Jona Yonk Richland, Wash. World Cup qualifying for the CONCACAF (or TFC) region consists of a multiple-phase process in which the smaller countries, which traditionally perform poorly, play each other to determine which teams are eliminated from qualifying and which teams pass to the next stage, in which they play the larger teams such as Mexico, the USA and Costa Rica. This process eliminates the need for many games that the larger countries are almost sure to win. Why doesn’t UEFA follow a similar process? It seems like the larger European powers trounce the smaller countries like San Marino and Malta during every qualifying campaign. Sure, a small country like Cyprus may get an occasional win and even upset one of the larger countries, but they have never kept that up for an entire qualifying campaign. Mike Woitalla: This is a very good question. One that surely surfaces when we see countries like Liechtenstein (population: 32,000) in the thick of qualifying with the likes of Spain. While covering the recent U.S. Cup, I posed the question to Ireland manager Mick McCarthy, who was not in favor of sticking the minnows into a preliminary process. McCarthy told me: ôWhy shouldnÆt they have the right to play the big countries like Germany, Italy or Spain? Whether a country is small or large, the people have the pride in their national teams as I have in mine.ö But perhaps the main reason why The Football Confederation (formerly known as CONCACAF) has preliminary elimination stems from the fact that of its 35 teams, only three reach the finals. ThatÆs one in about 11. Whereas in Europe, 13 of 51 teams — plus a 14th that plays off with an Asian entrant — get a spot. ThatÆs about one in four. So, in Europe, it is possible to evenly distribute the teams into groups that each promise a qualification spot while only requiring the teams to play 10 games during the process. It would be impossible for TFC to divide all its teams into final-round groups. Further elimination games would still be necessary to whittle the number down to three. The United States, in a confederation that does have preliminary elimination, will have played 16 qualifiers on its way to the 2002 finals. Bottom line: The Europeans can afford to place every team at the same starting line, so why not? (If you have a question for a Soccer America Magazine editor, click “Q&A with SA Editors” in the left column of the home page under “Interactive.”)