The member nations of CONCACAF will soon find out how many places in the 2014 FIFA World Cup they will be vying for over the next three years.
FIFA's executive committee is currently meeting in Zurich to determine how many of the 32 spots each confederation will receive at the next World Cup.
CONCACAF representatives Jack Warner and Chuck Blazer are pushing for a fourth guaranteed berth for the region. As it presently stands, CONCACAF has three spots, with a fourth team facing off against a fifth-placed qualifier from South America in a playoff for one other spot. A vote by FIFA's executive committee on the final distribution of World Cup berths is set to take place after the current meetings end.
How many spots do you think CONCACAF deserves? Would you like to see the region get a fourth guaranteed berth?
Share your thoughts below.
Why would you have us not getting out of the group stage in 2014? What is that based on? I am looking at a team with a lot of young tallent and some solid vets in their last go. I like our chances 3.5 years from now.
As far as the how many slots CONCACAF should get. I think 3.5 is fai, but since when has fair ever happened with FIFA. I think it is more important for us…
1. Earn a seeding at the draw.
2. Not get in the pool with Asia again. By being placed with Asia, we have no shot at playing any minows from AFC or CONCACAF.
My proposed 32 for Brazil 2014:
CONCACAF: 4
Europe: 12.5
Africa: 4
CONMEBOL: 6 (Brazil host)
Asia: 5
Oceania: .5
=32
Dream on. What happened to Warner’s influence when Qatar got the rights to the World Cup?
We don’t have conferences in football, we have confederations.
I think everyone’s down on CONCACAF’s World Cup performances, but remember that we had 2 out of 3 move on from the group stage in 2010. Look how that stacks up:
CONCACAF: 2 out of 3
Europe: 6 out of 13
Africa: 1 out of 6
CONMEBOL: 5 out of 5
Asia: 2 out of 4
Oceania: 0 out of 1
It’s not unreasonable for CONCACAF to ask for four spots, taking one of Africa’s spots. Or Europe’s for that matter. If we are at 2 out of 4 that’s in line with the average.
No he’s cup-tied. B. Monchengladbach got knocked out by MK Dons a couple rounds ago.
110% sure that was a joke after the WC 22 was awarded to Qatar to spread the game.
7 isnt enough. Now that Australia is in Asia they need at least 9.
We at the very least (hopefully) would have scored some goals and not simply defended all 3 games. I expected more from Honduras, I was genuinely rooting for them right behind the U.S.
I thought it was highest cash bidder.
Another way to look at it…since 1990, we simply don’t make the group stages in Europe hosted cups. We’re moving on in 2014!!!
If we were in the same group as Chile and Spain we probably wouldn’t have advanced either.
Embarrassed is a bit harsh and overdoing it. North Korea was much more embarrassing after a courageous start against Brazil.
We should just keep it at 3 spots to create more competition. As it is Mexico is the only one who consistently moves on to the knock-out stages while the US every other WC makes it out of the group stages. By the looks of it we won’t be getting out of group stages in 2014. I can only imagine how bad the rest of the concacrap will do.
S. America: 5
Concacaf: 4
Asia: 4
Africa: 4
Host: 1
Oceania: .5
Europe: 13.5
Qatar: 3
I will gladly take a fourth spot though, anything that makes the USA’s path to WC 2014 easier works for me.
FYI: There is no draw, they hand pick the groups. Yes, seriously. This confederation is a joke.
Africa should lose half a spot (plus the host spot… o down to 4.5)
CONMEBOL should gain all of that to give them 5+host for a total of 6.
So my take:
OFC 0.5
AFC 4.5
CAF 4.5
CONCACAF 3.5
CONMEBOL 5.0 + Brazil
UEFA 13.0
CONCACAF vs. OFC
AFC vs. CAF
That said, I think it’s time we ditch CONCACAF and try to join UEFA. The usefulness of CONCACAF has run its course. The game would improve here exponentially at the international and especially club level, even though that would mean giving up our “guaranteed” WC spot.
Before you all flame me, give it a little thought. And don’t use travel as an excuse. Similarly, I think Mexico and some C.American countries would do well to join CONMEBOL.
As much as i love CONCACAF, we don’t deserve more than 3 spots. Look how poorly Honduras did this last WC. They embarrassed us all in the federation. US may be up top in this federation, but we need better competition.
To quote Phillip from The Sandlot: “It’s easy when you play against a bunch of rejects and a … fat kid”
why wouldn’t he be?
How about CONCACAF gets together and actually figures out the draw for the Gold Cup that starts in 3 months
They have to split them with Russians.
