CONCACAF makes changes to 2022 World Cup Qualifiers; Mexico & US biggest beneficiaries.
The governing body of North, Central America and the Caribbean also known as CONCACAF has made changes to the way teams will qualify into the 2022 World Cup.
The organization announced today on their website that the qualifiers will be split into two parts.
Here are the changes in layman’s term: The top six FIFA-ranked teams in the region, published after the FIFA window of June 2020, which will likely include Mexico and the United States, will be automatically put into a Hexagonal round. The HEX will be just like we know it today, a home-and-away round robin. After the conclusion, the top three teams in the standings will qualify to the World Cup, but the most significant change is that the fourth place team doesn’t earn an automatic half-berth. They will have to play the winner of the knockout stage for an opportunity to participate in the FIFA-Playoff.
The HEX will take place during the FIFA Match windows of September, October and November of 2020 and March and September of 2021.
That half-berth will go to the winner of the second part of the qualifiers. Other 29 CONCACAF teams ranked 7-35 according to the FIFA Ranking published after the FIFA window of June 2020, will get a chance to win the half-ticket to the World Cup in Qatar. This part of the qualifiers will feature eight groups (five groups of four teams and three groups of three sides). The teams will play a round-robin just like the HEX portion of the qualifiers, and the winners of each group will move onto the knockout stage.
This step will take place during the FIFA Match windows of September, October, and November of 2020.
The next step will feature a quarterfinal, semifinals, and finals round, which will also be a home-and-away direct elimination. The winner of the knockout stage will earn the half-ticket to the 2022 World Cup. This part will take place during the FIFA Match windows of March, June, and September 2021.
Conclusion
As I mentioned earlier, this format benefits CONCACAF powers like Mexico, the United States, and even Costa Rica. These three teams are perennially ranked top three in the region by FIFA. Despite that, I genuinely believe this format will benefit the smaller squads in the long run, despite many people thinking that is CONCACAF helping Mexico out once again.
The teams ranked 4th through 9th will have to come out and play hard every single game as they know that FIFA rankings will now have some significance.
Besides, all the other teams will get an opportunity to have extended participation in the World Cup Qualifiers instead of just playing a much more dominant side and seeing their World Cup dreams quickly come to an end.
The second part of the format could also open up the doors for Cinderella type runs, and most importantly it would continue to develop most smaller teams in the region. Making all the teams better is a good thing for everyone in the region. At the end of the day, the goal is to get better, period.
