Last week, beIN Sports’ Phil Schoen reported that the long-rumoured 100th anniversary Copa America to be held in the U.S. in 2016 is, well, no longer a rumour. However, the interesting news from a Canadian perspective centres around what Honduran Football Federation president Rafael Leonardo Callejas told local media (Spanish link) about the qualification process.
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Reports last year from Latin American said Concacaf planned to send six teams to the special edition Copa -- the U.S. and Mexico would get automatic spots, while the next four best finishers at the 2015 Gold Cup would receive the rest. At the time I wrote what that scenario might mean for Canada.
The new plan (at least according to Callejas), is that in addition to the U.S. and Mexico, the winners of the 2014 editions of the Copa Centroamericana and the Caribbean Cup would each receive a spot. The remaining two places would go to the “next two best teams” at the 2015 Gold Cup.
CSN has reached out to the CSA's spokespeople for clarification, bearing in mind that this 2016 Copa America has yet to be officially announced. In case it needs stating: Canada does not participate in either the Copa Centroamericana or the Caribbean Cup. Generally speaking, the former is either won by Costa Rica or Honduras, while the latter goes to Trinidad or Jamaica. This new scenario would put Canada at a disadvantage to its Concacaf rivals who would basically get two chances to qualify
At this point it looks like Canada would have to finish in the top two at the 2015 Gold Cup -- excluding Mexico, the U.S., Costa Rica/Honduras and Trinidad/Jamaica. Clear as mud, right? My best guess is that the men's team would most certainly need to win a quarterfinal at that tournament (the last time that happened was 2007) to secure an appearance in its most prestigious international competition since the 1986 World Cup.