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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Canada set FIFA ranking target

About a month ago, on Oct 28th to be more exact, the Canadian Soccer Association published the "Strategic Plan" and "Strategic Activities" 2009 - 2013.

One goal found in the Strategic Activities document caught my eye: "Men Top 40 World Ranking and Top 3 in CONCACAF".

I did write to Dominique Maestracci (the chairman of the CSA) to offer my help in order to reach their goal.

His answer:

"Dear Sir,
Thanks for your comments.I was aware of the methodology.
D Maestracci.

PS:I hope we will work together for the benefits of Soccer in Canada."

And that's it.

Anyway, since I already did the research, I though I might as well post it since the CSA is not interested.

So, what should Canada do in order to break into the top 40 of the FIFA ranking?
  1. Get invited to the UNCAF Nations Cup 2009. UNCAF toyed with the idea of inviting a team in 2007 (Mexico and Venezuela were mentioned), but the negociations broke down. As UNCAF has only 7 teams, they always have a group of 4 and one of 3 teams, thus they need an extra team to balance things out. FIFA considers this tournament as a qualifying competition and the multiplier for FIFA points is 2.5 instead of 1 for a friendly match. Besides improving Canada's ranking (with a decent performance of course), it will also provide much needed experience for your players.
  2. Reach the semifinals of the Gold Cup 2009 - another source of points - the multiplier for continental final tournaments is 3.
  3. Take advantage of unrealistically high ranked teams. Play friendlies against them and win. For the next FIFA match date (February 11th, 2009), Canada should try to play against one of: Burkina Faso, Macedonia, Latvia, Senegal, Mali, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovakia, Guinea, Lithuania, Bolivia.
The UNCAF Nations Cup participation seems already dead in the water. I doubt the CSA ever approached UNCAF to discuss it.

I offered my help, they were not interested. Anyway, good luck!

About me:

Christian, husband, father x 3, programmer, Romanian. Started the blog in March 2007. Quit in April 2018. You can find me on LinkedIn.

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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousNovember 26, 2008 at 10:53 AM

    There will be probably some concacaf unrealistically high ranked teams after the upcoming caribbean cup and uncaf cup. I remember after the 2007 caribbean cup Guyana entered in the top 100 of Fifa ranking, and Cuba, Haiti and Barbados increased much their ranking. Canada can improve its ranking playing (and winning)in 2009 friendlies against teams like cuba, haiti, trinidad and tobago el salvador or guatemala if they will increase their ranking after these competitions

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