International Fútbol Tournaments and World Cup Qualification

[rams80]

Club World Cup:

December 2011 in Japan.

Semifinalists:

UEFA: Barcelona (Spain)

CONMEBOL: Santos (Brazil)

Quarterfinalists:

CONCACAF: Monterrey (Mexico)

AFC: 8 teams remain, TBD in November

CAF: 8 teams remain, TBD in November

Preliminary Match:

OFC: Auckland City (New Zealand)

J-League: 18 teams remain, TBD in December

(AFC) Asian Football Conference teams remaining

3 from South Korea

2 from Saudi Arabia

2 from Iran

1 from Japan (*Cerezo Osaka, also eligible for J-League seed in CWC prelim match)

(CAF) African Football Confederation teams remaining

2 from Morocco (both teams from the city of Casablanca!)

1 from Egypt

1 from Sudan

1 from Cameroon

1 from Tunisia

1 from Algeria

1 from Nigeria

-This is the biggest sporting event this year. Imagine if Vegalta Sendai (from Sendai, Japan) win the J-League and have a chance to win the World Club Cup in their home country this year. They are currently in 3rd place after 14 games in the J-League with 20 games to be played.

I think we went over this before. Nobody gives a crap about the club world cup.

[-kj]

...which is a damned shame.

[max]

I think we went over this before. Nobody gives a crap about the club world cup.

I remember that, but last year there wasn't this storyline...

"-This is the biggest sporting event this year. Imagine if Vegalta Sendai (from Sendai, Japan) win the J-League and have a chance to win the World Club Cup in their home country this year. They are currently in 3rd place after 14 games in the J-League with 20 games to be played."

It is a real possibility that if Vegalta Sendai win the league, beat Auckland City and could pass through Enyemba from Nigeria or MC Alger from Algeria pretty easily:

Clubs eligible for Club World Cup Final

Egypt: 2010-11 season begins in August. Al-Ahly champions last year.

Tunisia: 2010-11 season begins in late July. Esperance champions last year.

Algeria: 1 round remaining, MC Alger will finish season with a losing or even record, 8th place/16 teams

Morocco: ended in May. Raja Casablanca finished first, Wydad Casablanca finished 3rd/16 teams

Sudan: ends in November. Al Hilal in second place.

Cameroon: CotonSport in first place with 2 rounds remaining

Nigeria: may end in October, who knows, though. Read about the disastrous 2010-2011 season, which could last 12 months, here. Enyemba is 7th out of 20 teams, even record, 11 rounds remaining in a terribly-organized national premier league.

Of course, the surviving Asian Champions League clubs from Japan and South Korea; FC Seoul, Cerezo Osaka, Jeonbuk Motors, and Suwon Bluewings, are all beatable teams for Vegalta Sendai.

I've covered the CAF (African Champs Lg.) clubs, half of the AFC (Asian Champs Lg.), and the J-League season ending in December (V. Sendai are currently 3rd, 3 points behind Kashiwa Reysol for first place in the table). Here are the teams still in the midst.

Barcelona-beat Lyon, Hotspur, Real Madrid, and ManU in the Round of 16 at 2010-11 UEFA Champions League tournament

Santos-Brazil, recent winners of the Copa Libertadores

Monterrey-Mexico, will begin domestic season in late July and will end in early December, days before the Club World Cup. Undefeated at last year's CONCACAF Champions League; August '10 to April '11.

Al-Ittihad-Saudi Arabia, expected to beat FC Seoul in AFC Champions League Quarterfinals. Matches scheduled in mid/late September.

Sepahan-Iran, will play Al-Sadd in AFC Champions League Quarterfinals. Matches scheduled in mid/late September.

Al-Sadd-Qatar, will play Sepahan in AFC Champions League Quarterfinals. Matches scheduled in mid/late September.

Zob Ahan-Iran, will play Suwon Bluewings in AFC Champions League Quarterfinals. Matches scheduled in mid/late September.

Vegalta Sendai, check out their "Fan Songs."

[rams80]

The fact that a J-League team COULD win this thing should be your first clue about how much regard the rest of the world holds for this tournament.

