We finally have a qualifying format for the Concacaf World Cup, and the United States Men’s National Team has earned a place in the final qualifying round. Today, Concacaf announced details of how World Cup qualification will work for each of the 35 members who are eligible for the 2022 World Cup.
Concacaf is using the July 16 FIFA World Ranking to determine which teams advance directly to the final qualifying round. Mexico, the USMNT, Costa Rica, Jamaica and Honduras were the top 5 teams in Concacaf according to the ranking, and have been awarded the direct qualification for the final round. Teams 6-35 will play in a couple of qualifying rounds to determine the final 3 teams to be added to the final round. El Salvador, Canada, Curaçao, Panama, Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago are the teams that have been planted in 6 different groups.
Concacaf will have a drawing next month to determine which teams will be in groups with those teams. There will be 6 groups of 5 teams in the first qualifying round, and each team will play 2 home games and 2 away games during the FIFA international match windows of October 2020 and November 2020. The 6 group winners they will advance to the second qualifying round.
In the Second Round, which will take place in March 2021, the group’s 6 winners will be matched to play round-trip matches during that window. The clashes have been predetermined:
Winner of Group A vs. Group F winner
Winner of Group B vs. Group E winner
Winner of Group C vs. Group D winner
The winner of each match will advance to the final qualifying round to join the top 5 CONCACAF teams.
The final round will begin in June 2021 with matches and will continue in September 2021, October 2021, November 2021, January 2022 and March 2022. Each team will play the others at home and away for a total of 14 matches. . This means that the USMNT will have a final opportunity to play Mexico at the Azteca Stadium and organize a World Cup qualifier against its archrivals. The top 3 teams at the end of the Final Round will qualify directly for the World Cup in 2022, while the 4th place team will qualify for the inter-confederation playoffs, which will be in June 2022.
The draw for everything, including the schedule that the USMNT will have in the final round, will be in mid-August. Concacaf has not set a specific date. However, we now know the path the USMNT will have to take to qualify for Qatar 2022.