Rumour that 4 spots for CONCACAF is already a done deal
http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?1242-CSA-sources-Four-2014-World-Cup-spots-for-CONCACAF
I actually think 3.5 is perfectly fair. I just think the continental opponents should be rotated. For 2006, it was CONCACAF vs Asia, 2010 it CONCACAF vs South America, now this time it should be CONCACAF vs New Zealand.
Four spots would be nice, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m more concerned about the new qualifying format in CONCACAF. It forces us to play a lot more games against minnows and it reduces the chances of US-Mexico matches.
Conmebol’s best shot is to put 6 teams in, not 7.
And no, CONMEBOL has shown to be a force in the WC and deserves to keep their 4.5 spots.
We had 3.5 spots (.5 being the play in game versus S. America). So we will now have guaranteed 4 teams, no play in game.
The extra spot Africa had for 2010 will be distributed to CONCACAF and South America, as I understand it.
Is Bradley eligible to play in today’s FA cup match?
I don’t get that math… wouldn’t that .5 be taken from two regions then? If Africa does have a play-in spot (I’m not sure) then that means Asia / Oceania / Europe would lose that .5 spot as well
+1 well said
I’m having a hard time deciding if this is TIC…
Soccer is already popular in Asia. I lived in Asia long enough to realize that adding 2.5 more slots isn’t going to increase its popularity by much. The bigger question is from which confederation(s) are you going to remove the 2.5 slots to all 7 Asian teams in to the final?
55555555555
am i wrong, or is 2014 in brazil? that being said, CONMEBOL will have 6 (5 + host). so in this case, it makes sense to give the .5 to CONCACAF. that being said, it should not be the case for 2018+ (unless we begin to prove that we deserve it).
seriously, does anyone think CONMEBOL deserves the chance to put 7 teams in the world cup? seriously folks, that sounds more wrong than CONCACAF getting 4
S. America: 2
Our Dear Leader Kim Jong Il: 7
Concacaf: .5
Asia: 1.5
Zinedine Zidane: 1.5
Africa: 1
Rupert Murdoch: .75
Host: 1
Saudi Royal Family: 7
Roman Abramovich: 2.5
Oceania: .25
Europe: 8
Asia and Africa haven’t done a ton in past 2 cups performance wise to really say they are on the up, while concacaf is not. They should be fighting the same battle, no? If they are, then it’s kind of moot.
CAF doesn’t necessarily deserve all its spots…but neither does CONCACAF.
It could go either way, but I suspect Warner’s influence will prevail.
Qatar gets all 32 spots.
um, explain?
I think this is the most fair and reasonable way. Based on performance, CONCACAF really should be fighting to keep it’s .5 slot. That being said, it is unreasonable to have CONCACAF play CONMEBOL every time and two minnows from Asia and Oceania duke it out.
Or every conference should get x.5. Create a little qualifying tournament in the already congested soccer schedule.
That’s actually what I had heard too…
Europe would play Oceania to determine which one advances to the WC. Laugh.
Pretty sure they’re doing this as a leverage play to make sure they don’t get knocked back down to 3 or 2.5.
Objectively speaking, 3.5 spots for CONCACAF is completely fair. Our 3rd team never gets out of the group stage as it is.
That said, and assuming spots stay the same, they should continue to rotate the confederation playoffs. In 2006 CONCACAF (T&T) played Asia (Bahrain), in 2010 CONCACAF (Costa Rica) played S America (Uruguay). In 2014, we should get to go against Oceania, and let Asia and S America play each other
Unfortunately, the brutal reality is that CONCACAF doesn’t deserve a 4th spot. Keeping the door open with a play-in is much more fair given past performances.
S. America: 5
Concacaf: 4
Asia: 4
Africa: 4
Host: 1
Oceania: .5
Europe: 13.5
Personally, I see Asia getting 7 slots.
What better way to spread the game?
i agree with your sentiment. The world cup executive committee (or fifa executive committee) is a joke to so many folks, myself included. but, i think this vote will be a little more intriguing because the way i see it, it’s a bunch of corrupt folks trying to convince other corrupt folks for favors. ie. jack warner getting that gauranteed 4th spot for concacaf. so this time around the bribes will be amongst the committee members themselves. very intriguing. so, as always, follow the money and you will get your answer, at the risk to world cup credibility.
I think the rumor is that we will get a 4th, right? And Africa I think will have theirs taken away to make room for that .5 increase for us?
If so, I am okay with this and think it fair. We certainly deserve it more than Africa or Asia.
The idea that this is determined by a vote of a proven-to-be-corrupt body is beginning to make the World Cup itself start looking like a laughing stock. If there isn’t a major upheaval in the powers that be and an appearance of true democracy, I’m afraid the World Cup itself will actually suffer.