The ‘Road to Qatar’ for a place in the prestigious 2022 FIFA World Cup will be clearly defined today, as regional confederation CONCACAF, will stage its official qualifying draw for its respective member associations from 1:00pm.
The draw which is to be conducted online in Miami, features the federation’s 30 lowest ranked nations vying for an opportunity to secure one of the coveted 3.5 qualifying berths assigned to the region. Due to the ongoing pandemic, CONCACAF has opted to alter the qualification process, which will comprise only three rounds.
The teams, which were seeded based on the FIFA World Ranking of 16th July 2020, will be drawn into six groups of five. The Golden Jaguars sits in Pot-3 which also includes the likes of Grenada, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Bermuda and Belize. Pot-1, the highest ranked nations in the draw, contains Canada, Curaçao, Panama, El Salvador, Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago.
Meanwhile, Pot-2 consists of Antigua and Barbuda, Guatemala, St Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, while St Lucia, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Montserrat, Dominica and Cayman Islands comprise Pot-4. The lowest ranked teams make up Pot-5. They are Bahamas, Aruba, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands and Anguilla.
Guyana will commence their campaign against a Pot-1 nation in October before matching skills with a Pot-5 unit in the final match of this period. In the November window, the Golden Jaguars will oppose a Pot-2 side before concluding their campaign against a Pot-4 outfit.
According to an official release from CONCACAF, “The six teams from Pot 1, including 2018 FIFA World Cup participant Panama, will be pre-seeded to positions A1, B1, C1, D1, E1 and F1. The highest ranked team in Pot 1, El Salvador, will occupy position A1, while the lowest ranked team in Pot 1, Trinidad and Tobago, will occupy position F1. The draw will continue by identifying groups for teams in Pots 2, 3, 4 and 5. The position which each team occupies in a group is determined based on the pot from which it is drawn. For example, teams from Pot 2 will be placed in position 2 of each group, teams from Pot 3 in position 3 of each group and so on. Teams drawn from each pot will be allocated to groups sequentially: A to F. The first team drawn will be placed in Group A, the next team drawn will be placed in Group B and so forth until Group F.”
Upon the conclusion of the first stage of qualifiers, the respective winner from each pool, will advance to the second round. This will be hosted in March 2021 and will be played utilizing a two legged series between the respective group winners from the first round.
Group-A will face-off with group-F, while group-B is slated to oppose group-E and group-C will oppose group-D. The three victors of the aforesaid encounters will progress to the final round of qualifiers scheduled for June 2021. The final stage will consist of eight teams, five of whom are ranked 1-5 on the confederation’s standings.
They are Mexico, USA, Costa Rica, Jamaica and Honduras. The eventual top three will clinch berths to the 2022 World Cup. The fourth place side will feature in a Confederation Playoff.