[max]

The UEFA Champions Cup winners and CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores winners played an annual tournament to determine the world champion from 1960 to 2004.

Intercontinental Cup

The Club World Cup incorporates every single world soccer confederation's Champions League winners every year and the tournament includes a host team, just like in the Olympics and World Cup held every four years.

The organizers of the Club World Cup understand that CONMEBOL and UEFA are better confederations so they enter in the semifinals to play the best of Asia, Africa, and North America. The Oceania confederation, which does not include Australian clubs, play a preliminary match against the winner of the host nation's national league on the first day of the competition. The Club World Cup tournament structure makes more sense than the World Cup structure...

rams80:

They hold these tournaments to see who wins. I can say that the Kansas City Royals were the best team in baseball last year, but they weren't crowned World champions...I'm interested in how you decide which club was the best in the world last year.

[AnythingChicago]

Yeah, no one cares about the club world cup. When I changed the title of this thread after the Gold Cup, I was thinking this thread would be for national teams only. Any other talk (MLS, British Premier League, club world cup) can be taken into the Domestic Soccer thread.

I'll be watching Argentina-Colombia on Spanish TV tonight. If Colombia somehow pulls off the miraculous upset, they move on to the quarterfinals.

Talk about the riots in Buenos Aires that would ensue if that happened...

[WJMorris3]

I'm hoping that talks come to fruition, as there are rumors that the 2015 Copa America will actually be a Copa Americas (notice the S here), with the 10 CONMEBOL nations and 6 CONCACAF nations. As to which 6 CONCACAF would go - that's an easy fix. Send the six that went to the Hexagonal, provided that you have at least one team from each of the three regions (if that was in for this year, that would be the straight hex and we might see a draw that looks like this:)

Pool 1α: Argentina (10), Brazil (5), Mexico (9), Uruguay (18)

Pool 1β: Chile (27), Honduras (44), Paraguay (32), United States (24)

Pool 2α: Colombia (54), Costa Rica (55), Ecuador (68), Peru (49)

Pool 2β: Bolivia (93), El Salvador (72), Trinidad and Tobago (90), Venezuela (69)

In addition, each group must have at least one CONCACAF team in it and no two CONCACAF teams in the same numbered pool could face in the group stages. So perhaps a random draw would look like this:

Pool A: ARG, USA, CRC, BOL

Pool B: MEX, CHI, COL, TRI

Pool C: URU, HON, ECU, VEN

Pool D: BRA, PAR, PER, SLV

[AnythingChicago]

I'm hoping that talks come to fruition, as there are rumors that the 2015 Copa America will actually be a Copa Americas (notice the S here), with the 10 CONMEBOL nations and 6 CONCACAF nations. As to which 6 CONCACAF would go - that's an easy fix. Send the six that went to the Hexagonal, provided that you have at least one team from each of the three regions (if that was in for this year, that would be the straight hex and we might see a draw that looks like this:)

Pool 1α: Argentina (10), Brazil (5), Mexico (9), Uruguay (18)

Pool 1β: Chile (27), Honduras (44), Paraguay (32), United States (24)

Pool 2α: Colombia (54), Costa Rica (55), Ecuador (68), Peru (49)

Pool 2β: Bolivia (93), El Salvador (72), Trinidad and Tobago (90), Venezuela (69)

In addition, each group must have at least one CONCACAF team in it and no two CONCACAF teams in the same numbered pool could face in the group stages. So perhaps a random draw would look like this:

Pool A: ARG, USA, CRC, BOL

Pool B: MEX, CHI, COL, TRI

Pool C: URU, HON, ECU, VEN

Pool D: BRA, PAR, PER, SLV

That...would be awesome.

