The Road to Qatar.

[CanadianSoccerFan]

Latest reported proposal has the top 5 going straight to an octagonal with spots 6 to 8 being determined by games beginning in October.  The reason for top 5 is clearly to finish the Nations League which includes number 5 ranked Honduras.

https://www.tvmax-9.com/somoslasele/ventila-formato-eliminatorias-Concacaf-Catar_0_5620687983.html

It's tight for dates so I suspect this would likely require single leg knockout ties.  With covid, I would not be surprised to see neutral site(s) where they can get players to and from without border hassles and quarantines.

Edited July 13, 2020 by CanadianSoccerFan

[Floortom]

10 minutes ago, CanadianSoccerFan said:

Latest reported proposal has the top 5 going straight to an octagonal with spots 6 to 8 being determined by games beginning in October.  The reason for top 5 is clearly to finish the Nations League which includes number 5 ranked Honduras.

It's tight for dates so I suspect this would likely require single leg knockout ties.

https://www.tvmax-9.com/somoslasele/ventila-formato-eliminatorias-Concacaf-Catar_0_5620687983.html

Dumb format imo but you would have to like our chances with the 6-8 tourne.

[dnina10]

25 minutes ago, Floortom said:

Dumb format imo but you would have to like our chances with the 6-8 tourne.

Thinking about how this would go based on the article. Here's an idea;

Teams 6-35 are put into ten groups of 3. Meet each other once. Group winners and two best runner ups go to the next round.

From there, two single legged knockout ties to dwindle it down from a dozen to three. That's four games, 5 international windows

[Shway]

That would be a blessing. Some competitive games before the real challenge.

[red card]

Mexico back to playing friendlies in October. Time for Canada to keep up and get ahead of blocked Americans.

 

[Obinna]

11 minutes ago, red card said:

Mexico back to playing friendlies in October. Time for Canada to keep up and get ahead of blocked Americans.

 

Will there be fans?

I hope so, because I really think it is about time we try. We aren't really going to keep the fans away forever, are we?

If they can pull it off without incident, this could be a massive win for sports everywhere.

However, if there is a single case connected to this friendly, the media will have an absolute fear day.....I mean field day. 

[VinceA]

20 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Will there be fans?

I hope so, because I really think it is about time we try. We aren't really going to keep the fans away forever, are we?

If they can pull it off without incident, this could be a massive win for sports everywhere.

However, if there is a single case connected to this friendly, the media will have an absolute fear day.....I mean field day. 

Simplest thing would be to call up T&T and see if Westhills is willing to re-do the friendlies.

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

Playing catch up on this and on football in general after needing to worry about other things for months.

Thanks everyone for the updates along the way.

 

One of good thing to come out of all this:

 

It rubbished the silly (in my opinion) reliance on the rankings.  Would be nice if they learn a lesson from that. 

[Shway]

We’re in a completely different situation to Mexico. The reality is we (Canada) need to wait to hear what the whole WCQing process is going to be first, before we can even look to schedule friendlies.

[Obinna]

21 minutes ago, Shway said:

We’re in a completely different situation to Mexico. The reality is we (Canada) need to wait to hear what the whole WCQing process is going to be first, before we can even look to schedule friendlies.

Yes and no.

Yes if we want to be cognizant of our ranking.

No if we want to work on things before the qualifiers. 

[SpursFlu]

Isn't WCQ still an option for October? The whole 6-35 or whatever?

[Alex]

Was it stated somewhere that October was for friendlies only? 

[Blackdude]

Maybe we have to play WCQ in October though. Mexico is probably exempt.

[lamptern]

This is a side prove that ranked 1-5 will be exempt from WCQ first round. Format  will be out this week....?

 

[CanadianSoccerFan]

Interesting reports that South America could start their qualifiers in Europe to ensure their players are not held up by quarantine restrictions.  

https://mundoalbiceleste.com/2020/07/20/south-american-world-cup-qualifiers-could-be-played-in-europe-this-year/

I won't be surprised if CONCACAF has to use a similar neutral site solution for the early rounds.  International travel will likely still be a bureaucratic nightmare in the fall.

 

 

Another report from Honduras.  The FA president indicates qualifiers will start this year but Honduras won't join until next year.  Timeline for an announcement is 15 to 25 days.

https://www.diez.hn/laseleccion/1395101-498/jorge-salomon-eliminatorias-concacaf-proximo-ano-trabajando-formato-liga-nacional-fondos-fifa?amp=1

This lines up with the "top 5 bye to octagonal" report from Panama.

Edited July 21, 2020 by CanadianSoccerFan

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

https://mobile.twitter.com/JeffreyCarlisle/status/1285682433267040256

This also seems to indicate that the US won't be playing in WCQ in October.

