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CONCACAF Nations League


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4 hours ago, CanadianSoccerFan said:

 It's assumed this will take place annually and you're making that assumption with the 10 game limit.  We don't know that.  It could be a 2 or 3 year league.  

No I'm assuming they're following the uefa model of a fall to spring to event. This could be biyearly like uefa is doing. A 2-3 year long event is almost unheard of in soccer.

Edited by matty
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6 minutes ago, CanadianSoccerFan said:

Depends how you define an event.  The CONMEBOL qualifiers are essentially a league competition played over 3 years.

That's the reason I said almost, those are like the only thing I can think of and they're played over 2 years not 3.

Because of the regular mentioning of UEFA's league from both CONCACAF and varous FA's it seems unlikely they're following the CONMEBOL model of having a 2 year long competition especially as the Gold Cup is still likely to be every 2 years.

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I haven’t read all the reports, but I’ve read this whole thread. I would be shocked if there are teams that don’t have a shot at qualifying for the World Cup based on the new system. My guess is that there is a misinterpretation and that it’s either used for seeding, or if the games act as qualifiers at all it’s probably more likely in terms of narrowing the field a bit. Perhaps only the group winners of the third tier move on to WCQ proper with tier 2 and 1. So you don’t knock out the Nicaragua’s (tier 2ish) of the world, but rather the British Virgin Islands (tier 3) of the world after they fail to win their group, not before they play any games.

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51 minutes ago, Kent said:

I haven’t read all the reports, but I’ve read this whole thread. I would be shocked if there are teams that don’t have a shot at qualifying for the World Cup based on the new system. My guess is that there is a misinterpretation and that it’s either used for seeding, or if the games act as qualifiers at all it’s probably more likely in terms of narrowing the field a bit. Perhaps only the group winners of the third tier move on to WCQ proper with tier 2 and 1. So you don’t knock out the Nicaragua’s (tier 2ish) of the world, but rather the British Virgin Islands (tier 3) of the world after they fail to win their group, not before they play any games.

WC qualifying processes are required to give every FIFA member nation a shot at qualifying, so I believe you're right. I think the outlet linked above may have confused League of Nations being used as for seeding WCQs for it replacing them.

Also, if LoN is replacing both qualifying processes it kind of defeats the purpose of "replacing friendlies" if LoN is the only competitive event other than the Gold Cup and World Cup in CONCACAF. Not to mention that Montagliani has previously talked about modernizing CONCACAF's WCQs to be more like UEFA and CAF, not replacing them with LoN.

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1 hour ago, dsqpr said:

Three groups of 4 at Tier I would make it awkward to crown a champion. I think 4 groups of 3 is more likely than 3 groups of 4.

I feel like four groups presents the clearest path but three presents the most soccer played. It's hard to say if this is about champions or about getting everyone playing regularly as they've kind of presented it as both.

Fully agree on point B.

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2 hours ago, dsqpr said:

Not necessarily. It depends on what happens once the group stage is complete. The 4 group winners could be paired up and play home and away for two more matches plus the championship match would be one more. Ditto for 2nd place teams (positional play downs) and 3rd place teams (relegation play downs). That would amount to 7 matches per team.

With groups of 4 there might not be any positional play downs as they would be complicated by having 3 teams at each position. In which case it would be 6 matches for teams finishing 2nd or 3rd, but more matches for 1st and 4th.

I was expecting the 7 matches you're saying (actually was thinking 8 total) but 3 groups offers like 10 if done traditionally with the home-away format.

The play-off point is no more a lock with groups of 3 for teams finishing 2nd.

What I actually thought the of 3 of for leading to 4 of 3 for stage two (1 of the first places, 1 of 2nds and 2 of 3rd and 4ths to decide ranking, champions and relegation) giving everyone at the top tier 10 games.

Stage One
3 groups

Stage Two
Champions Group - Playing for title and preferred spot in Gold Cup draw/Wold Cup slot
Ranking Group - Playing for preferred spot in Gold Cup
Relegation Groups - Top teams auto qualify for Gold Cup, runner-ups play relegation play-off but Gold Cup qualify, 3rds goes down automatic and needs to play Gold Cup qualifiers

.....or they do it current Gold Cup style

Edited by matty
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4 hours ago, dsqpr said:

Interesting thoughts. I don't think they will have two group stages though. If they are going to use 10 match days they may as well make it 11 and have two groups of 6 with the two group winners playing off for all the marbles.

It certainly feels good that regardless of format, more competitive matches are coming our way!

I agree two is unlikely but it would be something. Groups of 6 would be cool if they planned it right and I actually think we'll see it in the prelim tourney they want to do (5 of 6, 1 of 5) to decide who goes where.

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10 minutes ago, xabuep2 said:

So apparently the draw for League of Nations qualifying will take place on March 7th and will involve 34 teams.

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Love it! Looks very similar to the ELO system. The rankings look much more accurate than FIFA rankings. I am not just saying that because of where they placed Canada. In fact, if anything, the new rankings may have placed Canada too high...

