That news was published more than 2 weeks ago in various media sources https://jmdeportes.com/la-sele/fifa-rechaza-nuevas-eliminatorias-de-concacaf/ https://www.tvmax-9.com/somoslasele/Bomba-FIFA-rechazado-eliminatorias-CONCACAF_0_5602689705.html
FIFA should delay its whole shedule for top tournaments in 2 years, and start Confed qualifiers from scratch, just as how they were originally sheduled for 2020, but in 2022 instead, to play the next WC's in 2024, 2028, 2032 and so on from there. Another possibility, lots smarter if you ask me, is to simply scratch the 2022 WC from ever happening, and in compensation to Qatar for losing this tournament dates, give them the host for the 2026 WC, while giving the 2030 WC (the centennial tournament) to USA, Canada and Mexico. To believe that everything due to this pandemic will be back to normal in just a few more months is more wishful thinking than actually, a reality check.
Paris and Los Angeles are scheduled to have their Olympics in 2024 and 2028 respectively. The International Olympic committee and FIFA never like to step on each other's toes so having World Cups in those years will be very unlikely options. Cancelling the World Cup and moving everything is not going to happen either. They would have to restructure Television and Sponsorship deals which could be a major headache. Just going to have to wait and see where the storm leads us by September and then reformulate a game plan with the data that comes in. All we can do is wait and pray.
I agree with your last point on wishful thinking, but qualifying can actually be done quite quickly as a last resort. One can always fall back on a fast-track qualifying process before doing anything drastic like cancelling the 2022 WC.
It is only a crappy option given the circumstances. In a 6 team do-or-die tournament it is the best option. Especially for maximizing profit which is what FIFA likes to do.
Anyway, having a CONMEBOL everybody =play= everybody tournament in January and March of 2022 would be kinda cool. Play the games in Miami, maybe Orlando. All proceeds go to the South American Federations evenly and maybe some sort of Corona virus fund and boom. Instant money maker and charity.
And before anyone says anything Qatar being the host for a neutral site would make even more sense for CONMEBOL during the winter. They were interested in hosting a Copa America so in some ways this could be better. They can flaunt off their fancy new stadiums and use them for more than just WC games.
Sorry to say, but playing there at present times it's lots more foolish than playing back here in South America. Haven't you seen any of the latest news coming from that state (Florida), and to full extent, to that whole country ? At present times, playing anywhere in the USA, would be complete madness. For the case being even Brazil seems safer
I did not say in present times I said in 2022. Hopefully by then things will get better but you never know..
Depends. People die of many things but it does not stop World Cups. We just have to evaluate how things go and reassess things smartly as the days go by.
Conmebol's made damn clear that they're not coming back here until they get their Centenario money. Ok, now we're getting somewhere (and thank you for sharing!). First q: so what, now FIFA cares that Concacaf was locking teams out of the top circuit of WCQ? 'cause they rubber-stamped the first format Montagliani pulled out of "nowhere" But who cares how they got to the right decision - I'd just be happy to no longer have to deal with tiers of WCQ. So with an Octagonal finishing in March 2022 (top 3 to the Finals, 4th place to the intercontinental playoffs in June), let's take a crack at how the calendar could work: The big issue is that the Octagonal requires 14 matchdays - if Concacaf is allowed to use the special January 2022 window being considered for Conmebol, then the absolute latest we could start the Octagonal is June 2021. And then, we need no fewer than three elimination rounds in order to cut the field down from 35 to 8 in the first place - unless one of you format whiz kids can figure out a way to do it that doesn't involve eschewing home-and-away playoffs altogether. A possible format: --- Oct 2020 - Nations League finals, Gold Cup playoffs (single-elimination games, or 3-team groups), and WCQ Round 1 playoffs involving bottom 5 teams in the FIFA ranking + the Cayman Islands* Nov 2020 - WCQ Round 2, all 32 teams drawn into H-A playoffs to cut the field to 16. Mar 2021 - WCQ Round 3, 16 teams drawn into H-A playoffs to determine the 8 Octagonal participants. Jun 2021 - Octagonal matchdays 1-4 Jul 2021 - Gold Cup Sep 2021 - Octagonal matchdays 5-6 Oct 2021 - Octagonal matchdays 7-8 Nov 2021 - Octagonal matchdays 9-10 Jan 2022 - Octagonal matchdays 11-12 Mar 2022 - Octagonal matchdays 13-14 * The Bahamas are exempt, as they have a shot at Gold Cup qualification. --- Honestly, the logistics for this get a lot easier if 1) the prelim rounds lead to a Hex as always, or 2) Montagliani gets his way, and we have an Octagonal Tier I + a Tier II tournament.
