The United States, Mexico and other Concacaf favorites will not start the World Cup qualifiers next June, thanks to new coronavirus-related postponements announced Tuesday through the regional governing body.
The replacement of the schedule, the time required through the pandemic, will see the octagonal final circular start extended after the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup, which before.
Concacaf reorganized the classification format last month, building a first circular with the 30 lowest national organizations in the region. The format will not change. These 30 organizations were divided into organizations of five and were scheduled to play 4 matches in October and November. These circular robin parties have been postponed. They will now be played in March and June 2021, and the organization’s six winners will play the remaining 3 spots in the octagonal. These matches will also be played in June 2021, just before the start of the Gold Cup in July.
As a result, the octagonal also repelled. Sports Illustrated understands that it will now start from August 30 to September 7, 2021, foreign window. The United States will start with games opposed to two of the 3 first-round playoffs, and the moment window will take place from October 4-12, 2021, when the Americans will face Honduras and Jamaica.
“Many parts of the region continue to enjoy very delicate public fitness situations, and this was key to this decision,” Concacaf said Tuesday. “In addition, several countries in the confederation have quarantine restrictions and requirements, which would make foreign football involving 30 incredibly complicated national groups.
Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, the octagonal was scheduled to finish the window from March 21-29, 2022. Now, according to FIFA’s existing schedule, each octagonal team will have played only 10 of the 14 qualifiers to date. , or two windows, will be required to complete the round. One solution may be to simply postpone the June 2022 intercontinental playoffs, which will come with the team completing fourth place in the octagonal. Another forward-looking concept is to extend foreign windows over a few days to enter a third game.
FIFA and Concacaf will work in combination on a solution. The octagonal format does not change.
Changing the position of the calendar can have an attractive effect on the Gold Cup next summer. Originally scheduled to take position between qualifying dates, the tournament would most likely have been played without several of the most sensitive players from several more sensitive level teams. At this point, the rest would probably have been more important. Now that Mexico and the United States are not on their way to Qatar until September, the Gold Cup can become more of a dress practice session and an opportunity to bring in combined players who would not have shared a field in a year. Or more.
The United States last played on 1 February in a friendly with no European players. The next foreign window is next month, however, football is running out of time to schedule one or two games. November represents a higher likely return to action, and Europe is the highest likely framework, which would give coach Gregg Berhalter access to a collection of more sensitive players he hasn’t worked with since 2019.
“These are normal times and we will all have to keep adjusting,” Berhalter said in a comment shared via US Soccer. “We have established a foundation forged in our organization and we will take care of whatever comes up. We look forward. ” to receive the updated calendar so that we can plan accordingly. “