Started to call this one 3 is enough. I am not sure why CONCACAF seriously thought they could be granted an extra guaranteed spot in the 2014 World Cup.
FIFA’s executive committee decided Thursday that all six continental confederations will have the same number of qualifying spots for the 2014 tournament in Brazil as they did for last year’s World Cup in South Africa. But it did change the playoff system for the final berths in the 32-nation field to a draw rather than fixed pairings.
CONCACAF will still have three automatic berths and the chance to win a fourth in a playoff. Europe kept its 13 qualifying spots and Africa its five, although it does lose the host spot it had last year. South America will have four qualifying berths, the chance to win a fifth in a playoff plus Brazil as the host.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said the executive committee turned down CONCACAF’s request for a fourth guaranteed slot among the 31 available.
“It’s impossible to make always everybody happy. If we look at the sporting results of the World Cup in 2010 there was no reason to change anything,” Blatter said.
I am on the “Get Sepp Blatter out … FIFA board is corrupt … etc” bandwagon, but I agree with this decision. I would be willing to bet that even under favorable playoff circumstances, CONCACAF will not manage to land that fourth slot.
Where ya been? Hope all is well…
Kevin
Wow … have I really gone 2+ months without posting?
All is well. Just doing other stuff right now – work, kids, etc. Not a lot of gaming time. A little pissed off when the NFL labor situation, so did not even do my normal Falcons draft write-ups.
I have been ‘thinking’ about getting back to posting for a while … any day now …
Just glad to hear you’re alright.
Obviously, you can’t keep pace with my once-a-month posting schedule!!