NEW YORK – CONCACAF is turning its hexagonal World Cup standings into an octagonal in reaction to the coronavirus pandemic and is postponing the start of June.
The United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica and Honduras are farewelled in the octagonal, the Associated Football Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean announced on Monday.
The other 30 CONCACAF nations will compete for another 3 places in the final round. The octagonal will take position with 4 team matches in the double window of FIFA foreign matches next June, followed by two in September, October and November 2021, and two in January and March 2022.
By staying with a large number of groups in the final round, CONCACAF secured two lucrative high-level qualifiers between the United States and Mexico. The format also results in slips, there hasn’t been enough for the United States not to run out of the 2018 World Cup in Russia when it lost to Mexico and Costa Rica at home and Trinidad and Tobago in the last night.
“It’s smart that we have clarity about format and time, which will allow us to chart the way forward,” US coach Gregg Berhalter said in a statement. “We looked to the challenge of this new World Cup qualifying format.”
The hexagonal began in September and will be based on the FIFA rankings of June, in which El Salvador overtakes Canada as the sixth team in the region. Non-hexagonal groups would have competed by the right to form CONCACAF in an intercontinental tiebreaker.
FIFA has disposed of the September window for foreign matches due to the pandemic.
Under the new format, countries recently ranked 6-35 will be drawn into six teams out of five in a draw next month, with El Salvador, Canada, Curacao, Panama, Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago as more sensible seed. Each organization will participate in an all-against-all tournament for singles of 4 games consistent with the country in October and November.
The organization’s winners will advance to a moment at home and at home, with a global goal next March, and the winners of the moment will move to the octagonal.
The 3 most sensitive groups in the octagonal qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and the fourth country qualifies for the intercontinental qualifiers in June 2022.
The first and final semi-finals of the CONCACAF League of Nations will be rescheduled for a site in the U.S. Next March. The United States faces Honduras and Mexico faces Costa Rica in the semifinals, which were originally scheduled to be played June 4 in Houston. The last scheduled for June 7 in Arlington, Texas.
The 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup will be held from July 10 to August 1 next year. Chances are that the Gold Cup lacks many of the most sensitive players, who will take a license and then report to the clubs before the European club seasons 2021-22. The tournament was originally scheduled for July 2-25.
CONCACAF will work to create a Gold Cup initial in the United States before the tournament involving the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cuba, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Montserrat, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.