A proposal for the non-World Cup tournament
Here’s how we’d divvy the pots up for tournament draw:
Pot 1: Chile, Italy, The Netherlands, USA (host)
Pot 2: Ivory Coast, N. Ireland, Ghana, Turkey (or Peru, if New Zealand qualifies for the WC*)
Pot 3: Greece, Paraguay, Czech Republic, Honduras (or Turkey, if New Zealand qualifies for the WC*)
Pot 4: Ecuador, Ireland, Cameroon, New Zealand (or Honduras, if New Zealand qualifies for the WC*)
*Peru and New Zealand are currently in a qualification playoff for the final 2018 World Cup spot
Many detractors from the idea point to the potential that national teams will not have star players available, so we would limit the rosters to U-23 teams, with three age exemptions.
What do you think? Would you watch this?