[WJMorris3]

I'm hoping that talks come to fruition, as there are rumors that the 2015 Copa America will actually be a Copa Americas (notice the S here), with the 10 CONMEBOL nations and 6 CONCACAF nations. As to which 6 CONCACAF would go - that's an easy fix. Send the six that went to the Hexagonal, provided that you have at least one team from each of the three regions (if that was in for this year, that would be the straight hex and we might see a draw that looks like this:)

Pool 1α: Argentina (10), Brazil (5), Mexico (9), Uruguay (18)

Pool 1β: Chile (27), Honduras (44), Paraguay (32), United States (24)

Pool 2α: Colombia (54), Costa Rica (55), Ecuador (68), Peru (49)

Pool 2β: Bolivia (93), El Salvador (72), Trinidad and Tobago (90), Venezuela (69)

In addition, each group must have at least one CONCACAF team in it and no two CONCACAF teams in the same numbered pool could face in the group stages. So perhaps a random draw would look like this:

Pool A: ARG, USA, CRC, BOL

Pool B: MEX, CHI, COL, TRI

Pool C: URU, HON, ECU, VEN

Pool D: BRA, PAR, PER, SLV

That...would be awesome.

Mind you, I'm just hedging bets on how it might be drawn up - but they really are talking about making it a Copa Americas. I'd guess for Confed Cup purposes take the highest advancing team from both?

(And a note: the numbers are FIFA rankings from December 2010, which would be a reasonable seeding metric. Of course, it helps also that Pool 1 is all teams that made the World Cup in 2010 and Pool 2 is all teams that did not.)

[AnythingChicago]

I'm hoping that talks come to fruition, as there are rumors that the 2015 Copa America will actually be a Copa Americas (notice the S here), with the 10 CONMEBOL nations and 6 CONCACAF nations. As to which 6 CONCACAF would go - that's an easy fix. Send the six that went to the Hexagonal, provided that you have at least one team from each of the three regions (if that was in for this year, that would be the straight hex and we might see a draw that looks like this:)

Pool 1α: Argentina (10), Brazil (5), Mexico (9), Uruguay (18)

Pool 1β: Chile (27), Honduras (44), Paraguay (32), United States (24)

Pool 2α: Colombia (54), Costa Rica (55), Ecuador (68), Peru (49)

Pool 2β: Bolivia (93), El Salvador (72), Trinidad and Tobago (90), Venezuela (69)

In addition, each group must have at least one CONCACAF team in it and no two CONCACAF teams in the same numbered pool could face in the group stages. So perhaps a random draw would look like this:

Pool A: ARG, USA, CRC, BOL

Pool B: MEX, CHI, COL, TRI

Pool C: URU, HON, ECU, VEN

Pool D: BRA, PAR, PER, SLV

That...would be awesome.

Mind you, I'm just hedging bets on how it might be drawn up - but they really are talking about making it a Copa Americas. I'd guess for Confed Cup purposes take the highest advancing team from both?

Yeah, I was referring to the rumor in my previous comment. I would actually think they would do this in 2013 instead, so qualification wouldn't be an issue. Then, in 2015, they could go back to the usual routine. Then they could switch off every 2 years like that, kind of like Summer/Winter Olympics.

That's just my 2 cents. And, yes, I know the Copa América is currently only ran every 4 years. But they can change that.

[WJMorris3]

I know I posted it in another thread, but here's your solve for it.

One, merge CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, keeping the CONMEBOL name. You'd have 50 members in then. If they keep the bids to the World Cup the same, the combined group would have 8 bids to go for.

Now, the way I'd envision it happening would be as follows:

Qualifying for World Cup and Copa Americas would be one in the same. The lowest 40 ranked nations would play in 10 groups of 4, to be drawn from the pools, with the top 2 from each group advancing.

Pool 1: Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela

Pool 2: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname

Pool 3: Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Curacao, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Turks and Caicos Islands

Pool 4: Aruba, Anguilla, Bahamas, French Guiana*, Guadeloupe*, Martinique*, Montserrat, Saint-Martin*, Sint Maarten*, US Virgin Islands

10 nations, at the date of the preliminary draw, would be exempted into Final Qualifying. These would be the 10 teams with the highest FIFA World Ranking. Final qualifying would be 4 groups of 6, with the top team in each group and the best second place team qualifying directly for the World Cup, and the remaining second place teams would face each other in a two-legged tie for the other two spots. The pools for this draw would look like this.

