The Qatar 2022 World Cup could be the first in 28 years without representation from Central American and Caribbean countries, since after six days of the Concacaf Octagonal Elimination, none of the teams from those regions is among the top three in the ranking.
The Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean has three direct spots for the World Cup and a playoff for fourth place that would be played against a Conmebol team, which makes that “half ticket” a very complicated matter.
It was in 1994, the most recent time that there was no Central American or Caribbean representation, when at the World Cup in the United States, Concacaf had the host and Mexico.
Currently, with 8 games to go, almost half a World Cup qualifying round, the leader of the table is Mexico with 14 points, followed by the United States with 11, and Canada with 10, the three North American countries.
At this moment, Panama is in the Repechage place with 8 points and below it are Costa Rica with 6 units, Jamaica and El Salvador with 5 and Honduras in the background with 3.
In Conmebol, the first four classify, which are now Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay. The playoff spot would be Colombia.
Historically Conmebol has only lost two play-offs and it was in 1962 that Mexico beat Paraguay, and in 1978 that Bolivia was overtaken by Hungary.
Uruguay three times, Argentina, Colombia and Chile with one each, have accessed the World Cup via reclassification. One of them in 2010 of the Charrúa against Costa Rica.
And in the immediate future it does not look good for the teams of the Caribbean Sea and those that live below the Suchiate River.
Honduras, said by Carlos Pavón in the TUDN TV broadcast, presents the weakest team in decades remembered.
Costa Rica has a veteran generation of players and is far from its best version and it seems that it would aspire to the Repechage.
El Salvador had the progress of reaching the final instance of Concacaf, but it seems that this is insufficient.
Panama, even with the flight of the team that qualified four years ago to Russia, could be the rival of the Ticos for the “half ticket.”
Jamaica is another team that has had much better moments than the current one.
On the other hand, Canada has its most promising generation, led by Alphonso Davies, and it is in the Octagonal (formerly Hexagonal or Pentagonal), for the first time since 1998 and seeks to qualify for a World Cup for the second time, after its participation. in 1986.
The United States did not go to Russia 2018, after not missing a world tournament since 1986 and plans to return with the squad that Greg Berhalter commands with players such as Christian Pulisic, Serghino Dest and Timothy Weah.
Mexico, which has not stopped qualifying since 1994 to date, is also experiencing a generational change, but it seems that it will be enough to be in its eighth consecutive World Cup and seventeenth in total.
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