Mixed views on future WCQ format
Published:Wednesday | July 29, 2020 | 12:27 AMDaniel Wheeler/Gleaner Writer
Jamaica’s path to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is now clear after Concacaf’s revised structure was announced on Monday. However, there are mixed views as to whether the changes that were created out of necessity can become the norm for future cycles.
The new format sees the traditional hexagonal (six team) Final Round structure abandoned and replaced by an eight-team tournament, which will begin next June. It will consist of the top five nations in the region according to FIFA rankings as of July 16 and three other nations that will emerge from preliminary rounds, which are slated to begin in October. Jamaica, having maintain their top five ranking, advanced to the final round alongside Mexico, the United States, Costa Rica and Honduras.
Loaded Football Calendar
Concacaf president Victor Montagliani, in an interview with Canada’s onesoccer.com, said the revised structure made sense due to the coronavirus’ disrupting effect on the calendar. Montagliani pointed to the confederation’s attempts to juggle a loaded football calendar next year that includes the rescheduled Concacaf Nations League Finals and the Gold Cup.
“I think when we had the previous format, it was done for the right reasons because traditionally we had 29 watching six nations in the hex for two and a half years which is why we came up with the previous format, but this format I think is realistic to now,” Montagliani said. “We are going to have a condensed calendar leading up to Qatar. We didn’t want to burden our member associations both from a financial standpoint and even a sporting standpoint by going into the previous version.”
However, Humble Lion head coach Andrew Price believes Concacaf could have inadvertently created a format suitable for the future.
“I think as a result of COVID-19 and the compression of the time period to complete the qualification [it] has forced them [Concacaf] into a situation where they had to use this format,” Price told The Gleaner. “But what this format does and nobody can’t deny it, it gives a lot of transparency because it gives every team within Concacaf an opportunity to qualify. It’s just what those teams do with it when they get the opportunity.”
Former national assistant coach Bradley Stewart is cautious of the chances that the format could be adopted beyond the 2022 cycle.
“I’m thinking that this is not a formula that they would use under normal circumstances. I think it is just a way around the problems that we had faced based on the postponement of previous games,” Stewart said.
The top three teams from the final round will advance automatically to the FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar with the fourth-place team competing in a continental play-off. The final round is scheduled to be completed by March 2022 with the continental play-off to be contested in June.