Details are still sketchy and no release has been made by FIFA but apparently Bahamas have withdrawn from 2014 qualifying. No reason has been provided but it appears confirmed via the following tweet from CONCACAF:
CONCACAF CONCACAF
CONCACAF CONCACAF
Bahamas has withdrawn from 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifying. Group 3 will now consist of 3 teams: Panama, Dominica and Nicaragua.
All games involving Bahamas have been canceled and Group 3 in CONCACAF is now a 3-team group. It is not believed that the match schedule will otherwise be amended.
I'll have the Group 3 primer up Wednesday and hopefully can provide more details about this at that time.
EDIT: Concacaf press release on Bahamas' withdrawal:
http://www.concacaf.com/page/WCQ/NewsDetail/0,,12813~2426184,00.html
For those not wishing to click the link, the National Stadium in Nassau is still undergoing renovations and will not be ready to host international matches in the immediate future. As a result, Bahamas is withdrawing rather then incurring the extra costs of playing their home legs in a different country.
I understand the rationale behind withdrawing but don't necessarily agree with it. From a cost perspective, 6 road games is a burden for a nation like Bahamas which does not have a lot of money to invest in sport. That being said, withdrawing so you don't have to play 3 extra road games and save money is really a slap in the face to your team. We think you guys would do great and we want to get as far as we can but airfare/hotel/fees for a few extra games? Sorry guys, maybe next time. I'd personally feel a little cheated by my federation if I were a Bahamian player.
As mentioned earlier, all Bahamas' games have been canceled and it is now a 3-team group. The teams will still play a double round-robin, there will just be 6 games overall instead of 12. Match schedule should remain the same, but on each of the 6 matchdays only one game in the group will be contested as opposed to two.
All games involving Bahamas have been canceled and Group 3 in CONCACAF is now a 3-team group. It is not believed that the match schedule will otherwise be amended.
I'll have the Group 3 primer up Wednesday and hopefully can provide more details about this at that time.
EDIT: Concacaf press release on Bahamas' withdrawal:
http://www.concacaf.com/page/WCQ/NewsDetail/0,,12813~2426184,00.html
For those not wishing to click the link, the National Stadium in Nassau is still undergoing renovations and will not be ready to host international matches in the immediate future. As a result, Bahamas is withdrawing rather then incurring the extra costs of playing their home legs in a different country.
I understand the rationale behind withdrawing but don't necessarily agree with it. From a cost perspective, 6 road games is a burden for a nation like Bahamas which does not have a lot of money to invest in sport. That being said, withdrawing so you don't have to play 3 extra road games and save money is really a slap in the face to your team. We think you guys would do great and we want to get as far as we can but airfare/hotel/fees for a few extra games? Sorry guys, maybe next time. I'd personally feel a little cheated by my federation if I were a Bahamian player.
As mentioned earlier, all Bahamas' games have been canceled and it is now a 3-team group. The teams will still play a double round-robin, there will just be 6 games overall instead of 12. Match schedule should remain the same, but on each of the 6 matchdays only one game in the group will be contested as opposed to two.
No comments:
Post a Comment