Concacaf is a top-heavy region, and there’s no appetite within or without for a World Cup qualifying format that involves the U.S. At the moment, the sixth highest-ranked Concacaf team is El Salvador, which is 65th in the world. turned the corner in 1990, only seven have qualified at all. That’s double the allotment, and to get a sense of how much that’ll test the region’s depth, consider that only five of Concacaf’s 41 eligible members have advanced to more than one World Cup. From 2026, World Cups will have 48 teams, including at least six from Concacaf (a playoff place or two will be up for grabs as well).
Something new or similar based on continental championships like the Gold Cup-or even events like the Nations League-now seems more likely than a biennial World Cup.īut however those compromises shake out, one key change already is certain. The Confederations Cup was a fun and mostly harmless event that gave national teams-especially those outside Europe-a valuable extra opportunity to test themselves against unfamiliar opposition. That tournament never materialized, however, meaning FIFA just clumsily yielded that space in the calendar.
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After that, the World Cup’s expansion from 32 teams to an unwieldy 48, plus the potential increased frequency proposed by FIFA, will require a streamlined qualifying procedure that likely will be designed to keep the regional heavyweights apart. Both will advance automatically to the 2026 tournament co-hosted by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Change is on the horizon, and all indications are that these upcoming games could very well be the last World Cup qualifiers between the pair. For three decades, the U.S.-Mexico World Cup qualifiers have provided the pulsating rhythm to a rivalry that was once so one-sided and lifeless.Īll of this matters more than ever this week because following Friday’s game and then March’s return engagement in Mexico City, the rivalry is almost surely going to lose a large chunk of that partisan pulse. It creates a colorful context for the sort of memories that bring a sport to life. That’s the beauty of a true home-and-home.