Speid: New Gold Cup format makes for more ‘battle-hardened’ teams

Reggae Boyz coach Rudolph Speid has welcomed the new Concacaf Gold Cup format, saying it will give teams more matches and aid their development.

However, he is disappointed that the region’s governing body did not follow FIFA’s lead by expanding the number of teams in the tournament.

Concacaf recently revised the format for its premier competition, changing the first round from four groups of four teams to two groups of eight.

Each team will play four matches in the group stage, with the top four from each group advancing to the quarter-finals. From that stage, the tournament will be played as a straight knockout competition until a champion is crowned.

Although it represents just one extra group-stage game, Speid said he fully supports the increase in matches.

“I like the idea of getting more games. Anything that helps the developing nations play more games is a good thing. I don’t know if I’m a fan of the Swiss formula but it will make life very interesting.”

His main concern is that teams will not face every opponent in their group.

“You are in a group of eight but you only play four games. I like the idea that you play more games, but I don’t like the idea that you are in a group and you don’t play everybody, because one bad result could really throw you off.”

Nevertheless, Speid noted that with FIFA moving towards broader participation in its global tournaments, he expected Concacaf to take a similar approach by increasing the number of teams in the Gold Cup.

“I didn’t think they (Concacaf) go far enough based on what is happening in the world, where there is more participation. They should have added more teams. Concacaf should have at least 20 teams in the Gold Cup.

“So I am disappointed that they decided to take only 16 teams out of 41, when they could have easily added others teams to make it about 20. So I am disappointed, it’s not more teams,” he commented.

Under the previous format, the top two teams in each group were typically joined by two lower-ranked nations, often giving the stronger teams a greater chance of advancing.

Speid, however, is not concerned about the prospect of facing several highly ranked teams in the same tournament, arguing that such experiences are essential to the team’s long-term development ahead of World Cup qualifying.

“I don’t know if it balances out, because you could go to a Gold Cup and don’t get a chance to play any of the top teams and you still drop out.

“One of the thing about development is, you have to identify the gap between you and the top teams and see if you can close it.

“If you keep going to the Gold Cup and not playing any of the top teams, it probably doesn’t help you in your development; and that is why I am not so much for us not playing everybody.

“I am wary of just becoming a seeded team, so we don’t play hard teams. Good development means you should be able to play anybody in front of you. I am not one of them running down to say I am a seeded team right now,” he stated.

“If you are talking about World Cup qualifiers, I would be glad to be seeded right now. But at this particular point in time, we should be looking to play as many games and against top oppositions. So our players will be battle-hardened, battle-tested, and know where the gaps are and how much we have to improve.”

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com