CONCACAF has announced the proposed qualification process. It looks like a combination of the Asia method and previous CONCACAF groups. 12 initial groups (11 w/ 3 teams; one with 2 teams) Winners qualify for semis: 3 groups of 4 Top two qualify for final Hexagonal: Top 3 qualify for WC; 4th will play Asia 5th. See: http://www.concacaf.com/news/article.page/1202
It's proposed only in that FIFA has to bless it. I would assume this will be final. It looks like the sharks - like US, Mexico, and Costa Rica will get a couple of minnows to devour before the semis. Maybe Costa Rica will draw Barbados again.
My question is how the teams get divided into that first round (groups of three, etc). Pot A: 3 Pot B: 3 Pot C: 6 Pot D: 23 How does that get split into those first groups?
I realize that--but how do those teams get drawn into said 12 groups? There's not an even amount from the pots to be thrown into those groups. How many from A or B or C or D can be drawn into a three team group?
I'm guessing draw 1 from Pot A and 2 from D until Pot A is empty, then 1 from B and 2 from D, then C... The reason for having 4 pots instead of only 2 must have something to do with the semi-final groupings. More explaination is obviously needed. I'm just very glad they kept the final stage as a single group format.
Pots A, B, and C will be drawn into groups 1 through 12, then Pot D will be drawn. You'll have one team from pots A, B, and C in each group, and two teams from pot D, except for group 12 which will have only one team from pot D.
My guess is that one team from Pots A, B, and C are put in a group with 2 from pot D (with a bye for the odd group). The average group might include a seeded team, Surinam, and Aruba. Sounds like a good time for a Caribbean trip.
I recall the last time, the three teams that had qualified in for France in 98 were given byes into the semis. Doesn't look like that is happening this time around. I would assume that the split will be like this: Pot A: 3 Qualifiers (US, Mexico and CR) Pot B: The other 3 finalsts (Jamaica, T&T and Honduras) Pot C: The other 6 semifinalists (Can't remember them all but here goes: Guatamala, Barbados, Canada, El Salvador, ?, ?) Pot D: Everybody else
I just did a quick random draw based on how I anticipate this will work... Group A: Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Turks & Caicos OUCH! Although I did get one group with Haiti, St. Kitts, and Surinam which could be intersting.
Ok...that 2 from D and one from any other pot makes sense...would have been nice for CONCACAF to actually spell that out. Two things: 1) It should allow Arena to know who's on board and who isn't rather quickly...guys like Reyna, Friedel, Keller, et al. 2) Club vs. country...can see the Euro managers bitching already. Even though it'll be on an international date, I can't see Misters Souness, Hoddle, et al being too happy to release their players to for the US to face the Cayman Islands or something akin to that.
In theory, sure. MLS should be able to take care of those potential first round opponents. But imagine not calling your Euro-based players at the Cayman Islands, and losing...forcing a Barbados 2000-esque win or out match. Just makes no sense, other than creating more games to make money off....gasp...think I may have broken the code.
Potential first round opponents: Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Aruba Bahamas Barbados Belize Bermuda British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Dominica Dominican Republic French Guyana Grenada Guadeloupe Guyana Martinique Montserrat Netherlands Antilles Nicaragua Puerto Rico Saint Lucia Saint-Martin Sint-Maarten St. Kitts and Nevis St. Vincent and The Grenadines Suriname Turks and Caicos Islands US Virgin Islands That's 28...only 23 in that pot...wonder who's out.
I agree there should be some prize for qualifying, but CONCACAF has to keep all the members happy, so a plan like this is fair enough. What are the odds that the smaller countries have the $$ to pay for all this travel? Didn't we have to pony up for Barbados last time? I guess that since goal diff could be a tie breaking factor, it is in our best interest to pay for smaller countries to come here and get whacked, but CONCACAF should take a look at this.
Saint-Martin Sint-Maarten Guadeloupe French Guyana Martinique Based on the FIFA rankings, these 5 teams don't appear.
Martinique, Saint Martin, Sint-Maarten, Guadeloupe are not members of FIFA as of this year and French Guyana didn't compete in the last WCQ.
http://www.concacaf.com/news/article.page/1202 Meanwhile, Pot C would consist of Canada, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Panama, all of whom reached the semifinal round of qualifying to Korea/Japan 2002 Is it me, or is that not at all true? I seem to remember Barbados and St. Vincent & Grenadines ... and not Cuba and Haiti
Yeah, you're right. It usually takes concacaf.com 2 or 3 times to get their stories straight. However, I'd bet they keep Cuba and Haiti in Pot C based on Gold Cup performance, FIFA rankings, whatever. I'm planning on checking the site throughout the day for revisions to the original release.
Just curious, but does anyone know why these five countries do not field a team.... I mean, isn't French Guyana much larger in population than many others who are particpating... Can you imagine the score between the US v. P. Rico... the Mutiny beat them like 12 to 0....
Not sure about Sint-Maarten, but I don't think the French overseas departments are allowed to be part of FIFA. Their leagues are officially part of the French pyramid, although the winners are never promoted for obvious reasons.
Guadalope and Martinique are part of France, and are allowed to participate in CONCACAF events and not FIFA events. Notice they aren't listed as FIFA teams on fifa.com. I suspect the other 3 are in this category also.