Pool 5: Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, United States, Uruguay

Pool 6: Chile, Honduras, Jamaica, Paraguay, Peru

Pool 7: Highest-ranked five preliminary winners

Pool 8: Lowest-ranked five preliminary winners

Pool 9: Highest-ranked five preliminary runners-up

Pool 10: Lowest-ranked five preliminary runners-up

In terms of Copa Americas, top 3 out of each group qualify, plus the host nation. If the host nation occupies one of these spots, then the fourth place team from that group qualifies for Copa. Should the World Cup host make final qualifying, then they are disregarded for purposes of World Cup qualifying and the second-place teams shall be ranked disregarding their results against the host or worst team in their group, whichever applies.

[AnythingChicago]

The Argentina-Colombia match is impossible to watch. There is a heavy smoke cover lingering over the stadium in Santa Fe. The match is tied 0-0, but even Colombia's players in bright yellow kits can get lost in the smoke (especially on corner kicks on the opposite side of the camera). That being said, I don't get any of the Spanish channels in HD, so that is contributing to it. But it is a great match soccer wise. Colombia is looking great against mighty Argentina.

[AnythingChicago]

I know I posted it in another thread, but here's your solve for it.

One, merge CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, keeping the CONMEBOL name. You'd have 50 members in then. If they keep the bids to the World Cup the same, the combined group would have 8 bids to go for.

Now, the way I'd envision it happening would be as follows:

Qualifying for World Cup and Copa Americas would be one in the same. The lowest 40 ranked nations would play in 10 groups of 4, to be drawn from the pools, with the top 2 from each group advancing.

Pool α: Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela

Pool β: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname

Pool γ: Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Curacao, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Turks and Caicos Islands

Pool δ: Aruba, Anguilla, Bahamas, French Guiana*, Guadeloupe*, Martinique*, Montserrat, Saint-Martin*, Sint Maarten*, US Virgin Islands

10 nations, at the date of the preliminary draw, would be exempted into Final Qualifying. These would be the 10 teams with the highest FIFA World Ranking. Final qualifying would be 4 groups of 6, with the top team in each group and the best second place team qualifying directly for the World Cup, and the remaining second place teams would face each other in a two-legged tie for the other two spots. The pools for this draw would look like this.

Pool 1: Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, United States, Uruguay

Pool 2: Chile, Honduras, Jamaica, Paraguay, Peru

Pool 3: Highest-ranked five preliminary winners

Pool 4: Lowest-ranked five preliminary winners

Pool 5: Highest-ranked five preliminary runners-up

Pool 6: Lowest-ranked five preliminary runners-up

In terms of Copa Americas, top 3 out of each group qualify, plus the host nation. If the host nation occupies one of these spots, then the fourth place team from that group qualifies for Copa. Should the World Cup host make final qualifying, then they are disregarded for purposes of World Cup qualifying and the second-place teams shall be ranked disregarding their results against the host or worst team in their group, whichever applies.

Eh, I prefer the CONCACAF and CONMEBOL separate. The World Cup qualification process would take even longer than it already does.

I'm all in for having the CONMEBOL and CONCACAF teams meet for a Copa América every four years, but I'm not in for a full-on merge. It is a compelling idea, though.

[lordsketor]

And Argentina and Colombia play to a 0-0 draw.

[AnythingChicago]

How in the hell did Colombia earn a draw against Argentina? This stupid cup is going to have a really obscure final. Something like Chile vs. Colombia.

[WJMorris3]

Surprisingly, no it wouldn't on this setup. You'd need 18 matchdays (6+10+2), which is what CONMEBOL already uses in a single group. CONCACAF is going to use 26 matchdays (2+6+6+10+2).

As an example, this is how the draw might play out.

