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Time for FIFA to chop the "deadwood"

April 1, 2009 12:29 PM | Posted by   John Molinaro  

World Cup qualifying resumes Wednesday with a slew of games as countries from all over the globe continue to jockey for position and try to stamp their passport for next summer's festivities in South Africa.

Thirty-one spots are up for grabs, including three in CONCACAF, the soccer region that covers North and Central America and the Caribbean. CONCACAF could send a fourth team if the fourth-place country in qualifying wins a playoff with the fifth-placed nation from South America.

It's always bothered me that CONCACAF gets three guaranteed places at the World Cup, while South America and Africa, continents with a far greater soccer heritage and stronger teams, only get four and five, respectively.

The World Cup is the single greatest sporting event on the planet. Nothing – not the Stanley Cup, World Series, Super Bowl, or even the over-hyped, bore-a-thon that is the Olympics – can compare to soccer's greatest showcase event.

Time to chop the "deadwood"

But that's not to say it can't be improved, and the first step FIFA should take is to get rid of the "deadwood" and cut back on the number of CONCACAF teams that automatically qualify for the World Cup.

The weakest of all of the continental organizations (with the exception of Oceania), CONCACAF is a lightweight in the grand scheme of things and should be treated as such. World Cup qualifying in CONCACAF is traditionally a two-horse race between the U.S. and Mexico – once you look past those two teams, the quality drops off drastically.

The fact that CONCACAF sends three (and sometimes four) teams to the World Cup is simply absurd because it completely waters down the tournament. It's even more criminal when you consider that two of those spots could go to far more deserving teams from South America and Africa.

Case in point: the 2006 World Cup.

Four CONCACAF teams competed in Germany, but only one (Mexico) advanced beyond the group stage. Instead of seeing Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Cameroon or Nigeria (five traditional powerhouses with world class players), we were treated to the exploits of Trinidad and Tobago and Costa Rica – neither of which won a single game and only combined for one point in the first round.

Aside from a semifinal run by the U.S. at the first tournament in 1930, CONCACAF nations have under-achieved at the World Cup with just four quarter-final appearances to their credit.

So why does FIFA insist on giving CONCACAF three spots at the World Cup when it is clearly undeserving?

Implement a new playoff formula

My solution would be to give CONCACAF two guaranteed spots, and make them earn the other two via a playoff with two teams from South America and Africa.

I realize implementing such a change would make it that much harder for Canada, but let's be honest – we're not going to qualify anytime soon, so this wouldn't impact us all that much.

To be perfectly honest, I think it's equally ridiculous that Asia is guaranteed four places (and has a shot at sending a fifth team to the 2010 World Cup via a playoff against New Zealand, the Oceania winner).

Again, if it were up to me, Asia would only get two spots and made to earn the rest via the playoff system.

But going after CONCACAF is a good place to start because the fact that El Salvador or Trinidad could be competing in South Africa next year at the expense of Uruguay, Colombia, Mali or Cameroon is unfathomable.

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