I like it. I would also reward excellence. Top 3 uncaf and top 4 cfu auto qualify. Bottom 4 uncaf are paired off for 2 legged qualifiers where winners qualify and losers go to playoff with cfu. 27 cfu teams are whittled down to 16 in carribean cup qualifiers. Carribean cup is 4 groups of 4. Champion and 2nd place auto qualify. 3rd and 4th place go to uncaf playoff.
top 4 of CFU auto qualify for gold cup and do not play in Caribbean Cup the next 5 of CFU (5-9) automatically qualify for the Carribbean Cup 10-31 in CFU are paired off into Carribbean Cup qualifying for a home-away qualifier. The 11 winners along with the 5 auto qualifiers make up at 16 team Carribbean Cup which will be 4 groups of 4. The 4 group winners will play off in semifinals where the two winners qualify for the Gold Cup and the two losers qualify for the final Gold Cup Playoff with the 2 UNCAF playoff losers. Higher ranked teams are rewarded. Everyone has a very legit shot to qualify for Gold Cup.
The first sentence is what I didn't know. Do you want to use the FIFA Rankings to determine the top 4 of CFU? Those 4 countries not playing in the Caribbean Cup would deny them the opportunity of earning FIFA Ranking points from those games, and those 4 countries could probably qualify for the Gold Cup through the Caribbean Cup especially if CFU had 6 automatic and 2 playoff spots. Your idea could lead to a top CFU country falling out of the top 6 in CONCACAF in the FIFA Rankings and being passed by an UNCAF country (with the top 6 in CONCACAF mattering because they get to start WCQs in the Semifinals). I don't think Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago would like your idea.
Would jamaica and t&t prefer automatic gold cup qualification or gold cup qualifiers that fall in the middle if wq qualification?
Do you think Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago have done worse in Gold Cup qualifiers or WCQs due to too many games close together? If you're referring to the WCQ Semifinals, which were August to November before being moved up to June to October last time (in years before Gold Cups), here is how countries have done. Jamaica reached the Hexagonal for World Cups 1998, 2002, and 2014 and finished a close third in the Semifinals for World Cups 2006 and 2010. In WCQs for 2010 they were grouped with Mexico and Honduras who both qualified. Trinidad and Tobago hasn't been eliminated in the Semifinals since finishing last in their group for World Cup 1998. They reached the Hexagonal for World Cups 2002, 2006, and 2010 before being eliminated before the Semifinals in qualifying for World Cup 2014. Even if too many games too close together is a problem, I don't want letting the top CFU countries skip the Caribbean Cup to be the solution, although if the Gold Cup remains with 12 teams this argument could be moot.
I dont think they have necessarily done worse than expected but having two sets of qualifiers going on at the same time is something the north and central american do not have to deal with. Another guyana situation in 2012 is something the confederation should try to avoid. The Caribbean cup should be viewed as nothing more than gold cup qualifiers imho. As long as concacaf insists on dividing qualifying by sub confederation, the top teams in central america and carribean should have the same advantages as the three north american teams
I would like to see the Gold Cup expand to 16 teams. The Caribbean Cup should be home and away ties to cut the teams to 16. Then have four groups of four. The top two in each group would qualify for the Caribbean Cup finals and the host would be determined from these final eight. All 8 teams would also qualify for the Gold Cup. UNCAF would qualify the top 5. And I'd like to see a North American round robin tournament with the top 2 qualifying automatically and the 3rd place team play a home and away playoff with the 6th place Central American team for the final slot. Unfortunately the region needs to do a lot more to make itself more competitive. The Gold Cup should be rotated. Sure attendance would suffer but television deals and sponsorships would still be there. It wouldn't hurt to see a team other than the U.S. and Mexico win it. Central American and Caribbean teams would be much more competitive playing at home. More should be done to try and get the French Caribbean teams of Guadeloupe, Martinique, and French Guiana into FIFA and smaller teams like Montserrat, Anguilla, Turks and Caicos, BVI, etc. should either be combined as one as a British Dependency team or combined into teams around them such as Turks and Caicos with Bahamas, Montserrat with St. Kitts and Nevis, etc. Also, there should be a Caribbean professional league that helps develop players from the region. Doesn't each country get $250K from FIFA every year on top of the $500,000 Goal projects every few years? With that kind of financing there has to be some serious corruption for the region to be as dysfunctional as it is. You should be able to build a decent team on grassroots development alone. Too bad the individuals running CONCACAF and the individual federations are more concerned with lining their pockets than growing the game. These guys couldn't run a lemonade stand properly. I'd bet on a 10-year old Girl Scout making more sound decisions.
Countries shouldn't lose the right to have their own national team just because their national team is bad. As for the French Caribbean teams, why would France want to let them join FIFA? There may be corruption, but regardless of how much money is spent, how good could a national team get from a country with fewer than 100,000 people, especially if the country doesn't have a professional domestic league and the players need another job?
