I am not on board with with CONCACAF’s proposal to change the the way the region qualifies its participants for the World Cup. Judging from the responses, most of y’all ain’t on board either.
Concacaf has made some pretty dubious decisions over the years, but let’s pretend for a minute that we are the ones calling shots for the next four years. What would you change?
The first thing I would do is make the Gold Cup a quadrennial tournament, played the summer after the World Cup.
And I would stage it all over the region. There is no reason why the Cuscatlan or the Olimpico or Costa Rica’s new Chinese stadium couldn’t host the final. Wanna go island hopping? Cluster some of those Carribbean Islands that seem to wield so much power to host the event.
The tournament would suddenly be a lot more interesting. If CONCACAF wants to get better, it has to spread the wealth. And it has to show confidence in the countries other regions that they can handle it. Which they can. They have been staging the UNCAF tournament for years.
The following summer, I would pair up with South America to host a Copa de las Americas, to be played right after the Euro. It is something that I have been advocating for years. Grant Wahl also seems to think it is doable as well. The top two teams in each of the three Gold Cup groups join the 10 Conmebol teams. It would be a perfect warm up for the upcoming World Cup qualifying tournament.
I might tweak the qualifying format, so long as the end result is the Hex. It is like the mini version of the CONMEBOL round robin.
I like the idea of the Concachampions, but I have to figure out a way for teams to take it more seriously. Maybe I would renegotiate the TV contracts, which would make it more lucrative for the teams. But I would also play it either during the spring or during the fall, but not both. If the Libertadores can pull it off, there is no reason why the Concachampions can’t do it either. This would then give me the opportunity to explore another cartoon crossover with CONMEBOL. The Copa Americana club tournament in the fall.
So those are my modest proposals. How would y’all change things, you know, for the good of the game.