"Small-nation elimination" is what the Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean's (CONCACAF) new World Cup Qualifying format is being described as by the former national captain and striker Kenwyne Jones and former goalkeeper Clayton Ince.
The new format, which Guardian Media Sports understands came from CONCACAF executives and not from a vote of its members, will see the qualifiers being played in a Hexagonal format among the top six ranked CONCACAF member countries based on the FIFA ranking published after the window of June 2020. And after a home-and-away round-robin playoff during the FIFA match windows of September, October and November of 2020, and March and September of 2021, the top three teams will qualify directly to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The second part of the qualifiers, to be played across a group stage and knockout phase, will involve the CONCACAF countries ranked 7-35 according to the FIFA ranking published after the FIFA window of June 2020. For the group stage, these 29 participating countries will be divided into eight groups (five groups of four teams and three groups of three teams).
After home-and-away round-robin plays during the FIFA match windows of September, October and November of 2020, the first-place finishers in each of the eight groups will qualify for the knockout stage.
The quarterfinals, semifinals and final matches of the knockout phase will be played during the FIFA match windows of March, June and September 2021, and the winner will face the fourth-place finisher of the Hexagonal group during the FIFA match window of October 2021, to determine the CONCACAF representative in the FIFA Intercontinental playoff.
However, Ince and Jones are upset with the decision, saying it will spell the death of small football nation from the Caribbean in particular. They added that the sad reality of the life in football without the presence of former CONCACAF president Jack Warner meant that the super-powers are now having their way in the decision-making process.
Said Ince, “It makes the qualification of small countries non-existent into the world of football. Football is supposed to have all countries across the globe unite and play and feel important, but now you are eliminating the smaller countries and going with the bigger ones. Although they have expanded the World Cup, it the smaller islands less of a chance to qualify.”
He said instead of uniting all countries in the CONCACAF region, the move was dividing them as first-world, third-world and second class.
"It is not a nice feeling. When we used to go and play other countries we used to feel like one, you battle on the field, which then showed if you’ve improved or if you’re on par.”
Jones, however, believes that while the new format is a clear show of the big guns in CONCACAF flexing their muscles, it can lead to improvements in our football, if the right steps are taken.
Jones said it seemed the decision was long in the making and reflective of the fact that an influential player like a Warner was no longer representing the interests of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU).
“This is a change that has been coming for a long time now because we do not have the superpower of Warner anymore. He did wonders for us to be in the position that we were, with even with the three and a half places for CONCACAF. But we will have to deal with it as players, as a country, as a federation, and work our way through,” Jones said.
Jones argued as well that T&T has been guilty of not developing better programmes for its teams.
“We’ve always covered the cracks, but we’ve not had, from 1973 to 2006 and even now, any real development going on in T&T. In order for you to be regurgitating talent, you have to create a football factory,” he said.
“If we are not going to get into the modern times of how scientific football is, and how much money is spent to develop young players, we’re going to continue to struggle. It will be a lot harder, but I hope we take a look at it and realise what we need to start doing and there is a lot to do, in terms of coaching education, facilities for clubs.
"For the coaches at these clubs, from senior to youth, our coaches education has to change, development for kids and I think that will change the culture of football in T&T.”