Here is my Gold Cup Predictions GROUP A USA - 7 points (W v. Honduras, W v. Haiti, T v. Panama) Panama - 5 points (W v. Haiti, T v. Honduras, T v. USA) Honduras - 4 points (L v. USA, T v. Panama, W v. Haiti) Haiti - 0 points (L v. Panama, USA, Honduras) GROUP B Costa Rica - 6 points (W v. Jamaica, W v. El Salvador, L v. Canada) Canada - 5 points - (T v. El Salvador, T v. Jamaica, W v. Costa Rica) El Salvador - 2 points (T v. Canada, L v. Costa Rica, T v. Jamaica) Jamaica - 2 points (L v. Costa Rica, T v. Canada, T v. El Salvador) GROUP C Mexico - 9 points (W v. Cuba, Guatemala, T&T) Guatemala - 6 points (W v. T&T, L v. Mexico, W v. Cuba) T&T - 3 points (L v. Guatemala, W v. Cuba, L v. Mexico) Cuba - 0 points (L v. Mexico, T&T, Guatemala) QF USA over T&T Costa Rica over Panama Mexico over Honduras Canada over Guatemala SF USA over Costa Rica Mexico over Canada Final USA over Mexico
If I were organizing the tournament I would have switched Panama and Canada. This would have increased the likelihood the top 4 teams in CONCACAF do not play until the semi finals AND it would have set up a USA Canada game in Canada which would have been a lot of fun
Does CONCACAF have a clear Number 4? Panama is fourth in CONCACAF in the FIFA Rankings and was second in Gold Cup 2013, but finished fifth in the 2013 Hexagonal. Honduras was third in 2013 Hexagonal, lost in the Gold Cup 2013 Semifinals, and did poorly in the World Cups but has still qualified for the last two. Mexico, USA, and Costa Rica are the Top 3 but USA and Costa Rica (and maybe Mexico but I'm not looking up their results) can be inconsistent. USA has bad friendly losses to Denmark and Ireland and good friendly wins over Germany and Netherlands. Costa Rica was eliminated in the Quarterfinals of Gold Cup 2013 and World Cup 2014 although the latter is obviously a more difficult tournament.
Panama breaking through to the Gold Cup Finals last cup as well as just missing qualifying last cycle to me is the clear CONCACAF #4. Honduras is right there fight for #5 in my eyes with Jamaica. Either way having Honduras, Panama, and USA all in the same group was tough. Either Panama or Honduras should have been paired with Mexico.
I agree. Group A has three teams that were in the last WCQ Semifinals, and they combined for 35 points (out of 48 rather than 54 because Panama and Honduras were in the same Semifinal group) and all of them reaching the Hexagonal. Group B has all four teams that were in the last WCQ Semifinals, and they combined for 35 points (out of 66 rather than 72 because Costa Rica and El Salvador were in the same Semifinal group) with two of them reaching the Hexagonal. Group C has three teams that were in the last WCQ Semifinals, and they combined for 29 points out of 54 with one of them reaching the Hexagonal.
Group B is set up to be a very difficult Group. I can see any of the 4 teams qualifying in any order. I think El Salvador is set up to advance due to being the "home team" in all three matches. Be prepared to see lots of Blue in all three stadiums. Costa Rica is the best team on paper but I am not sure how good they will be with their new manager. Also they will bee the pseudo road team in two of the three matches in the stands. Canada and Jamaica both can play well. Or they both can flop. Let's see who steps up to the plate.
The French Caribbean lands are not countries. They are overseas states, called in French departements d'outre mer. It would be equivalent to letting Hawaii have a separate team. Players from those states are eligible to play for the French National Team. Sorry for stating the obvious. It's already too bad that Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales are allowed to have their own teams. It's done due to privilege and tradition but they aren't real countries, but rather parts of the country United Kingdom. This exception is allowed due to the sport having been created in the United Kingdom, but I wouldn't want to see more exceptions. I'd be for FIFA membership being done for countries, not regions or states. There is only one team representing Spain. They don't get to have a team for Catalonia, or one for the Spanish islands. There is no team for Sardinia or Corsica.
Hawaii is a state. Guam might be a better comparison. Unfortunately these 'protectorate' states do exist, and do self govern themselves generally. They should be allowed to have a soccer team if they choose.
The analogy stands, because the French Guiana, Martinique, and Guadeloupe are also French states, just like Hawaii is one of our states. The word "département" in French is their word for state. When it's not a state, they call it "territoire." The New Caledonia in the Pacific (Nouvelle-Calédonie), for example, is a "territoire," more akin to Guam. The French Guiana, Martinique, and Guadeloupe however are more analogous to Hawaii.
If you USA plays like it did vs Honduras we are not going to win this Gold Cup. This clearly is not the same team that beat Netherlands and Germany I hope we can turn it around
They're overseas departments so they have a special status. Hawaii is just a US state like any other. A close analogy would be Corsica which is also an island but even they have the special status of territorial collectivity.