https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/universal-deportes/futbol/cambia-la-eliminatoria-al-mundial
We aren't going anywhere with this collection of chumps. The way they handled the exit in the Gold Cup tells you all you need to know about the locker room leaders of this generation and coaching staff.
We don’t deserve a Hex spot rn. We would get stomped as it is rn. Hopefully we play extremely well, and make El Cusca a fortress again.
So it’s official but man this is the stupidest format ever introduced. In this case the goal for El Salvador is to stay in the top 6 to make the Hex. As it stands this would mean going through a gauntlet of matches just to get a chance at the playoff instead of of having a chance to qualify directly it’s pretty ridiculous. Also if we somehow make the Hex the job naturally is to qualify but if a slip up happens at least finish in 4th for a second chance.
Anyone not in the hex is basically eliminated from the World Cup. Even if they make it through the gauntlet of teams they have to then play the 4th place hex team and then another intercontinental playoff. That is insanely difficult road to the World Cup especially if we get CONMEBOL’s 5th place team that would be hands down the hardest path to the World Cup for anyone in the world. I still can’t figure out why they did this. Montagliani talked about making World Cup qualifying more inclusive but he essentially just killed the World Cup hopes of all teams ranked 7th down. Not sure why the Caribbean teams signed off on this change. They won’t get the TV rights for hosting Mexico in the WQC’s where is the upside in this format?
Even before reaching the actual playoff to qualify to the WC, the team that makes it would have played at least 14 games or at most 16 games depending on what group they are placed in all for a half chance is insane. Edit: If we want to make it to the Hex they would need to finish perfect in the Nations League and even then you never know.
Fortunately we have several players who were omitted from that debacle. Punyed, Zelaya, Pineda and Portillo. We also a few emerging talents that could possibly replace a few of the current duds. Tomas Romero, Allexon Saravia, Nelson Martinez, and Christian Sorto; all in the USL and playing regularly. Hopefully Alexis Cerritos, should he do well at Loudoun United.
Problem is we know DLC plays favorites and he won't call Zelaya or Benji for sure. There is no way out of this mess unfortunately. In the past FESA gave me hope because it looked like they were building up the youth development I would argue our player development has regressed since those earlier FESA years. There is no club you could argue is doing anything innovative or even slightly interesting except for maybe Alianza but nothing they are doing will advance our football moving forward. It is a mess as usual and the people running it are the same people that have been running our football into the ground for years now. There aren't any promising young players that really pop being developed we are just stagnant at best regressing at worse. The one positive is because CONCACAF is a mess we may stumble into the hex but will likely be demolished in it disappointing fans and most likely driving them away from our football.
Yeah I remember being excited about FESA ten years ago, back when they were actively sending Salvadoran youth abroad and made up the majority of the 2013 U-20 WC squad. Seems like a distant memory now. It sucks that most of the squad from 2013 never made it since. Santa Tecla still gives game time to younger players, don’t they? Including Americans of Salvadoran descent?
The biggest downfall of FESA was unfortunately what was praised. The fact that they churned out just about the entire U20 squad they were hoping to sell high right after the WC and most of it never materialized. Also it hasn’t helped that they’ve preferred selling their spot every time they’ve moved up they quickly abandoned any aspirations to joining the first division. Funny enough if they held on maybe they could have bought the spot that Atletico Marte left and aid quickly to return.
At the end of the day FESA are a business, not a charity, and they need to see a financial profit in return for their efforts. It really is shameful that nothing came out of that U20 squad. If FESA wasn’t bleeding money they wouldn’t need to sell their first division spot, and could still do what they were set out to do. EDIT: second division, not first.
Thats a bad business mentality. They should’ve stayed going up and if they got into the first division they would’ve profited a lot more. Even in the second division they would have probably been breaking even. Staying in the third is what has been holding them back
They only made it as far as the second division. Even one of the channels picked them up after the hype.