This four team zone needs to go

[Assasin]

As proven it can be very competitive while certain teams get walk over zones. you need to be playing more games for qualifiers.

[Lazie]

As proven it can be very competitive while certain teams get walk over zones. you need to be playing more games for qualifiers.

Suh whats the recommendation? Another ite asked if we (CONCACAF) should adopt the 10 team group like CONMEBOL. Our region has alot of teams but its the usual suspects that are always pushing for a position in the hex.

Some might say its because we get knocked out ... maybe, but when I look at the other groups I seriously have to ask how we draw such a bad card.

Personally I see nothing wrong with the current system. We just got pipped because (1) we didn't score enough goals and (2) Honduras beat Canada in Canada.

Tough pill fi swallow .... but nuh blame the system To be the best yuh simply affi beat the rest.

[Warlord]

the curent system is very fair and more than adequate in our region. Sure the group was very tough this cycle but that had alot to do with our WC seeding in our zone than anything else.

Jamaica didnt qualify for the hex in '05 had a poor showing in friendlies in '06 and didnt qualify for the Gold Cup in '07. Nor did we play alot of games either so that affected our seeding in the WC draw.

[Assasin]

Lazie some how some teams always get the easy zone. Not because they have high ranking or because they are good but they always get the easy zone.

How is it 3 of the highest ranking teams in the region Canada, Honduras and Mexico end up in the same zone? While we have nobody else to blame but ourselves, I think 2 groups or everybody play fi them life is better. Check the June ranking or a little before Mexico was ranked number one, Honduras number 3 and Canada number 4 and they all ended up in the same group. Jamaica was ranked 9th in the region.

How all these teams with such high ranking ended up in the same group while some other groups had two teams ranked way below us?

[Assasin]

read the post up above? We were never ranked more than nine.

Canada and Honduras were ranked 3 and 4 in the region while Mexico was ranked one so explain that.

[Lazie]

Lazie some how some teams always get the easy zone. Not because they have high ranking or because they are good but they always get the easy zone.

How is it 3 of the highest ranking teams in the region Canada, Honduras and Mexico end up in the same zone? While we have nobody else to blame but ourselves, I think 2 groups or everybody play fi them life is better. Check the June ranking or a little before Mexico was ranked number one, Honduras number 3 and Canada number 4 and they all ended up in the same group. Jamaica was ranked 9th in the region.

How all these teams with such high ranking ended up in the same group while some other groups had two teams ranked way below us?

Some groups? Yuh realize that one group had the USA, T&T and Cuba? None of those teams were ranked below us.

I don't see nothing is wrong with the current system.

[Assasin]

Lazie we were the 4th team in the group.

Ranking number 2 7 10 and another in the group is not the same as ranking number 1,3,4 in the region togather.

[Lazie]

Lazie we were the 4th team in the group.

Ranking number 2 7 10 and another in the group is not the same as ranking number 1,3,4 in the region togather.

It simple Sass, yuh play the cards you're dealt. If we had qualified, no one would be questioning the system. We need to develop a winning habit on the road. I was one that thought that winning all our home games and grabbing a draw or two would get us through. We won our home games, drew one on the road and still didn't make it. Now we need fi guh inna boy backyard and eat him food.

[Assasin]

I agree with all what you say but I still think there is politics in the group selection.

For one Trinidad will never be placed in a group of death. The US also always avoid it. This goes for everything even in the youth group stages.

[Warlord]

Assassin... u need to understand that in the semifinal draw is made based on WC seedings in the region. I wont get into the full details but the grouping is based on Pots A, B, C for example.

The semifinal pot draws are based on how teams performed and finished the last WC cycle and what transpired in friendlies and tournmanents ( Gold Cup) in the region thereafter. It isnt based on FIFA Coca Cola rankings.

It certainly explains why USA, Mexico, T&T and Costa Rica got byes in the first round. The second round is where they get knockout ties. From that homne and away series, the top 3 teams in teh region form the hex again is put into Pots A, B and C. Mexico, USA, Costa Rica. The criteria for the draw after that is a bit random in terms of who ends up in another group based on the remaining teams that advanced from tha knockout stages.

You will almost never see USA and Mexico in the semifinal round of any group unless either one of those teams finish 4th or lower in the hexagonal in any given cycle.

[Warlord]

For one Trinidad will never be placed in a group of death. The US also always avoid it. This goes for everything even in the youth group stages.

Not true at all. In the semifinal round of WCQ for Japan/Korea, T&T was drawn in the "Group of Death" that cycle. The group of death that cycle was Mexico/Canada/T&T/Panama. If you recall Canada won the Gold Cup title that year and were favourites with Mexico to advance out of that group. T&T won the group ahead of Mexico eliminating Canada but finishing last in the hexagonal in '01.

In the case of team USA, the US has only avoided the group of death because they consistently have finished either 1st or 2nd the last few cycles. If they were to finish 3rd or lower this cycle there is a very big possibility that they may get drawn in a group of death in 2012.