Group A: Bahamas, Bolivia, Curacao, Dominica

Group B: Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Suriname

Group C: Aruba, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, St. Kitts and Nevis

Group D: Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia, Sint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago

Group E: Belize, Colombia, Cuba, Martinique

Group F: Barbados, Cayman Islands, Saint-Martin, Venezuela

Group G: Anguilla, Canada, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Group H: British Virgin Islands, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti

Group I: Bermuda, Guyana, Montserrat, Panama

Group J: El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands

Assuming that form holds and our Pool 1 teams win the group, and Pool 2 teams finish second, we'd have:

Pool 5: Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, United States, Uruguay

Pool 6: Chile, Honduras, Jamaica, Paraguay, Peru

Pool 7: Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela

Pool 8: Bolivia, Canada, El Salvador, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago

Pool 9: Antigua and Barbuda, Cuba, Grenada, Guyana, Suriname

Pool 10: Barbados, Dominica, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis

And you might have groups that look like this:

GROUP A: Canada, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, United States, Venezuela

GROUP B: Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominica, El Salvador, Grenada

GROUP Γ: Barbados, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago

GROUP Δ: Antigua and Barbuda, Haiti, Mexico, Jamaica, Panama, St. Kitts and Nevis

GROUP E: Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Paraguay, Uruguay

[AnythingChicago]

Surprisingly, no it wouldn't on this setup. You'd need 18 matchdays (6+10+2), which is what CONMEBOL already uses in a single group. CONCACAF is going to use 26 matchdays (2+6+6+10+2).

As an example, this is how the draw might play out.

Group A: Bahamas, Bolivia, Curacao, Dominica

Group B: Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Suriname

Group C: Aruba, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, St. Kitts and Nevis

Group D: Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia, Sint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago

Group E: Belize, Colombia, Cuba, Martinique

Group F: Barbados, Cayman Islands, Saint-Martin, Venezuela

Group G: Anguilla, Canada, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Group H: British Virgin Islands, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti

Group I: Bermuda, Guyana, Montserrat, Panama

Group J: El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands

Assuming that form holds and our Pool 1 teams win the group, and Pool 2 teams finish second, we'd have:

Pool 5: Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, United States, Uruguay

Pool 6: Chile, Honduras, Jamaica, Paraguay, Peru

Pool 7: Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela

Pool 8: Bolivia, Canada, El Salvador, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago

Pool 9: Antigua and Barbuda, Cuba, Grenada, Guyana, Suriname

Pool 10: Barbados, Dominica, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis

And you might have groups that look like this:

GROUP A: Canada, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, United States, Venezuela

GROUP B: Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominica, El Salvador, Grenada

GROUP Γ: Barbados, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago

GROUP Δ: Antigua and Barbuda, Haiti, Mexico, Jamaica, Panama, St. Kitts and Nevis

GROUP E: Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Paraguay, Uruguay

Well, then you've got it figured out. You should consider sending that to the FIFA headquarters.

[Breakwood]

How in the hell did Colombia earn a draw against Argentina? This stupid cup is going to have a really obscure final. Something like Chile vs. Colombia.

Colombia shouldve won too! They missed an open net around the 30th minute, and also should've had a penalty and an Argentine player sent off for a last man back foul in the box.

[AnythingChicago]

How in the hell did Colombia earn a draw against Argentina? This stupid cup is going to have a really obscure final. Something like Chile vs. Colombia.

Colombia shouldve won too! They missed an open net around the 30th minute, and also should've had a penalty and an Argentine player sent off for a last man back foul in the box.

Oh, wow. I didn't tune in until the second half, so I didn't see that. I saw a lot of Colombian opportunities go by the wayside, but I didn't see that.

I hate to use a sports cliché, but Messi is kind of the LeBron of soccer. He doesn't show up when it counts. He does great in club (which is like the regular season or quarters 1-3 for LeBron), but then doesn't show up in the blue and white of Argentina (kind of like LeBron in the playoffs.)

[Breakwood]

How in the hell did Colombia earn a draw against Argentina? This stupid cup is going to have a really obscure final. Something like Chile vs. Colombia.

Colombia shouldve won too! They missed an open net around the 30th minute, and also should've had a penalty and an Argentine player sent off for a last man back foul in the box.

Oh, wow. I didn't tune in until the second half, so I didn't see that. I saw a lot of Colombian opportunities go by the wayside, but I didn't see that.

I hate to use a sports cliché, but Messi is kind of the LeBron of soccer. He doesn't show up when it counts. He does great in club (which is like the regular season or quarters 1-3 for LeBron), but then doesn't show up in the blue and white of Argentina (kind of like LeBron in the playoffs.)

Highlights here