The Road to Qatar.

[Alex]

35 minutes ago, TGAA_Star said:

Atiba yeah sure he can take part in the qualifiers but let's say sake of argument Canada somehow qualifies for Qatar which is like in another 2 years, he will be 39 years old in Qatar 2022 by the time the tournament starts. I have to wonder if Herdman would really take him in the Final 23 man squad?

I don’t think this matters. You need to pick your best players at the time. Worry about Qatar when we get there.

[TGAA_Star]

24 minutes ago, Alex said:

I don’t think this matters. You need to pick your best players at the time. Worry about Qatar when we get there.

 

Yeah I guess you're right but then again with other nations in the past they have taken older players (37 and over) to World Cups in their Final 23 

[dyslexic nam]

4 hours ago, xabuep2 said:

I have my doubts. Imagine this tricky group: Costa Rica, Honduras, Canada and Haiti.

Honestly, if we can’t get second in a group like that, we have no goddamned business near Qatar anyway.   The reality is that we have a number of countries that are in the mix for WC spots and we have to start consistently proving we are better than most of them.   We have the players to do it but it is time to a tart walking the talk. 

Edited June 3, 2020 by dyslexic nam

[Bdog]

2 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

Honestly, if we can’t get second in a group like that, we have no goddamned business near Qatar anyway.   The reality is that we have a number of countries that are in the mix for WC spots and we have to start consistently proving we are better than most of them.   We have the players to do it but it is time to a tart walking the talk. 

I'd love that group tbh. We'd have a way better chance at getting first than we would with Mexico or USA in the group. At the same time it's the most likely group we could choke and place 3rd in, but like you said we don't deserve a world cup if we can't beat those countries.

I'm too scared of the Intercontinental playoff, even if it's New Zealand.

[Kent]

8 hours ago, johnyb said:

This is the exact format I was hoping for. It would reduce the importance of which group we are drawn into. Still hoping to avoid Mexico though. Assuming a fair draw (🤣) We shouldn't have a problem finishing 2nd in any group and have a legit chance at 1st in a couple.

Yeah, I can’t imagine Canada ever having a problem finishing top 2 in 1 out of 3 groups of 4 in World Cup Qualifying. I just randomly looked up the results of 1998 Qualifying and we won a group by that description. I am not going to bother looking up the following 5 Qualifying campaigns and will assume there were similar results. 

[archer21]

3 hours ago, Peggy said:

Exactly. If the 28 Caribbean member associations went their own way, how many places do you think FIFA would award to our confederation with only 13 member associations left? One? Maybe two? FIFA only awards Oceania 0.5 places for having 14 member associations.

In other words, CONCACAF needs the 28 Caribbean member associations to get 3.5 places, so would it not be fair to give the 28 Caribbean member association 1 place? After all, if they went at it alone with 28 member associations they should get at least 1 place awarded by FIFA, no?

Oceania gets 0.5 spot because the nations are all garbage at soccer. South America has 10 nations and gets 5.5 spots. It has nothing to do with the amount of nations and has everything to do with the quality of the nations. Concacaf does not need the Caribbean. 

[TGAA_Star]

8 hours ago, Bdog said:

I'd love that group tbh. We'd have a way better chance at getting first than we would with Mexico or USA in the group. At the same time it's the most likely group we could choke and place 3rd in, but like you said we don't deserve a world cup if we can't beat those countries.

I'm too scared of the Intercontinental playoff, even if it's New Zealand.

How can you be scared if Canada gets to the playoff and faces New Zealand? I would think that would inspire confidence/belief

[Ivan]

14 hours ago, TGAA_Star said:

Atiba yeah sure he can take part in the qualifiers but let's say sake of argument Canada somehow qualifies for Qatar which is like in another 2 years, he will be 39 years old in Qatar 2022 by the time the tournament starts. I have to wonder if Herdman would really take him in the Final 23 man squad?

Ignasevitch (sp?) played in the centre of defence for Russia in the 2018 WC, all 5 games to the final 8 at 39 years old.  He turned 40 on the day the final was played.  Atiba is fit as hell, although slowed more and more by injury. 

