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The Road to Qatar.


Binky

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Ugh!  In this format you're better off being in the minnow path.  Win the minnow path and beat the best 2nd place team and then beat New Zealand.  

Far too much depends on the draw.  If you get Mexico you have no chance of winning the group.  The race for 2nd is dependent on how weak your other opponents are.  Based on the current rankings, Antigua would be the last team in and whoever draws them will get the chance to light them up on goal difference.

Also note that Jamaica is just a point behind Costa Rica to be a top seed.  

image.png.7b7fe4aad63fe55f8796dbd82ccb103c.png

 

Worst Case:  Mexico, Honduras, Canada, Haiti

Best Case: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Canada, Antigua

 

The other part that doesn't make sense is the match days.  The minnow path would need 10 match days (5 KO rounds) to get from 23 teams to 1 challenger.  So even if the 3 groups of 4 is done in 6 matches they'll need to wait for the minnows to finish so it's still 12 match days required.  The only way around it is playing the minnows in 1-leg KO ties.

 

Edited by CanadianSoccerFan
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8 minutes ago, CanadianSoccerFan said:

Ugh!  In this format you're better off being in the minnow path.  Win the minnow path and beat the best 2nd place team and then beat New Zealand.  

Far too much depends on the draw.  If you get Mexico you have no chance of winning the group.  The race for 2nd is dependent on how weak your other opponents are.  Based on the current rankings, Antigua would be the last team in and whoever draws them will get the chance to light them up on goal difference.

 

Agreed. Really don’t like this format. 

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11 minutes ago, An Observer said:

Agreed. Really don’t like this format. 

Yeah it’s crazy to come down to goal difference or even points earned in their respective groups when the difficulty of each group could vary so much.
On the other hand, even if we lose to Mexico both games, as long as we went 4-0 in the other matches we’d still almost for sure get through. Much easier said than done though. 

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Completely agree that depending on the draw, there could be a huge variance in the groups, greatly impacting a country's chance to earn an automatic spot or be the best 2nd place team.

I really like CanadianSoccerFan's best case scenario group, so let's just go with that for CanMNT. 😀 

Best case scenario if you had to be drawn in a group with Mexico would probably be to have El Salvador and A&B with you. That way, you'd have a better chance I think to be the best 2nd place team, as it seems more likely the other groups would have multiple teams taking points off each other. 

Edited by jtpc
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If it's gonna be 3 groups of four, then it would probably have to be 1, 12, 4, 9 and so on, right? Unless they draw out of a hat, which would be pretty bad...

 

So if they do it this way, the pools would be:

1. Mexico

2. Antigua 

3. Jamaica

4. Panama

 

1. USA

2. Trinidad

3. Honduras

4. Curacao

 

1. Costa Rica

2. Haiti

3. El Salvador

4. Canada

 

Just speculation, don't yell at me.

Edited by PiedPilko
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2 minutes ago, PiedPilko said:

If it's gonna be 3 groups of four, then it would probably have to be 1, 12, 4, 9 and so on, right? Unless they draw out of a hat, which would be pretty bad...

 

So if they do it this way, the pools would be:

1. Mexico

2. Antigua 

3. Jamaica

4. Panama

 

1. USA

2. Trinidad

3. Honduras

4. Curacao

 

1. Costa Rica

2. Haiti

3. El Salvador

4. Canada

 

Just speculation, don't yell at me.

Most likely each group is drawn from 4 pots. 1 each from 1-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12.

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4 hours ago, BuzzAndSting said:

You’ve proven once again that you have no idea what you’re talking about...

Yeah all right you guys manage to beat USA in Toronto when one of their best defenders Sergino Dest wasn't even playing in that game but also the fact that yes the USA were off their game that particular game. But what happened in the return game? Oh yeah that's right Canada lost didn't they? 

So who is to say they beat USA again?

 

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3 hours ago, PiedPilko said:

If it's gonna be 3 groups of four, then it would probably have to be 1, 12, 4, 9 and so on, right? Unless they draw out of a hat, which would be pretty bad...

 

So if they do it this way, the pools would be:

1. Mexico

2. Antigua 

3. Jamaica

4. Panama

 

1. USA

2. Trinidad

3. Honduras

4. Curacao

 

1. Costa Rica

2. Haiti

3. El Salvador

4. Canada

 

Just speculation, don't yell at me.

I doubt they do it this way but if they do, at least it is the best Canada can hope for because there's no way they finish 1st in that group. Canada would finish 2nd.

