I just spent a week in Japan and stumbled upon the following thought. How about a Copa America type tourney just for Pacific Rim nations? US, Korea, and Japan really shined in the WC and are obvious up and comers on the international scene. Add in perennial Mexico, journeyman Australia, Canada, newcomers China, maybe New Zealand and all the Central American countries. Not quite the European Cup, but not bad either, and certain to grow in stature as the center of the world moves from Europe/US East Coast to West Coast/Asia. It seems to me most of these countries would welcome a prestigious regional tournament that at least some level would compete with the European Cup and Copa America. Really, is such an idea feasible? Likely?
I like it. In fact, at the risk of being self-promoting, I was at a press conference last week in Melbourne prior to the Leeds v Colo Colo friendly, and new Leeds coach Terry Venables brought up an idea such as this, even in a roundabout fashion, something which I wrote a feature on for the website I work for. As a former Socceroos coach, he bemaoned the fact that outside of the Oceania Nations Cup, OFC mamber nations such as Australia need to play in more "important competitions" like the one you're suggesting, as well as being being invited as a guest team for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the Asian Cup, Copa America, and so on and so forth... And the same advantage can be had for other countries, too, such as the USA and Mexico, for example... I'd say give it a trial run-- if confederations such as the OFC and the AFC, as well as CONCACAF, can seem to fit it into the international calendar, there's no reason why it can't be done. Cheers, William
Just as long as American Samoa is invited. If Austrailia can put 31 goals in the back of the net vs them I'd like to the US pad their international stats a bit.
unfortunatly its jaded to different areas. CONCACAF and OFC, most of asia gets ignored. You also have to wonder about hosting and then revenue sharing. Plus when would you play it? The FIFA schedule is already packed. Don't get me wrong, i'd love to see it happen, but unfortunatly i'm thinking it'll only happen in my Fifa 2002.
Would the new country in the world be able to play- East Timor? I can't wait to see this Cup- Tonga v Peru, Fiji v Bhutan, Brunei v Canada, Cook Islands v Panama, Guam v USA..haha
players selected for their national teams and heading for that tourney would said to be "...off to do a Rim job." Yeah, that's perfect.
How about open it up to all teams who have a coastline on the Pacific Ocean. So if you want a 16-team tournament, you're talking (seeds based on WC and WCQ performance or lack thereof): 1st seeds: USA, South Korea, Japan, Mexico 2nd seeds: Ecuador, Costa Rica, China, Russia 3rd seeds: Australia, Colombia, Peru, Guatemala 4th seeds: Canada, El Salvador, Chile, New Zealand Russia would probably be too bogged down in European competitions and would decline the invitation, so you replace them with, say, Vietnam as a 4th seed--New Zealand or Canada becomes a 3rd seed and Australia becomes a 2nd. Any country eligible to compete can host the event, but all host cities have to be within 200 miles of the Pacific Ocean. This is good because when the US holds our qualifiers where we get pro-US crowds (East coast) we can point to this when the argument about the West coast not getting any games pops up. Alex
I know you stated WC experience as affecting the seeding, but Australia and Columbia both would likely qualify over any of the 2nd seeded teams, Costa Rica and Russia could be problematic though. If WC experience really plays in, then New Zealand would rank ahead of some of these (Australia included) because they were the last OFC team to make it to the WC. I think the tourney would be fun, but what a logistical nightmare it would be. I take it everyone suggests that it all be played in one country. Flying to the other side of the world is draining when you have nothing to do. I can't imagine doing it for an international level soccer match. It will likely never happen, but it would make for some interesting matchups. As someone mentioned earlier, it should definately be called "The Ring of Fire" Tournament. (Cool IMAX movie if you haven't seen it.)
I actually really like this thought. I would say this, first off dump the Copa America teams out right now. In other words, don't sweat Columbia, Peru etc. They aren't going to take it seriously anyway. I say this, the Pacific Rim thought is a good idea, but it might not get Asia's backing because several of its countries would be left out. So i Say this. Combine the Gold Cup, Oceania Cup, and Asian Nations Cup into one large cup. Any team from those three that want in can play. USA, Mexico, Australia, Japan, Korea will all get automatic entry into the final phase of the tournament (if you want could just make it World Cup teams get a four year automatic ticket) Other than that, you can have a 16 team final phase, four groups of four. Allocations would be hard to do but I would say, 8 Concacaf, 8 to Asia/Oceania or even 7/9. I don't care. Maybe if a CONCACAF country hosts, 8/8. If Asia/OFC hosts, 7/9. Any country that wants in gets in. For example 5 Concacaf spots, 6 AFC/Oceania spots remain. Concacaf does what it wants to qualify its 5 spots, AFC/Oceania does what it wants to qualify its spots. Rotate hosting duties between Concacaf and Asia/OFC between the automatic teams. Time: Once every two years, non World Cup years. The first one post World Cup will be to get newbies into camp to evaluate. The second one will be a good prep for the World Cup and/or qualifying. During either the European Championships, or the Copa America. Screw the invites to Copa America. Let's form our own tournament. In other words, time is when the European season is not in session, so that abroad players can play in it. We could call it, the Mini World Cup. Just kidding. The Ring of Fire is nice. I can see it now Group 1 US China Afghanistan Trinidad and Tobago Group 2 Mexico Korea Iraq Costa Rica Group 3 Japan Honduras New Zealand Saudi Arabia Group 4 Australia Iran Jamaica Canada
8 teams, 1st and 2nd place from each regions championship. Concacaf, Conmebol, AFC, OFC Group A 1. Concacaf 1 2. Conmebol 2 3. AFC 1 4. OFC 2 Group B 1. Concacaf 2 2. Conmebol 1 3. AFC 2 4. OFC 1 Week 1 Wednesday 1a v 2a 3a v 4a Thursday 1b v 2b 3b v 4b Saturday 1a v 3a 2a v 4a Sunday 1b v 3b 2b v 4b Week 2 Tuesday 1a v 4a 2a v 3a Wednesday 1b v 4b 2b v 3b Saturday A1 v B2 (semi-final) Sunday B1 v A2 (semi-final) Week 3 Thursday 3rd place game (consolation) Saturday 1st and 2nd place game (final) Whole thing is finished in three weeks minimum. I say that this should be hosted in Hawaii. It is the closest thing to a neutral site, and easily accsesible from any country, but does it have the stadiums?
Sounds good to me, but it is unlikely to happen. Too many different confederations that need to agree.