The way soccer nations in CONCACAF qualify for the World Cup could be about to change if CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani has his way, but United States men’s national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann would prefer to keep things the way they currently are structured.
Essentially, Montagliani wants to provide an opportunity for smaller nations to be able to have a chance to compete for a spot in the World Cup by spreading out the competition. This, in theory, avoids smaller nations having to wait longer stretches of time to play important games, thus being able to attract more sponsors to help develop their programs.
“We need to be a bit more all-encompassing,” Montahliani explained recently. “We’re looking at how we balance competitions with our commercial (priorities) without putting too much stress on already too busy calendars as well.”
Klinsmann, on the other hand, prefers the current model because it pushes the United States to go against tougher competition earlier in qualifying.
“What is our lesson from Copa America? Our lesson from Copa America is if we want to get our program better we have to play with the best,” Klinsmann said. “In youth soccer terms, you need to play up. [If] you have an 11-year-old super talent, don’t play him with the 11-year-olds, Play him with the 12-year-olds. For us, if we want to get better, we need to play with the best teams out there from South America or from Europe.”
Klinsmann may not have the support from other CONCACAF nations though, other than perhaps Mexico. Regardless, Klinsmann feels he knows what is best for his squad moving forward, and that is playing the best possible competition it can as often as possible.
“I’m not saying we need to join UEFA or we need to join CONMEBOL, but for us the eternal topic is the need to get the best games in order to improve our players. So if we can have every two years a Copa America, we need to let a [biennial] Gold Cup go.”