We finally get to see who we play in the qualifying competitions on March 7! I have got to say, it feels weird to know a CMNT opponent so far in advance... And soon we get to know an entire “league” competition. This is great for Canada.

Canada being placed 7th should give us a favourable draw for the Nations League Qualifier... Hopefully that will give the national team a couple games to get to know Herdman before they play some tough oposition. 

Edited by BenFisk'sBiggestFan
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CONCACAF Ranking as of March 1st, 2018

 

1 Mexico MEX 2,047

2 United States USA 1,853

3 Costa Rica CRC 1,845

4 Panama PAN 1,700

5 Honduras HON 1,669

6 Jamaica JAM 1,516

7 Canada CAN 1,448 :D

8 Guatemala GUA 1,417

9 Haiti HAI 1,348

10 El Salvador SLV 1,347

 

11 Trinidad & Tobago TRI

12 Martinique MTQ

13 Cuba CUB

14 French Guiana GUF

15 Guadeloupe GLP

16 Nicaragua NCA

17 St. Kitts & Nevis SKN

18 Curaçao CUW

19 Suriname SUR

20 Antigua and Barbuda ATG

 

21 Dominican Republic DOM

22 Bermuda BER

23 Guyana GUY

24 Belize BLZ

25 Bonaire BOE

26 Grenada GRN

27 St. Vincent & the Grenadines VIN

28 St. Lucia LCA

29 Barbados BRB

30 Puerto Rico PUR

 

31 Bahamas BAH

32 Dominica DMA

33 Aruba ARU

34 Cayman Islands CAY

35 Turks and Caicos Islands TCA

36 Montserrat MSR

37 US Virgin Islands VIR

38 Saint Martin SMN

39 Sint Maarten SMA

40  Anguilla AIA

41 British Virgin Islands VGB
 

 

 

 

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Short on details but OK if this is more accurate than FIFA rankings. They mention 34 teams in the draw and have all 41 teams listed in the rankings. Is it the top 6 from this ranking and Guatemala (because they are banned right now) that are excluded? I think before they said the hex teams, so that would mean Trinidad and Tobago is out of the draw and Jamaica is in the draw. Do we know for sure which teams are involved?

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It's purely coincidence that the Canadian-led CONCACAF don't need to take part in the qualifying round. :lol:

FIFA ranking - 11th in CONCACAF
CONCACAF ranking - 7th

The bottom 34 teams will take part in a qualifying round.

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12 minutes ago, Lou said:

It's purely coincidence that the Canadian-led CONCACAF don't need to take part in the qualifying round. :lol:

FIFA ranking - 11th in CONCACAF
CONCACAF ranking - 7th

The bottom 34 teams will take part in a qualifying round.

I am pretty sure Canada still needs to do qualifying... i thought It is either the top 6, or the Hex teams that don't need to. Canada isn't either.

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From the page:

"The first edition of the CONCACAF Ranking Index reveals that the 34 national teams set to participate in CONCACAF Nations League Qualifying draw on March 7, are ranked as follows:"

Then it displays a table of 41 member associations.. 41-34 = 7. So seven will be receiving a bye. Canada are ranked in seventh position.

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37 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

I think your inference is incorrect. I don't think the article says what you are implying (it does not say that the top 7 will receive a bye; also, there are only 40 teams in the list because suspended Guatemala are excluded).

I think you may be right. Guatemala seem to have missed the deadline meaning Canada would take part.

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1 hour ago, Lou said:

From the page:

"The first edition of the CONCACAF Ranking Index reveals that the 34 national teams set to participate in CONCACAF Nations League Qualifying draw on March 7, are ranked as follows:"

Then it displays a table of 41 member associations.. 41-34 = 7. So seven will be receiving a bye. Canada are ranked in seventh position.

It's most likely only 34 teams because 7 smaller nations chose not to enter and automatically start in the bottom division rather than go through qualifying, not 7 teams arbitarily getting a bye.

Edit: I think @BenFisk'sBiggestFan and @dsqpr may be correct

Edited by Zem
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Clarification:

When I posted the above, Guatemala were included in the table and it looked like this.

Doi7akB.jpg

CONCACAF have since modified their website and it looks like this:

f0vbwIU.jpg

Guatemala and British Virgin Islands were removed from the table.

 

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So... here are the Pots..

 

Pot A (8)

Jamaica
Canada
Haiti 
El Salvador
Martinique
Cuba
French Guiana
Guadeloupe

Pot B (9)

Nicaragua
St. Kitts and Nevis
Curacao
Suriname
Antigua and Barbuda
Dominican Republic
Bermuda
Guyana
Belize

Pot C (9)

Bonaire
Grenada
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
St. Lucia
Barbados
Puerto Rico
Bahamas
Dominica
Aruba

Pot D (8)

Cayman Islands
Turks and Caicos Islands
Montserrat
US Virgin Islands
Saint-Martin
Sint Maarten
Anguilla
British Virgin Islands

 

bJpmtkc.jpg

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