The competitive consequence for the sporting landscape due to the Covid-19 situation continued yesterday, as regional confederation, CONCACAF following discussions with world governing body FIFA, has opted to shelf the World Cup Qualifiers until March 2021.
This was disclosed by an official release from the entity yesterday. According to the correspondence, the decision was mutually agreed upon by CONCACAF and FIFA following deliberations, which also involved other stakeholders on the topic of resuming competitive football in the region.
The release elaborated, “Concacaf has held recent discussions with its member associations, FIFA and other stakeholders as the confederation continues to plan for the resumption of its competitions across the region. Following those discussions, Concacaf and FIFA have jointly agreed that the Concacaf Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ will not be played in the FIFA match windows of October or November 2020, and will instead begin with the first round in the FIFA match window of March 2021.”
The communication stated that the current health crisis within the region, presents a formidable challenge in the pursuit of resuming competitive football in the future. According to the release, further issues such as travel restrictions and quarantine requirements are a direct result of the ongoing health situation, which inhibits the recommencement of international play.
The release added, “Many parts of the region continue to have very challenging public health situations, and that has been a key factor in this decision. Additionally, several countries across the confederation have travel restrictions and quarantine requirements, which would make international football involving 30 national teams extremely difficult.”
The correspondence further disclosed that the regional organization will engage FIFA on the process of fashioning and finalizing a new international match table to commence the first round in March 2021. This will be communicated to the relevant entities.
“Concacaf will now work with FIFA to finalise a new schedule, beginning with the First Round in March 2021, which will be communicated in due course”, the release concluded. Guyana was drawn in group-F in the first stage of the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers. The Golden Jaguars were placed with traditional rival Trinidad and Tobago, St. Kitts and Nevis, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas.
They were slated to commence their path to Qatar on October 8th away to Trinidad and Tobago. Slated to follow was a home fixture against Bahamas on the 13th. Meanwhile, the Golden Jaguars were pegged to compete in November away to St. Kitts and Nevis on the 13th before concluding against Puerto Rico on home soil four days later.
Guyana’s best showing in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers occurred in the 2014 edition, as they romped to the third stage of qualifying. This is the penultimate section of the confederation’s qualification process. Upon the conclusion of the first round, the second Stage will consist of the respective group winners facing off in a home and away series. The eventual victors will advance to the final round which will consist of eight teams. Following the conclusion of the final round, the top three teams will qualify to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The fourth placed finisher will contest the Confederation Playoff.
