Has CONCACAF really improved enough to justify their extended World Cup slots, or has the competitive level stayed the same and really only benefited from FIFA politics?
By Andrew Dixon
MIAMI, FL (Nov 15, 2008) USSoccerPlayers -- While Major League Soccer fans will spend most of next week trying to figure out while their team isn't in the final, Wednesday night should be an exception. It is, of course, the final match day in the preliminary stages of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying.
Three spots are still up for grabs in next year's Hexagonal. Costa Rica has absolutely sailed through without dropping any points with El Salvador coming in right behind them. The US, of course, is also already through to the Hex. The T&T match last month and next Wednesday's game against Guatemala bring in guys looking for to impress for next year.
After that? Assuming Mexico doesn't lose by like 10 goals, they'll be in, followed by two of a host of respected CONCACAF sides such as T&T, Honduras, Jamaica and Guatemala. At least respected in these parts.
It's no secret that CONCACAF's reputation is not very high outside of the region, and while it's not as bad as say Oceania, I doubt anyone's staying up late in Madrid to see if Honduras beats Mexico.
The question before this Grown Man today is whether CONCACAF has improved from, say, the '98 '02 and '06 editions to the extent that the teams that qualify from this region have the potential to make an impact in South Africa.
Can I be real for a second? Three teams have pretty much dominated CONCACAF for the past ten years: Costa Rica, the United States and Mexico. Going in to qualifying, it's basically been a foregone conclusion that these three teams were booking tickets to whatever country was hosting the Cup.
The lone exception was Jamaica's breakthrough in '98 when they came in third behind Mexico and the US, respectively. Yet all of their successes within the region have not translated into deep forays into the tournament. The US can point to the 2002 World Cup and their respectable but unexpected run to the quarterfinals.
Before '02, the US last advanced from the group stage when they hosted in 1994. Mexico, despite its superb qualifying record always stumbles at the Round of 16 stage, including that memorable 2-0 loss to the United States in 2002. Costa Rica, after advancing to the Round of 16 in their maiden appearance in 1990 haven't gotten past the group stage since. Though, to be fair, they were grouped with two semifinalists in 2002.
So one could make the argument that CONCACAF doesn't properly prepare its teams to adequately compete in the Big Show every four years. Mexican fans have been saying this for decades.
When we consider whether CONCACAF has gotten stronger one has to consider not the majority of teams that will be eliminated by next Thursday morning (sorry Haiti, Canada) but rather the international experience of the teams that will be in the Hex or will just miss out. How do they compare over the past few qualifying cycles.
For example, the US drew heavily from MLS rosters for the '98 World Cup with only six of the 23 playing oversees. While some of the MLS players like Eddie Pope, Frankie Hejduk and Cobi Jones acquitted themselves quite well, certainly the US demonstrated a lack of international pedigree. By 2002 they had more international experience through players like Brad Friedel, Tony Sanneh and of course Claudio Reyna and John O'Brien all of whom were quite instrumental in the US' quarterfinal run. The '06 side was of course international heavy as will be the '10 side.
Mexico, has long drawn most of their players from their domestic league, no question the strongest in the region. However, even Mexico is starting to include foreign based players like Carlos Vela (Manchester City), Rafael Marquez (FC Barcelona) and Giovanni Dos Santos. Costa Rica has always had a mix of foreign based stars like Paulo Wanchope and Hernan Medford with other players like Walter Centeno who has primarily plied his trade in Costa Rica.
Where you are really starting to see the greater international experience is with some of the other sides still attempting to make the final six.
Honduras' David Suazo is making a quite a name for himself in Italy and is currently on loan at Benfica. Hendry Thomas is reportedly headed to Wigan.
Trinidad and Tobago have long had players overseas in various levels of British football in Shaka Hislop, Dwight York, Russell Latapy, Dennis Lawrence, Carlos Edwards, Kenwyne Thomas and Chris Birch.
Jamaica relied heavily upon foreign based players during their run to the 1998 World Cup and most Reggae Boyz remain so through players like Ricardo Gardner, Ricardo Fuller and MLS's Tyrone Marshall.
Guatemala and El Salvador may be the only team with Hex-and -beyond aspirations without any European based players, their most successful exports being Carlos Ruiz and Eliseo Quintanilla, respectively.
So clearly, various CONCACAF sides are fielding teams with more international experience than they were ten, even six years ago, strengthening the region. Will it lead to better results at a World Cup?
European success has been hit or miss, even for players from the US and Mexico. Remember Jared Borgetti's brief stay in the EPL? Kikin Fonseca's in Portugal? With the others, save for Trinidad and Tobago, it's even more rare to players go to Europe, let alone make their mark.
No one is expecting CONCACAF to catch up to Europe or South America in terms of producing quality sides that will regularly compete at World Cups in the near future. However, this Grown Man sees a steady improvement due to that international exposure. It's been said that the world of football is growing smaller as clubs are finding players from all corners. CONCACAF is benefiting from that and we should see the results on the biggest stage.
Then again, hey, all this is just One Grown Man's Opinion.
Andrew Dixon is a soccer writer based in Miami and a weekly columnist for USSoccerPlayers. Contact him at: golnoir@golnoir.net
