The World Cup qualifying draw: Canada's road through CONCACAF

In terms of scale, nothing compares with the competition and following that are characteristic of the FIFA World Cup. As such, it was no surprise that a lot of hype followed the draw procedure for the preliminary matches for this tournament. Through all of the pomp and circumstance, countries from Asia, Africa, Europe and North America were drawn into groups and match-ups that will play a large part in determining which nations qualify for the next World Cup. Over 200 nations belong to FIFA, but only 31 of them will join South Africa at the global stage in three years.

As a fan of the Canadian national team, the qualifying draw in the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) was deemed the most significant. Here is how the draw worked out for nations in the North American region.

Stages One and Two

The 22 lowest-ranking nations in CONCACAF were drawn into match-ups for the first round of qualifying. The 11 winners of this stage and St. Vincent and the Grenadines will play against the 12 highest-ranking nations in Stage Two. The 12 winners from Stage Two will advance to Stage Three.

Each match-up in the first two stages of qualifying in CONCACAF will be determined by a two-game, home-and-away playoff, in which aggregate goals will be the primary tiebreaker. Should a match-up be tied after the second leg, away goals, extra time and penalty kicks will be used as subsequent tiebreakers.

Match-ups:

Group 1A:
Dominica v. Barbados
USA v. Winner

Group 1B:
Turks and Caicos Islands v. St. Lucia
Guatemala v. Winner

Group 1C:
Bermuda v. Cayman Islands
Trinidad and Tobago v. Winner

Group 1D:
Aruba v. Antigua and Barbuda
Winner v. Cuba

Group 2A:
Belize v. St. Kitts and Nevis
Winner v. Mexico

Group 2B:
Bahamas v. British Virgin Islands
Jamaica v. Winner

Group 2C:
Dominican Republic v. Puerto Rico
Honduras v. Winner

Group 2D:
Canada v. St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Group 3A:
US Virgin Islands v. Grenada
Winner v. Costa Rica

Group 3B:
Suriname v. Montserrat
Winner v. Guyana

Group 3C:
El Salvador v. Anguilla
Panama v. Winner

Group 3D:
Nicaragua v. Netherlands Antilles
Haiti v. Winner

Stage Three: Semi-Final

The 12 winners from Stage Two will be placed into three groups of four teams for the semi-final stage of qualifying. Teams will play a total of six games in this stage – one home game and one away game against each group opponent. The top two teams from each group will advance to Stage Four.

Group 1:
Winner of 1A
Winner of 1B
Winner of 1C
Winner of 1D

Group 2:
Winner of 2A
Winner of 2B
Winner of 2C
Winner of 2D

Group 3:
Winner of 3A
Winner of 3B
Winner of 3C
Winner of 3D

Stage Four: Final

The top two teams from each group in Stage Three will combine to form a single group of six nations for the final round of qualifying in CONCACAF. Teams will play a total of ten games in this stage – one home game and one away game against each group opponent. The top three teams will advance to the 2010 World Cup, while the fourth-placed team will play in the CONCACAF/CONMEBOL playoff.

Final Group:
Winner of Group 1
Winner of Group 2
Winner of Group 3
Runner up of Group 1
Runner up of Group 2
Runner up of Group 3

CONCACAF/CONMEBOL Playoff

The fourth-placed team from CONCACAF (North, Central America and the Caribbean) will play against the fifth-placed team from CONMEBOL (South America) in a two-game, home-and-away playoff. The winner from this stage will advance to the World Cup.

Canada’s role in World Cup qualifying

Canada received a relatively tough draw from FIFA. Although it has a bye through Stage One, all of the subsequent stages will be difficult for Canada.

Canada will begin its qualifying campaign in Stage Two, where the red-and-white will play against St. Vincent and the Grenadines. As of May 2007, St. Vincent happened to be the highest-ranked nation that was not in the top-12 of CONCACAF, meaning that Canada’s first two qualifying games will be tougher than expected.

Should Canada defeat St. Vincent and the Grenadines, it will play in a semi-final group that most likely will include Mexico, Honduras and Jamaica. This will be an extremely tough group to advance out of, as Mexico, Honduras and Jamaica were the top-seeded nations in Pots A, B and C of the qualifying draw, respectively. Canada has struggled to beat all three of those nations at some point, so this round of matches will be an excellent test to see how the red-and-white fares under intense pressure.

Despite the tough nature of the draw for Canada, the northern nation still has a good chance at qualifying for the next World Cup. With the best squad that this team has seen in years, Canada may actually exorcise its demons from previous World Cup qualifying runs. Only three nations from North, Central America and the Caribbean are guaranteed spots in the World Cup finals, but Canada has the skill and talent necessary to be one of those three nations.