[TGAA_Star]

50 minutes ago, Ivan said:

Ignasevitch (sp?) played in the centre of defence for Russia in the 2018 WC, all 5 games to the final 8 at 39 years old.  He turned 40 on the day the final was played.  Atiba is fit as hell, although slowed more and more by injury. 

I guess that works but only if he can keep up his fitness...then by all means call him

[TGAA_Star]

But with this new CONCACAF format of 3 groups of 4 teams; top 12 teams in CONCACAF placed in qualifying groups; group winners directly qualify for Qatar 2022 and the best 2nd placed team then goes into the Intercontinental playoff...this is a better format than the Hex if you ask me

You get to Qatar on your own merits by winning your qualifying group...you get a direct spot...it is a simple way

Just like if you finish 2nd place in your qualifying group...in order to be the best 2nd place team you have to not only win your games but have a superior goal difference than the other 2nd place teams in other groups...really simple

But then if you are second and you go to the inter continental playoff, you don't know if you will face an Oceania team, a South American team from CONMEBOL or an Asian team from AFC which is why if you finish second, then you kind of have to be wary.

[CanadianSoccerFan]

1 hour ago, Peggy said:

A couple of months ago, many on this board were busy doing the complicated computations to calculate the number of points that FIFA awards countries for international matches. It would be interesting to know the formula FIFA uses to calculate the number of spots each confederation is awarded.

The formula is political negotiation.

[archer21]

7 hours ago, Peggy said:

That is exactly my point. What is the value of Caribbean associations to CONCACACAF? If Oceania is awarded 0.5 spot for 14 "garbage at soccer" associations, then how many spots are Caribbean associations worth having twice as many associations, 4 of which, Jamaica, ranked 48th in the world, Curacao ranked 80th in the world, Haiti ranked 86th in the world and Trinidad & Tobago (ranked 105th in the world, whom are all ranked higher than New Zealand, which at 122nd in the world represents the highest ranked association in Oceania?

Great point, what was I thinking.

[Blackdude]

Caribbean associations are probably worth between 0.5 and 1 spot to CONCACAF. 

[Kent]

On 6/3/2020 at 11:09 AM, CanadianSoccerFan said:

The formula is political negotiation.

This is the sad truth. Around the 2014 World Cup I compiled a few stats with respect to confederation performance at World Cups. It was far from exhaustive, I think I just went back to 1998, so all 32 team tournaments. If I remember correctly, the couple times a confederation gained a spot it seemed to have more to do with a team making the semi finals, like Korea in 2002, but that also could have been Asia retaining a spot after their double host nation tournament. The thing I remember for sure is that out of CONCACAF, AFC, and CAF (the focus of what I was looking at), AFC was the worst in every category, but they have more spots than CONCACAF.

[Kent]

On 6/3/2020 at 9:37 AM, Peggy said:

That is exactly my point. What is the value of Caribbean associations to CONCACACAF? If Oceania is awarded 0.5 spot for 14 "garbage at soccer" associations, then how many spots are Caribbean associations worth having twice as many associations, 4 of which, Jamaica, ranked 48th in the world, Curacao ranked 80th in the world, Haiti ranked 86th in the world and Trinidad & Tobago (ranked 105th in the world, whom are all ranked higher than New Zealand, which at 122nd in the world represents the highest ranked association in Oceania?

Believe it or not, this inspired me to look at how many Caribbean World Cup participants there have been in history vs how many non Caribbean CONCACAF participants.

There have been a total of 4 Caribbean participants (Cuba 1938, Haiti 1974, Jamaica 1998, T&T 2006).

The remainder of CONCACAF has contributed 38. Mexico with 16, USA with 10, Costa Rica 5, Honduras 3, El Salvador 2, Canada 1, Panama 1.

So that works out to 90% of participants coming from outside the Caribbean, so half a spot for the Caribbean is probably all they would deserve based on results (although maybe there are better stats to use).

[MtlMario]

On 5/29/2020 at 11:22 AM, Strait Red said:

For those of you not old enough to watch it live in 1986, I noticed today that TSN will be showing Canada’s 3 games from World Cup 1986.

