Because neither of these regions have extensive qualifying for their regional cup like Europe does for the Euros, it seems like there is a dead period for these regions in the calendar where they just play friendlies, and the just CONCACAF Nations League will be low quality.

I've always wanted these regions to form a joint competition, and I think the new Nations League format may be the easiest way to do.

The Nations League is just mini leagues with pro/rel of national teams in Europe that is adding some competition during what would've just been friendly dates. If want to know more, you can watch this LINK

There are 51 teams combined in CONCACAF and CONMEBOL. Following the European 4 league format and using FIFA rankings from June, the top league would be divided into 4 groups of 3 from these 12 teams.

Pot 1- Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru
Pot 2- Uruguay, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica
Pot 3- USA, Paraguay, Venezuela, Jamaica

Each team plays each group opponent home and away, so it's only 4 games per team. The winner of each group in the top league goes to a knockout tournament to decide a champion. Last place in each group is replaced by a winner from the league below for the next time. Lower league play would replace however the non-hex teams qualify for the Gold Cup currently.

This post was edited on 7/15/18 at 11:35 pm

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Posted by TomRollTideRitter

Member since Aug 2016

12618 posts

Posted on 7/15/18 at 11:33 pm to TomRollTideRitter

I'm saying do this instead of the just CONCACAF one by the way. The reason I say copy the UEFA one is because I don't think the CONCACAF one has a format yet, or at least I don't know what it is.

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Posted by RedPop4

Santiago de Compostela

Member since Jan 2005

14409 posts

Posted on 7/16/18 at 9:55 am to TomRollTideRitter

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Posted by CelticDog

Member since Apr 2015

42867 posts

Posted on 7/16/18 at 9:30 pm to TomRollTideRitter

Sounds great.

I like your relegation and moving up for countries.

Three of the 2nd pot did much better in wc than two of pot 1 but guys will change over the years so it will work out.

Columbia and Uruguay were semifinalists in 2017 u20.

Sounds great. Probably usa get thrashed but you duplicate the company you keep. Usa will come up the level of play before they get dropped out of pot 3. Maybe have to be Icelandic to stand up to some of that south American fiesta.

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Posted by TN Bhoy

San Antonio, TX

Member since Apr 2010

60589 posts

Posted on 7/16/18 at 9:33 pm to TomRollTideRitter

The Nations League is idiotic.

quote:
Because neither of these regions have extensive qualifying for their regional cup like Europe does for the Euros

CONCACAF does. You just don't realise it because the US normally auto-qualifies.

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Posted by cwil177

Baton Rouge

Member since Jun 2011

28432 posts

Posted on 7/16/18 at 9:40 pm to TN Bhoy

Nations league means less games against quality competition for us.

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Posted by RemouladeSawce

Uranus

Member since Sep 2008

13948 posts

Posted on 7/17/18 at 9:58 am to cwil177

CONMEBOL sides in a proper competition would largely be better competition than UEFA sides tinkering in friendlies. The "average" CONMEBOL side is better than any other confederation by far - way better (and diverse) experience than anything we have in CONCACAF.

It is unfortunate that we do not regularly play teams from other Confederations in competitive environments - as it stands it's WC or Confed or bust. They can be small scale (and they should be because of the loaded schedule), just sucks never playing UEFA or good CAF sides and it mean something.

This post was edited on 7/17/18 at 11:26 am

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Posted by RemouladeSawce

Uranus

Member since Sep 2008

13948 posts

Posted on 7/17/18 at 11:00 am to TomRollTideRitter

quote:
The reason I say copy the UEFA one is because I don't think the CONCACAF one has a format yet, or at least I don't know what it is.

There is a format posted for the inaugural edition

League A is the hex teams + 6 more, resulting in 4 groups of 3. In the absence of the qualifying that is about to take place, if you made those 6 based on CONCACAF ranking today, League A is:

Mexico
USA
Costa Rica
Panama
Honduras
Trinidad & Tobago
Jamaica
Canada
Haiti
El Salvador
Martinique
Cuba

For us group play most years wouldn't be competitive, or at least give us quality competition to push us. Most years we end up with a knockout round of USA/MEX/CRC/Other. And it's not very clear if Costa Rica is going to maintain their recent quality much longer as they were the oldest side in Russia.

League B (in the absense of qualifying)
French Guiana
Guadeloupe
Nicaragua
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Curaçao
Suriname
Antigua and Barbuda
Dominican Republic
Bermuda
Guyana
Belize
Bonaire
Grenada
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Saint Lucia
Barbados

League C
Puerto Rico
Bahamas
Dominica
Aruba
Cayman Islands
Turks and Caicos Islands
Montserrat
U.S. Virgin Islands
Saint Martin
Sint Maarten
Anguilla
British Virgin Islands

The announced aim of the CONCACAF Nations League is primarily to get the lesser sides (Leagues B and C) more games + more games that are competitive. To that end, the Nations League is great and should be an entertaining competition for those sides. But for the "elite" in League A (USA and MEX and others with good current generations) it's just more uninspiring CONCACAF warming up to 2 Gold Cups and another Qualifying cycle playing mediocre sides until late in the competitions.

Optimal solution for the US (and my dreams) is to see the Copa America become a 16 team tournament and open to the best 4-6 sides from CONCACAF.

This post was edited on 7/17/18 at 3:17 pm

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