Should Canada have to qualify for the Gold Cup?

[Daniel]

I wouldn't be surprised if we landed the 2007 U20s (aka Warner's support) in exchange for T&T's weak group.

[Grizzly]

I guess we are getting a bit off topic but hey when does that not happen on the Voyageurs? I think the main problem for us is that we don't have a lot of clout within CONCACAF. We may be a rich country but our soccer federation is not well funded, we have not established ourselves as a top team in the federation at the Men's level and there is little media coverage of our nationaal team (ie. very little outcry when the ref screws us whereas in a similar situation the Mexican press would be crying bloody murder for months). Refs also don't have any fear making bad calls in Canada, if Archundia made a similar call in Guatemala you can be sure he would be glad to get out of the stadium and country alive. I don't know if the CSA is lily white but there is a certain open corruption that is more normal in Central American countries than here, ie, it actually takes some knowledge to know how to bribe or pressure officials. However, our federation is also quite tied in with Warner and always votes for him and in return he has actually delivered some things to us (help with stadium, U-20), just not things that directly help our MNT qualify. The other problem is that the one federation that does have the clout to clean up CONCACAF, the US, has no interest in doing so because its directors are deeply tied in with Warner and they benefit from his system as well. The US never seems to get the same bad calls that we do. The other teams that do get screwed are the Carribean teams with the exception of T and T and the weaker central American teams.

To look at a European example, if Germany were to play Slovakia and a ref made a poor decision against Germany, there would be months of political shenanigans behind the scenes by the German federation which among other things would probably result in the ref being permanently removed from international competition. The German media would also create a stir and the story would be picked up by the international media. If the call was against Slovakia they would protest to no avail, the story would be confined to the Slovakian media and the ref would probably get a nice assignment in the next big tournament. We are in a similar situation to Slovakia.

The one thing that can be done though is to try to draw as much attention to the situation as possible. Sharpe's reaction was the right move though he should have done it after the first match that we got screwed in. Ossieck also got red carded at times and though this is a short term disadvantage I think it pays off in the long run by showing that we are not going to take such things lying down. I think it was a big mistake by Yallop to be so docile when these decisions went against us. Hiring a big name respected coach would also do a lot to alleviate this problem. If Johan Cruyff criticized CONCACAF reffing this would be reported by the international press. I think whoever we have as a coach should try to put some pressure on the ref before the match by making statements to the media stating his concerns about reffing fairness before important matches. Until we get more clout within CONCACAF the best we can do is try to bring as much attention to the situation as possible as all corruption tries to remain as hidden as possible. However, as long as the people running FIFA are as corrupt as 3rd World dictators the overall situation in the soccer world will not change. Until a reformer is elected as head of FIFA who will sweep out Blatter and his cronies like Warner and Chuck Blazer things will continue as they presently are.

[Daniel]

The numbers game is killing CONCACAF. With a majority of members being sub-1,000,000 people islands, the power is not about to be wrestled away from the Carribean, despite the population and money of the region being in Latin America and the US.

With Oceania (which isn't worth the hassle anyways), CONCACAF is the only confederation to have such a ridiculous and obvious regional and socio-political power split.

[Crazy_Yank]

quote:Originally posted by KAS

So, you essentially want all of the South American teams to get in then (Can't remember if there are 10 or 13 teams - CONCACAF must have atleast 30)? A qualification round would not make sense.

How about a nice 16 team (4x4) tournament featuring 8 from South America, and 8 from North America? Each group would have two teams from each continent. An equal distribution may not be fair from a merit POV, but it is less controversial and more marketable.

I'd like to see all 10 South American teams because Copa America is their tournament. Also all 10 squads are good. Any one of them could qualify out of concacaf. In the interest of having the strongest tournament I'd include all 10 teams. I don't think comebol would agree otherwise. Give the hex qualifiers the other 6 spots.