CONCACAF Nations League

[Zem]

23 minutes ago, Lou said:

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

 

Do you have the link for that document?

Seems like an interesting format, a single table where each team plays one match against a team from each pot. The only question is what the final decision on the format is and therefore what place we need to qualify for the top division. Based on what we've heard recently top six seems like the goal, but no matter what it ends up being we should probably expect to qualify.

[Lou]

I don't. It's from the St. Kitts' coach twitter feed.

 

[CanadianSoccerFan]

22 minutes ago, Lou said:

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

 

I'm officially changing my handle to Canadian PMA fan

[mpg_29]

where are the top 5 teams?..

[Zem]

8 minutes ago, Lou said:

I don't. It's from the St. Kitts' coach twitter feed.

 

 

4 minutes ago, mpg_29 said:

where are the top 5 teams?..

The tweet confirms that the six teams who made the hex all get byes.

[Robert]

On 3/19/2017 at 1:28 PM, Alex said:

Yeah seriously Greenland = Montserrat. Actually i just checked, Greenland has a population of 56,000 and Montserrats is 4,900. 

They might only have a population of 4,900, but at least they have a national soccer league:

Football was first brought to Montserrat during World War 2 and grew in popularity during the 1960s and 1970s at which time the championship and Football Association were established,^[1] The first iteration of the national championship was held in 1974 and was won by the Police.^[1] A second season was played the following year, won by Bata Falcons, but following that there are no records of any form of organised competition until 1995, when the Police team again won the championship. Just as organised football on Montserrat was beginning to get going, a major eruption of the Soufrière Hills volcano caused widespread destruction of large parts of the island, with many villages being abandoned.^[2] As a result, the 1996–97 season was abandoned part way through and no formal competition was held on the island until 2000, when the competition was again won by the police team.^[3] Further competitions were held each year until 2004, when Ideal became only the third team to win the championship in its history.^[4] This was the last recorded season of formal competition on the island until 2016 when the competition occurred again.^[1]

[BenFisk'sBiggestFan]

2 hours ago, Lou said:

I don't. It's from the St. Kitts' coach twitter feed.

 

Wow. How the heck do you even find something like that? I am impressed.

6 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

1. Is each "match up" two matches, home and away? Each team has only one opponent in each FIFA window, where two matches can be played.

2. As mentioned above, we now know how the qualifying tournament will be played but have no idea how it will result in rankings (presumably total points) or where teams are going next!

3. I like the idea that everybody has a pretty much equal chance to finish first. But the schedules will not be balanced in spite of the division into pots (e.g. Jamaica >> Cuba).

As long as we don’t play Jamaica, Canada should be ok. Even if we do play Jamaica, i am hoping Canada could at least come out even against them. It the goal is making the top 6 in qualifying then Canada “should” be fine. 

[jpg75]

6 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

1. Is each "match up" two matches, home and away? Each team has only one opponent in each FIFA window, where two matches can be played.

It looks to me like each matchup is only one match. There will be a total of 4 matches.

What i don't like, as you alluded to, is that there is variance in quality of opponent and which teams you face at home or away relative to your "Pot rivals". What if we face Jamaica away? It likely means a loss and we'll end up with 9 pts. and slide in the pecking order. Or, we play away to the Pot D team and miss out on padding the GD for tiebreaks. Could also play a Pot B team away and draw. So many variables.

[Kent]

18 minutes ago, jpg75 said:

It looks to me like each matchup is only one match. There will be a total of 4 matches.

What i don't like, as you alluded to, is that there is variance in quality of opponent and which teams you face at home or away relative to your "Pot rivals". What if we face Jamaica away? It likely means a loss and we'll end up with 9 pts. and slide in the pecking order. Or, we play away to the Pot D team and miss out on padding the GD for tiebreaks. Could also play a Pot B team away and draw. So many variables.

It’s always going to be uneven when you have groups or whatever this is. As for the home and away issues, aside from the Pot A vs Pot A game(s?) they might take that into account. It would be easy enough to say Pot A teams host Pot D and B teams, or something like that.

Anyways, it does look like it’s one game per window, which is a bit disappointing, but that could change once we get into the proper competition.

[Guest]

Definitely, do not like that it is not home and away if true. I don't really care though, considering this is finally happening

[BuzzAndSting]

53 minutes ago, canta15 said:

Definitely, do not like that it is not home and away if true. I don't really care though, considering this is finally happening

This is the qualifying round so it makes sense.

[Alex]

12 hours ago, Lou said:

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

 

If we end up playing a team from pot D... oh man it could get ugly 

[Lou]

Canada are playing a team from Pot D in September. Pot C in October, Pot B in November and Pot A in March 2019.