oh yes it does. ask yourself why there were no WC's between 1938 and 1950 And by the way, as you mentioned it in another post, the international comitee for the Olympic games already postponed the games that should have taken place this year to next year in Japan, preciselly for everything that's going on. If no real world wide solution happens from here to the next 6-9 months, they might even postpone it again for 2022 instead (oh yes, same year as when the WC is originally sheduled to happen). oh yes, some did the former president of the chilean FA from the times the Copa Centenario took place, currently, is serving "forced" time there, thanks to the "hospitality" of the FBI
That was due to World War and Hitler taking over the world with mass genocide. Millions of people died. This is a pandemic which is bad but it is not as bad as previous pandemics when it comes to mortality rates. There was an estimated 50 -100 million deaths in 1918 due to the Spanish flu! We are not even going to come close to that with this one. Did they cancel the 1920 Olympics??? Technology is better and we are more aware of what to do generally. Can the World Cup be cancelled and moved like the Olympics 2021? It can, but FIFA will do everything in its power to get it done this cycle. The decisions and priorities of the IOC are different than FIFA and the protocols are different too. Not to mention the Olympics encompasses a multitude of various sports under their umbrella with different rules. Soccer has one centralized governing body and less variables to work with. Clearly you missed the Miami joke because it had more to do with the players and teams playing in games. Which Teams still love to do in Friendlies mind you and have played there in Friendly games since the Copa America. (They just never played in Miami during the Copa)
With technology and science things usually get better when it comes to these sort of things. Especially in the country that develops most of the innovations, viral treatments, and, immunizations. Now I am not going to say you are completely wrong. This can be like the flu that comes seasonally and in various waves of horrible strains. But as of right now I can only go by the trends I see and the data that is out there. Things seem to be getting a bit better in some places and in other places worse. That is what happens in a situation like this. But 2022 gives us ample time to fight this thing and come up with a plan of action to host big events here in the USA and other major countries.
Let's say things don't recover at all in 2020 and 2021. Even then you still have summer 2022 to have qualifying tournaments like they do for Olympics and Youth World Cups and you could have the World Cup draw after that and still have plenty of time to hype and for fans to arrange travel for late November and December for Qatar 2022 since its so small once you are there flights won't be needed.
That influenza pandemic lasted from February 1918 - April 1920 with the minor fourth wave occurring in the Spring of 1920. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu#Timeline The Antwerp Olympics began in August 1920. This current pandemic began during an Olympic year.
But the World Cup is in November of 2022. That is the point. If they did not cancel it so close to a pandemic I do not think the World Cup will cancel either.
I suppose it will depend on how (long) this current pandemic goes. If a second wave is as strong as the first we’ll likely see qualifiers getting postponed again. At some point something will have to give.
We will cross that bridge when we get there. If worse comes to worse then they could do qualifiers at a neutral site as mentioned by me and Holiday_Jenkins. But we have to just wait and see. Things could get better soon for all we know. (Relatively soon.)
History might help us get a glimpse of what will happen... history does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes... Today in 2020, Brazil struggles with infection numbers in a new pandemic, even its president has contracted the illness. Conmebol keeps moving the goalposts, dropping its September starting date for qualifiers as easily as announcing "September 15th" as the start of continental club cups. Argentina's gov't health officials know that Conmebol is simply pulling dates out of thin air. https://www.pagina12.com.ar/277957-gines-gonzalez-garcia-no-estoy-de-acuerdo-con-lo-que-hizo-la Back in 1918, Brazil was supposed to host the Copa America tournament. Many of its citizens died during the 1918-1919 pandemic, including its president (reelected Nov 1918, dead Jan 1919). In the context of important things, Copa America 1918 was scrapped. Brazil hosted the next tournament edition, on 1919. Back then, Copa America ran every year. I would not be surprised if Conmebol, in its infinite wisdom, scraps its long qualifiers schedule and award qualification slots via Copa America 202x. Conmebol currently does it for Women's World Cup qualification.