Although Horace Burrell said CONCACAF are considering a final group of 12 teams, it seems they are actually planning an octagonal, at least according to Radio HRN.
The Radio HRN article is basically the CONCACAF press release, with a different title and subtitle.
CONCACAF clasificaría al próximo Mundial mediante una Octagonal
Durante la reunión del Ejecutivo de la Confederación en Nueva York (participó el hondureño Alfredo Hawitt Banegas), estudiaron crear cuatro cuadrangulares en la fase previa a la Octagonal.
Basically, it seems the final round will be an octagonal, with four groups of four in the previous round.
Did Julio César Núñez, HRN senior sport editor, get inside info from Mr. Banegas? I don't know. I certainly have been unable to get info from Mr. Gulati or Mr. Alvarado, the only members of CONCACAF's Executive Committee kind enough to answer my e-mails.
Also, this post on BigSoccer has a few details about the preliminary round and the first group stage.
All things considered, it looks like this:
1. Preliminary round to get to 32 teams. CONCACAF have 35 teams, but the number could increase to 36 with the Netherlands Antilles dissolving (more on Wikipedia).
2. 8 groups of 4 teams - top two advancing to the next stage.
3. 4 groups of 4 teams - top two advancing to the next stage.
4. One group of 8 teams, with the top three qualifying for the World Cup, while the fourth placed team will go to an intercontinental playoff. Of course, that's if CONCACAF will have 3.5 spots.
Maybe this is because they know that FIFA is planning to ge their half berth at WC. 3 1/2 places is just too much for CONCACAF.
ReplyDeleteIf I am right, that playoff will be played between UEFA and CONMEBOL in 2014 preliminaries. It will be a brutal one, yes.
I think that Dutch Antilles will continue with the national team (only Curacao remain, Saba become part of the Dutch Kingdom), only it can change the name (as Jugoslavia/Serbia-Montenegro in the past). St. Marteen, that will become full indipendent (already member of Concacaf) can be recognized by FIFA in future (but not in time for wc2014 qualifiers).
ReplyDeleteI've get this information here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands_Antilles_national_football_team
I think South America should not have 4.5 places for WC Qualifying
ReplyDelete2014 . How come a 10 Nations Confederation having a possible
6 teams at the next World Cup ?
It's about quality in the end :) If all 5 CONMEBOL teams advance to the second round in this World Cup, they will surely deserve at least 4.5 spots for Brazil 2014.
ReplyDelete