[shorty]

10 hours ago, dsqpr said:

That was my initial assumption too but it seems strange to waste 4 match days.

As for the final selection of who goes where, here is a thought: maybe these matches will just be a bunch of grist for the shiny new CONCACAF ranking system mill and they will simply use the updated CONCACAF rankings to determine the CNL groups.

That does seem likely considering the release of the ranking. Otherwise why create a parallel ranking system to FIFA's? (Yes I realize FIFAs formula sucks -- but you know what I mean). It also seems likely because the ranking games are not enough to make a true table on their own. The thinking in using the confederation ranking for placement in the LON would be: "here's where we believe you stand now (and we've created our own ranking because we know you don't trust FIFAs): if you feel you belong higher, prove it with results." Notice also they make a point of factoring in home/away in the CONCACAF formula whereas FIFAs does not. 

Edited March 3, 2018 by shorty

[BenFisk'sBiggestFan]

1 hour ago, Alex said:

If we end up playing a team from pot D... oh man it could get ugly 

It’s a good chance to look at some fringe players. Jay Chapman, Jordan Hamilton, Shamit Shome, etc... they still need some veterans for leadership in camp, but they don’t necessarily need to call Arfield or hoilett for example.

[Bison44]

Remember playing Belize?? They gave us all sorts of trouble and wasnt their best player a part time cop?  Here is the mental performance herdman is talking about.  Dont take anyone lightly, take a top squad to whoever we draw and thrash them if we can.  

[CNMNTPERUELIGIBLE]

3 hours ago, Alex said:

If we end up playing a team from pot D... oh man it could get ugly 

How so @Alex

[CNMNTPERUELIGIBLE]

40 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

Remember playing Belize?? They gave us all sorts of trouble and wasnt their best player a part time cop?  Here is the mental performance herdman is talking about.  Dont take anyone lightly, take a top squad to whoever we draw and thrash them if we can.  

Especially in the away leg, they came pretty close from snatching it from us, lmfao...Borjan had to come with a last minute diving save from what I recalled

[Club Linesman]

5 hours ago, Alex said:

If we end up playing a team from pot D... oh man it could get ugly 

It better get ugly.  We need to play attacking football against those teams and hammer them.  Build confidence and positivity or whatever the Sizzle calls it.

[Bison44]

25 minutes ago, Club Linesman said:

It better get ugly.  We need to play attacking football against those teams and hammer them.  Build confidence and positivity or whatever the Sizzle calls it.

Lets give herdman the respect he deserves...its MR SIZZLE, thank you very much!  

[ktf]

I like the qualifying format. Minnow games aside... Canada can only benefit from more games, especially games away games against Concacaf teams. 

Furthermore, for this qualifying stage, it is balanced between giving minnow teams, that never have friendlies, games, but also giving teams a chance to arrange extra games. Canada could easily add in an extra friendly (unlikely, but they should do it), in every window available. Furthermore, once they know their opponents they could base their friendly on that team or location. Playing away to Cuba, why not add a second game vs. Cuba (or another team in the region) as a friendly. 

[Alex]

19 hours ago, CNMNTPERUELIGIBLE said:

How so @Alex

The teams in pot d routinely get smashed by 4+ goals by pot b and c teams. We have never played any of them before. For example in 2016 dominica beat British Virgin Islands 7-0. A couple years before that French Guiana beat Turks and Caicos 6-0. I feel they are a step below teams we've beat before. 

[shorty]

Perhaps then the games against pot D teams are an opportunity to cap-tie / get experience for the players that are 23-50 on the depth chart. Assuming you're willing to give those guys the keys to the truck in a meaningful game. We've never really had that kind of opportunity before, though, and if Canada B/C can't get it done vs BVI then we really have problems. 

[Guest]

The "Pot D" idea mirrors UEFA qualifying tournaments, where each qualifying group always has top teams playing bottom teams.

The benefit of doing it this way is that the bottom teams regularly have matches against high profile teams. The downside is fewer matches between your top teams and also the seeding has a much bigger effect on who qualifies.

[Zem]

It's only going to be a one-time thing, so this is probably the best system they can use when there are 34 teams and only four matchdays. If Pot A didn't play Pot D then the results would be skewed in favour of the Pot D teams and against the Pot A teams, and same for the other pots.

Given that there's only four matches, goal difference will likely be very relevant. So regardless of the result, a Pot A team that can but up double digits against a Pot D team or a Pot D team that can hold a Pot A team to a single goal will likely have a better finish than the other teams from their pot.