If you think about it, the winner of the African Cup of Nations in 2004 will get a bye past the qualification rounds in the 2006 CAN. Interesting, since the 2006 CAN will also serve as the qualifying format for the 2006 WC. Also, the host that CAF chooses next month for the 2006 CAN is huge too, as they will get the bye as well and will be playing all of their matches at home. Therefore, I would advise anyone that is into the World Cup to keep track of the 2004 CAN as it is connected.
How will the 2006 CAN serve as qualifying for the 2006 WC in CAF? Won't the 2006 CAN take place a few months after the traditional time for the draw? Its a good idea, money-wise and competition-wise, but it still has problems.
Unfortunately photar74, it will. I agree with you that this is a very dumb idea, however, I guess we have to go along with the flow for now. I'm not sure about the draw, but I believe it will get over in early February which is only about 2 months later than when the draw usually is. But yeah, I don't like the idea at all.
I've thought about it for a litle while, and I actually don't think its that bad of an idea anymore, desertfox. Most CAF federations simply don't have the money to travel home and away five times over the course of WC qualifying without some form of outside subsidy. I believe that George Weah even personally bankrolled the Liberean team for a good length of time. Having the final round of qualifying in a single location will save federations a good deal of money. It will reduce the number of times they need to call up their players, and the amount of trips each qualifying confederation will have to take will be reduced to either 5 or 7 instead of the current 10. However, the number of matches needed to qualify will remain roughly the same. I also think that it is positive because in a 16-team tournament, it will be possible to rank teams 1-8, in case CAF ever recieves any more spots. It might even improve the quality of CAF sides in the WC Finals as well, since there will be only around four months between the times that teams qualify and when they participate in the finals. This is a big improvement on the current eleven month gulf. The new qualifying format might mean that the five CAF reps in the 2006 WC Finals will be a better reflection of the continent's five best teams at that time. There are, of course, obvious competitive problems with having the entire qualifying tournament in one nation, since it will give the host nation a huge edge. However, considering the other circumstances, it might be the best way for CAF to go.
photar74, you do make some good points however I still think this is a bad idea. I just feel that there has got to be a better way to do this. Maybe if they had the CAN every 4 years instead of every 2. That would decrease fixtures and would keep the tournaments seperate. What I don't think you've considered is this: the African Cup of Nations will basically be destroyed as a tournament itself. By this I mean that no one will look at the 2006 CAN as the actual Cup of Nations tournament that it is, but rather look at it as the 2006 World Cup Qualifying Round for CAF. It will completely disgrace the tournament. Only when the Semifinals roll around is when the final 4 teams will remember that it is the African Cup of Nations. Having 2 tourneys in one is not the solution. Now, I realize that nations are having problems financially, but if these nations paid for all the expenses, no matter how barely, in the past couple of years, then they should easily handle it if the CAN was every 4 years. Overall this is still a bad idea.
Given the poverty in many CAF nations, I understand the urge to economize. But there are ways to do this other than piggy-backing on the CAN. One thought: take a page out of the AFC play-book and have some of the qualification process take place in four-team, single round-robin tourneys grouped regionally. One might group Senegal, Gambia, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau and play all the games in Dakar over the course of a week. Top two teams go on to a second winnowing round along similar lines. Then you're left with twelve or fifteen teams that (hopefully) could carry on trans-continental competition.
Alternative idea for CAF qualification Better idea for CAF world cup qualification instead of having Nations Cup every 2 years, every other Nations Cup could be used as the World Cup Qualification. The schedule would look like this: 2004 - Nations Cup 2006 - World Cup Qualification & World Cup 2008 - Nations Cup 2010 - World Cup Qualification & World Cup 2012 - Nations Cup as oppose to: 2004 - Nations Cup 2006 - Nations Cup, World Cup Qualification & World Cup 2008 - Nations Cup 2010 - Nations Cup, World Cup Qualification & World Cup 2012 - Nations Cup So that the Nations Cup as a tournament is not disgraced. The number of matches will be reduced because instead of having a Nations Cup every 2 years if