CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Format
Here is the word on CONCACAF & USA World Cup qualifying. The first possible USA game will be played next June.
The United States was among 13 nations that will receive a first-round bye in soccer's North and Central American and Caribbean qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.
FIFA, soccer's governing body, said Friday it based the decision on its rankings from May, when the United States was second in the region, a position it also holds in the latest rankings. Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, Guatemala, Canada, Guyana and St. Vincent and the Grenadines also received first-round byes.
Twenty-two nations will be slotted into home-and-home pairings during the World Cup qualifying draw on Nov. 25 in Durban, South Africa. The 11 winners and St. Vincent will drawn against the top 12 seeds in the second round, which likely will be in June. The 12 second-round winners advance to the semifinals, which will retain the same format from 2006 qualifying, with three groups of four.
The top two teams in each semifinal group advance to the six-nation regional finals. The top three teams in the finals qualify for the 32-nation field, and the No. 4 team meets the fifth-place team from South American in a home-and-home playoff for another berth.
The United States was among 13 nations that will receive a first-round bye in soccer's North and Central American and Caribbean qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.
FIFA, soccer's governing body, said Friday it based the decision on its rankings from May, when the United States was second in the region, a position it also holds in the latest rankings. Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, Guatemala, Canada, Guyana and St. Vincent and the Grenadines also received first-round byes.
Twenty-two nations will be slotted into home-and-home pairings during the World Cup qualifying draw on Nov. 25 in Durban, South Africa. The 11 winners and St. Vincent will drawn against the top 12 seeds in the second round, which likely will be in June. The 12 second-round winners advance to the semifinals, which will retain the same format from 2006 qualifying, with three groups of four.
The top two teams in each semifinal group advance to the six-nation regional finals. The top three teams in the finals qualify for the 32-nation field, and the No. 4 team meets the fifth-place team from South American in a home-and-home playoff for another berth.
posted by brucio at 15:58
6 Comments:
El Salvador is unseeded? They're not great, but I really hope we don't get them.
I still think its ridiculous we have to play a home and home against some dodgy carribean team where a couple of bad calls or flukey bunces could knock us out of the world cup.
If 'we' (whoever that team may be) can't beat some dodgy Carribean team, they don't deserve to go the WC
What sasha said.
The air of entitlement amongst the top teams in the world is, frankly, sickening. I'm sick of bickering about seeds, certain countries constantly being given free rides to the Finals, etc.
It will never happen, since it's all a matter of the rich continuing to be the rich, but I'd like to see all of the confederations--and, for that matter, FIFA for the World Cup Finals--adopt systems that have nothing to do with seedings. If the so-called "big" teams get drawn together early on, so be it! Suck it up and deal.
Once upon a time in the old Euro Cup AC Milan played a home and away knock out tie against Real Madrid! Now that's cup football.
Donovan
Oops. I meant to add that the matches were played in September.
Donovan
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