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1 hour ago, TGAA_Star said:

Yeah all right you guys manage to beat USA in Toronto when one of their best defenders Sergino Dest wasn't even playing in that game but also the fact that yes the USA were off their game that particular game. But what happened in the return game? Oh yeah that's right Canada lost didn't they? 

So who is to say they beat USA again?

 

Did you watch the game? Dest would have had little impact considering he’s not a mid fielder. The problem the Americans had at BMO was in midfield. We destroyed the USA in the middle of the park and Dest is a fullback. I believe neuker recently said the same thing about Dest before he got banned. 

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6 hours ago, PiedPilko said:

If it's gonna be 3 groups of four, then it would probably have to be 1, 12, 4, 9 and so on, right? Unless they draw out of a hat, which would be pretty bad...

 

So if they do it this way, the pools would be:

1. Mexico

2. Antigua 

3. Jamaica

4. Panama

 

1. USA

2. Trinidad

3. Honduras

4. Curacao

 

1. Costa Rica

2. Haiti

3. El Salvador

4. Canada

 

Just speculation, don't yell at me.

This would be a great group for Canada. The worst team from pot 1, the worst team from pot 2, and the best team from pot 4. Ill take that anyday.

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4 hours ago, TGAA_Star said:

Yeah all right you guys manage to beat USA in Toronto when one of their best defenders Sergino Dest wasn't even playing in that game but also the fact that yes the USA were off their game that particular game. But what happened in the return game? Oh yeah that's right Canada lost didn't they? 

So who is to say they beat USA again?

 

You guys? Why are you here?

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7 hours ago, TGAA_Star said:

Yeah all right you guys manage to beat USA in Toronto when one of their best defenders Sergino Dest wasn't even playing in that game but also the fact that yes the USA were off their game that particular game. But what happened in the return game? Oh yeah that's right Canada lost didn't they? 

So who is to say they beat USA again?

 

Right... So we’re 1 and 1. Who is to say we won’t beat them again?

Edited by BuzzAndSting
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5 hours ago, TGAA_Star said:

I doubt they do it this way but if they do, at least it is the best Canada can hope for because there's no way they finish 1st in that group. Canada would finish 2nd.

I’m certain they’ll do it this way and when they do, it’s no concern for us at all because we’ll for sure finish 1st in that group. The worst we’d do is finish 2nd.

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I don't see how only the best second place team going through makes sense. The reason they're saying that is to reduce down to six matches but UEFA and CAF aren't finishing their entire qualification in six matches.

It does feel like groups are coming though, but you would need all three second place teams to go through and join the winner of the "best of the rest". Then, either have another group stage if you have time or knockout if you don't.

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This is basically the old semi-final round, except the stakes are different...

You still need to finish top-2, except now top spot gets you directly into the WC and 2nd might get you a chance at the half spot.

It's not ideal, but considering the team we have, i'll take it. 

If this becomes a thing, I would like for them to come up with a play-off for the 2nd place teams, if time permits of course. Even just a single-elimination between 2A and 2B, with 2C getting eliminated.

Someone is going to win the Antigua punching bag sweepstakes in the draw. They'll get a serious chance to pad the goal difference. I'd say it's more fair to make that team play a single-elimination home match. At least make them earn the half-spot that way, you know?

Edited by Obinna
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6 minutes ago, Kyle_The_Hill said:

I don't see how only the best second place team going through makes sense. The reason they're saying that is to reduce down to six matches but UEFA and CAF aren't finishing their entire qualification in six matches.

It does feel like groups are coming though, but you would need all three second place teams to go through and join the winner of the "best of the rest". Then, either have another group stage if you have time or knockout if you don't.

Yeah this makes a lot more sense than just taking the top 2nd place team. 2A vs repechage winner and 2B vs 2C. Winners play each other for the right to play in intercontinental playoff. Based on what decisions concacaf has made for qualifying so far though, I could see them being dumb and just taking the top 2nd place team. Hopefully we get some rigging of the draw with the Canadian president of concacaf and get a good group lol

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4 minutes ago, archer21 said:

Yeah this makes a lot more sense than just taking the top 2nd place team. 2A vs repechage winner and 2B vs 2C. Winners play each other for the right to play in intercontinental playoff. Based on what decisions concacaf has made for qualifying so far though, I could see them being dumb and just taking the top 2nd place team. Hopefully we get some rigging of the draw with the Canadian president of concacaf and get a good group lol

I really like this actually. Makes a lot of sense. 

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