There were a series of news conferences surrounding Mexico's friendly with Ecuador in New York. In one, FMF President Justino Compean announced that they were supporting the USA's bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. “We had to be realistic. We don’t have the same stadiums and infrastructure in place at the moment to compete with the US in this area" Compean stated. Can't argue with that.
Then Concacaf got into the act by announcing that it was thinking of changing the qualifying format for the 2014 World Cup.
That's great. There are a lot of minnows to weed out before getting down to the nitty gritty. So how are they going to that?
By expanding the final phase?
Spit take.
“In response to the needs of our membership, we are proposing a new system that will provide substantially more playing opportunities while producing a fair and compelling qualifying competition,” CONCACAF President Jack Warner said.
So instead of cutting back the excess of games played, Concacaf wants to make the final hex a double hex. 12 teams to battle it
out for the 3.5 spots.
And that's the final round. They want two rounds previous to that.
In order to qualify for South Africa, the US, Mexico, and Honduras played 18 games. Only South America played more in their round robin.
Now Concacaf wants teams to play 22 games, and whatever number of games previous two that. Throw in the two Gold Cups, and we might be pushing 50 official matches in a 4 year period.
From a Mexico Standpoint, diluting the field only makes it easier for them to qualify. 11 games at the Azteca? If you insist.
That's a lot. Too much, I think. What do y'all think?