Canada has an automatic place in the Gold Cup and this is ridiculous.
They have participated in all but one edition (they withdrew in 1998). From the 11 tournament appearances they have, they have not made it past the group stage in 7 occasions. They are generally the first to go home with some of the smaller Carribean nations.
To be fair, Canada has had some success in the tournament. They are the lone champion in the region outside the US and Mexico. Their 2002 and 2007 semifinal appearances are decent for a hockey crazy nation.
In order to provide a more competitive the tournament, Concacaf should implement one of the following changes:
Option 1: Canada, the fifth country in Central America and the fifth country in the Caribbean should play a pretournament qualification to determine the two remaining qualifiers
- Pros: Add excitement before the tournament and give the Caribbean a chance to prove itself
- Cons: It's likely that the games would not be very exciting and Canada and the Central American country would still qualify
- Pros: Reduce mediocrity of having a 5th place team in Central America qualify. Make the Central American Cup and the Caribbean Cup more meaningful and make Canada prove themselves. Eliminate ridiculous games like Cuba vs Belize
- Cons: Reduces the opportunities of teams to gain experience in major tournaments and the amount of money raised.
