lamptern

Historically, the draw happens about 1 year before the Finals. And play offs are scheduled 4-5 months after the draw. That means this draw won't happen until Dec, 2021. We may ask for an earlier draw by sending an email to Gianni Infantino on behalf of "The Voyageurs"?

I am starting to pray for a draw with Oceania or Asia now......

Asian just finished first half of it's 2nd round of WCQ which consisting 40 teams. All first place teams and 4 best 2nd teams from 8 groups would get into the 3rd round for the 12 team competition. If Qatar took the first or one of 4 best second place in their group, they are qualified for Asian Cup Finals directly. No matter what the result Qatar get in the group they won't compete in the next round of WCQ. If they took the first place of the group which is most likely so far, then the fifth best 2nd place team of all 8 groups will advance to the 12 team round. That being said, the potential 12 teams would be : Syria, China/Philippines, Australia, Kuwait/ Jordan, Iraq, Bahrain/ Iran, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Japan, Kyrgyzstan/ Tajikistan, Vietnam, Thailand/ Malaysia/ UAE, Turkmenistan, Korea/ Lebanon/ DPR Korea. Looks crazy, but just like CONCACAF, so many subpar countries on the rise and few traditional powerhouses on a free fall. It's definitely a wild guess who could emerge at this time. Here's mine: Guaranteed: Syria, Australia, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Oman, Japan, Vietnam, Turkmenistan, Korea. On the verge: China, Kuwait, Iran, UAE, Turkmenistan The 3rd round will have two HEX groups. Top two countries in each group quality for WC. The two third place teams play a home and home series for the 0.5 spot. It could as hard as in Concacaf to pick who would be that 0.5, but I have a bold estimate again: Australia/Iraq/Uzbekistan/ Vietnam ps: It won't be a easy job for Canada if we didn't get our back line fixed by then.

Another assume: If Panama was as rich as Qatar, I won't blame them to get Anguilla play with them weekly to crank the damn points all the way up. If there were five more nations were as rich as Qatar, I would love to see them doing the same way to let Mexico and USA crying in damn 7-35 hell.

I will take it if both happened.😋😋

The draw for the inter-confederation play-offs was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw. For WC2026, Unlike previous tournaments, it was agreed that there will be no general preliminary draw, with various draws to be held separately due to "a different timeline" for various confederations. So, the suspension could be a long lasting one until end of 2021.

They will live in paradise forever starting 2026 WCQ. Unless, Australia come back or Oceania merges Asia which I can't see any clue so far.

Then, I'd rather say it's a suspensive path.

Simple and fair... (enough)

US? What happened to them in 2018 WCQ then?

Is it still the easiest path if they draw a south America team for intercontinental playoff?

Why we make changes while the systems works for us and players feel comfortable?

I know it's useless to complain the format now. But, I never think we deserve this. 1. If my memory serve me right, this is the first time in WCQ history using FIFA ranking solely to decide who could enter the final qualifying round of a continent. It beyond the limit of fair play because it elimited the right of other 29 nations to have the equal opportunity getting into the HEX. The ranking should only be used for seeding. 2. Too late: almost one year after 2018 world cup final. With so many non-FIFA numbers in Concacaf, it's not fair for those teams who had to play them and got no points. 3. Everybody knows how close the teams are except Mexico and USA. If teams ranked #3 to #10 were not given a dog fight chance fairly, I am wordless about this rank #6 knife. 4. This format encourages the manipulating of friendlies in this fishy Concacaf. ps: As I mentioned in my propose, as long as the 8th place team could catch up 5th place team in a single head to head game, they should be given a chance to challenge.

Agree. To me, the saddest part is that we have a Canadian in chair to let this happen.

In the beginning of making this idiot format, CONCACAF should have had a appendix that if there were teams within the range of being catching up by a single head to head game (ie: 5th 1388, 6th 1385, 7th 1379, 8th 1376) after June deadline , there should be a game in neutral place to decide who could enter the Hex. (ie: 5th vs 8th, 6th vs 7th). I would accept this as a fair play ground.