TSN 5

June 8

11 am Eastern - vs. France

1 pm Eastern - vs. Hungary 

3 pm Eastern - vs. USSR

I don't know why but these games are not showing on broadcast schedule here.

[Strait Red]

14 minutes ago, MtlMario said:

I don't know why but these games are not showing on broadcast schedule here.

Gone from the schedule here as well, weird.

[TGAA_Star]

10 hours ago, MtlMario said:

I don't know why but these games are not showing on broadcast schedule here.

Yeah Canada's only appearance at a World Cup and we lost all 3 games. At least, here is hoping Canada have a better showing or they have a better account of themselves in 2022 or 2026 when we host the damn thing.

[RJB]

27 minutes ago, TGAA_Star said:

Yeah Canada's only appearance at a World Cup and we lost all 3 games. At least, here is hoping Canada have a better showing or they have a better account of themselves in 2022 or 2026 when we host the damn thing.

I admit to not having watched the games, but based on the score lines I think we gave a very good account of ourselves. If that group were to happen today, we could very well lose by some larger margins. 

[An Observer]

12 hours ago, RJB said:

I admit to not having watched the games, but based on the score lines I think we gave a very good account of ourselves. If that group were to happen today, we could very well lose by some larger margins. 

We were also in the group of death. Going in all those 3 sides were highly rated. 

[TGAA_Star]

11 minutes ago, An Observer said:

We were also in the group of death. Going in all those 3 sides were highly rated. 

That makes sense...and that is why Canada if they qualify for 2022, they had better hope and pray they don't end up in a Group of Death. Better yet in 2026 as hosts for the 48 team World Cup, they had better hope they don't end up in a Group of Death either.

[TGAA_Star]

3 minutes ago, Peggy said:

As one of the host nations in 2026, wouldn't Canada be one of the seeded countries? If so, and if there are going to be 16 groups, then Canada would not be in a group with either of the 2 other co-hosts or the top 13 ranked countries that will also be seeded. Thus, a group with Canada as the seeded country is unlikely to end up being the Group of Death, right?

Unless a team that is a top team in world rankings slips in ranking and they decide to put that team into Pot 2 or Pot 3 because that has happened in the past

[Club Linesman]

4 hours ago, TGAA_Star said:

That makes sense...and that is why Canada if they qualify for 2022, they had better hope and pray they don't end up in a Group of Death. Better yet in 2026 as hosts for the 48 team World Cup, they had better hope they don't end up in a Group of Death either.

Usually it’s good practice to avoid the group of death regardless of year or tournament.  

[Kyle_The_Hill]

8 hours ago, TGAA_Star said:

That makes sense...and that is why Canada if they qualify for 2022, they had better hope and pray they don't end up in a Group of Death. Better yet in 2026 as hosts for the 48 team World Cup, they had better hope they don't end up in a Group of Death either.

This comment adds nothing to the discussion. You don't need to comment on every single post. Only comment when you can add value.

[dnina10]

On 6/3/2020 at 9:49 AM, TGAA_Star said:

But with this new CONCACAF format of 3 groups of 4 teams; top 12 teams in CONCACAF placed in qualifying groups; group winners directly qualify for Qatar 2022 and the best 2nd placed team then goes into the Intercontinental playoff...this is a better format than the Hex if you ask me

You get to Qatar on your own merits by winning your qualifying group...you get a direct spot...it is a simple way

Just like if you finish 2nd place in your qualifying group...in order to be the best 2nd place team you have to not only win your games but have a superior goal difference than the other 2nd place teams in other groups...really simple

But then if you are second and you go to the inter continental playoff, you don't know if you will face an Oceania team, a South American team from CONMEBOL or an Asian team from AFC which is why if you finish second, then you kind of have to be wary.

I agree with the fact that this is better than the Hex. However I disagree with the idea of the best runner up qualifying for the playoffs. Best have all three runner ups and the repechage winner play in a single legged knockout tournament for the spot in the playoffs. Look back at last summer's UEFA Under 21 Championship and you'll see what I mean. Having all three runner ups is the best idea