The 2026 World Cup will be a historic one, since it will have a record number of participants (48) and it will also be held in 3 different countries: the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The FIFA Council that took place in March confirmed two important dates for the next World Cup: The inauguration will be on June 9 and the final will be on July 19.
In that same meeting, the format of the tournament was announced, and it is that with 48 participating teams, there was a doubt as to what the path that the champion had to travel to reach the top and lift the trophy would be like. There will be twelve groups of four teams, the first two of each group will pass and the eight best third-placed teams will also qualify for the round of 16 phase, from there direct elimination matches will be played.
In Argentina, the outlet Clarín decided to see what the outlook for each confederation would be according to the latest update of the Fifa ranking and its elimination formats to “calculate” which would be the teams that would qualify for the World Cup. Would Guatemala have a chance?
The short answer is no, since the elimination format in Concacaf for the 2026 World Cup will allow, without counting the hosts, three fixed places plus two other teams that will go to the playoffs. What would these selections be?
- Costa Rica, position 39.
- Panama, position 58.
- Jamaica ranked 63.
If it were for the Fifa ranking, those would be the ones classified directly (in addition to the United States, Mexico and Canada), while the playoffs would be fought by El Salvador (75) and Honduras (80). whatWhere is Guatemala? The Blue and White would be left out, since it is currently ranked 116, would have to overcome first to Trinidad and Tobago (104), Curaçao (88) and Haiti (87) and to the Catracha team itself before being able to fight for a place in the playoffs.
Luis Fernando Tena is happy in Guatemala but he recalls with frustration that he was not given the opportunity to lead the Mexican national team. ⚽✍
— Deportes_PL (@tododeportes_pl) March 31, 2023
Who would be the others classified according to the Clarín count and the ranking?
conmebol: Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Peru and Chile would be the direct qualifiers, while Ecuador would fight for the playoffs.
Uefa: France, Belgium, England, the Netherlands, Croatia, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Serbia, Wales and Ukraine.
AFC (Asia): Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, the one that would go to the repechage is Oman.
CAF (Africa): Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Mali would fight the playoffs.
OFC (Oceania): New Zealand and the Solomon Islands would be the team that fights for the playoffs.
What rivals would you like the Guatemalan National Team to face? ????⚽????????
— Deportes_PL (@tododeportes_pl) March 30, 2023
On the occasion of qualifying for its first major world cup, the Guatemalan National Team hired the experienced Mexican coach Luis Fernando Tena in November 2021, a strategist who won the gold medal with Mexico at the 2012 London Olympics.
Since he was in charge of the Azul y Blanco, the Mexican coach has fulfilled his first two goals: achieving promotion to League A of the Concacaf Nations League and qualifying for the 2023 Gold Cup. However, the great The objective of the Tena era will be to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, for this, Guatemala will have to face some eliminations where they will not have three of the strongest rivals in the area as they are classified directly by hosting: United States, Mexico and Canada.
The action for the Blue and White towards the 2026 World Cup will begin in June 2024, in the second round of the Concacaf qualifying round.