Will CONCACAF nations not in the top 6 all be playing?

Will CONCACAF run its Gold Cup qualifiers in October?

[Alex]

I’m pretty sure montagliani stated in his interview with Wheeler that teams will need a friendly or two before qualifying starts up. 

[xabuep2]

On 7/13/2020 at 4:09 PM, CanadianSoccerFan said:

Latest reported proposal has the top 5 going straight to an octagonal with spots 6 to 8 being determined by games beginning in October.  The reason for top 5 is clearly to finish the Nations League which includes number 5 ranked Honduras.

https://www.tvmax-9.com/somoslasele/ventila-formato-eliminatorias-Concacaf-Catar_0_5620687983.html

It's tight for dates so I suspect this would likely require single leg knockout ties.  With covid, I would not be surprised to see neutral site(s) where they can get players to and from without border hassles and quarantines.

When the river sounds stones it brings: the media in Central America are publishing this right now

 

 

Edited July 22, 2020 by xabuep2

[CanadianSoccerFan]

14 hours ago, xabuep2 said:

When the river sounds stones it brings: the media in Central America are publishing this right now

https://twitter.com/duroalhueso/status/1286058869719007233?s=20

So if I translated correctly, this is the format.

October 2020:  Teams 9-35 (27 teams) play 9 groups of 3 in single matches (2 games each).  9 group winners advance.

November 2020:  Teams 6-8 join the 9 group winners (12 teams).  Two leg KO round. 6 teams advance

March 2021:   The 6 winners play another two leg KO round.  3 teams left.

June 2021 to June 2022:  Teams 1-5 join the other 3 teams to start the Octagonal.

 

With FIFA's recent change to the FIFA calendar, this means the last two games of the Octagonal would be played in June 2022, just days before the intercontinental playoff.  For both 2021 and 2022 the June match dates are a double window (4 matches instead of 2)

 

Edited July 23, 2020 by CanadianSoccerFan

[xabuep2]

Now it only remains to speculate how they will play the first round in October if it has 3 teams x group ... The most feasible if this is true, is that it is played in a specific venue: 3 matches and the 9 winners go to the next round. Then in November the 9 winners join Canada, El Salvador and Curacao playing home-away matches to qualify 6 teams to the next round in March 22, and from there the 3 winners go to the octagonal.

Edited July 22, 2020 by xabuep2

[TOcanadafan]

So best case scenario for us is that the draw for the round we enter is seeded by FIFA ranking so we can avoid Panama, Haiti and Trinidad and then for the round after that, all 6 names go in the pot? 

[jtpc]

Just as a hypothetical to see what November could bring for us, let's assume this is the format and the 9 group winners from the October window are the 9 highest-ranked countries (countries ranked 9-17).

You'd have these 12 countries in the November window: El Salvador, CanMNT, Curacao, Panama, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, Guatemala, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Nicaragua, and Dominican Republic.

Assuming they draw a top half country with a bottom half country for each 2 leg knockout round, you'd have El Salvador, CanMNT, Curacao, Panama, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago each getting one of Antigua and Barbuda, Guatemala, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Nicaragua, or Dominican Republic as their opponent to see if they advance to the March 2021 window.

Edited July 23, 2020 by jtpc

[CanadianSoccerFan]

 

20 minutes ago, jtpc said:

Just as a hypothetical to see what November could bring for us, let's assume this is the format and the 9 group winners from the October window are the 9 highest-ranked countries (countries ranked 9-17).

You'd have these 12 countries in the November window: El Salvador, CanMNT, Curacao, Panama, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, Guatemala, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Nicaragua, and Dominican Republic.

Assuming they draw a top half country with a bottom half country for each 2 leg knockout round, you'd have El Salvador, CanMNT, Curacao, Panama, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago each getting one of Antigua and Barbuda, Guatemala, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Nicaragua, or Dominican Republic as their opponent to see if they advance to the March 2021 window.

I'd like to avoid Suriname in November.  They just passed a law allowing dual citizenship for footballers and have started recruiting Dutch ringers for the qualifiers.

 

 

[An Observer]

I like the format and I believe its quite fair.  Yes, we may need to in worse case scenarios defeat Suriname in a home and away and then a Panama or a Trinidad (I suspect we and El Salvador and Curacao will be ranked so we avoid each other).  I dont think those are gimmes but if we cant beat them in a home and away, we shouldn't be in the octagon and definitely not the World Cup.

[Bdog]

So November and March it's only two games each?

1 hour ago, CanadianSoccerFan said:

I'd like to avoid Suriname in November.  They just passed a law allowing dual citizenship for footballers and have started recruiting Dutch ringers for the qualifiers.

Damn, I looked at their Wikipedia page and they actually look kinda scary.