EXTRA EXTRA...The US wins the Gold Cup!!! Hohummm

So the US mens national soccer team won their 5th Gold Cup title yesterday, defeating surprise finalist Panama, 1-0. When is the ticker tape parade? Cover of the New York Times, Sports Illustrated and Time? Okay Okay, I am being a tad harsh. Yes I am a total Euro-snob when it comes to football. I always giggle when I hear the World Cup being called the European Cup, but with Argentina and Brazil. Of course I am also not as football ignorant as I just came across. The international game has benefit with the rise of African nations, such as Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon to name a few. As well as the rise of Asian powers such as South Korea, Japan and Australia. And, the game has benefited from seeing the richest country in the world - the United States - start to put a solid side out for World Cups and other international matches. We should also start seeing nations such as Iraq making more noise in international venues. All this is good for the international game. But back to the Gold Cup.

Reason why I am saying hohummm...is that it has become clear that nations like the United States and Mexico have outgrown the Gold Cup. And really have outgrown the CONCACAF. That is my real ramble. I have written about this before, but after this Gold Cup finals it only reinforces my thinking about the US and Mexico being part of the Gold Cup. I realize that you play the conference you are in. But look to the example of Australia, who realized they had outgrown the Oceania region and moved into Asia. Australia was finding some success in football, getting to World Cups and having aspirations of getting beyond the group stages. However, the nation recognized that only in getting a more challenging region could they grow as a team that could do better at the World Cup.

Could the US and Mexico benefit from changing regions...say join CONEMBOL region.

Think about the celebration after beating Brazil!

Okay okay, I know what fans of the US and Mexico will say...why head to tough region when they are quasi guaranteed a spot at the World Cup by staying with CONCACAF! I mean seriously...the top three nations make it and the fourth plays the first place team from Oceania! But think about the following, how much better for the overall US and Mexican teams being forced to play high pressure games against Brazil or Argentina...going to Uruguay would be better than a match in Jamaica! I know that the US plays some intense games like away to Guatemala, but not sure that is as intense as away to the South American nations. Granted the US and Mexico would not longer be guaranteed a spot at the World Cup, but cutting their teeth on these matches would better in the long run. Of course FIFA would have to redistribute the qualifying spots between CONEMBOL and CONCACAF.

Finally, imagine the benefit for the US and Mexico to play regularly in the Copa America rather than the Gold Cup! Having to play tournaments with the likes of Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile etc rather than Panama and Costa Rica will be a much greater challenge.

I know you have to play the regional tournaments you find yourself in and a title is a title...crap if Les Bleus could win a trophy on a regular basis I would be happy! Well we did win the U20 World Cup!! But for the United States and Mexico to real grow as national teams they need to test themselves with a real qualifying campaign. It will probably never happen...but something that would be great to see. Think about the excitement of hosting Brazil in Columbus for a World Cup qualifier, or seeing Messi and Argentina coming to New York for a qualifier!

CONCACAF takes a step back

A great article from SI about the proposed new World Cup qualification process from CONCACAF. The main take away - with this new system it will be very unlikely to see Mexico v USA matches played during qualifying. Both nations are head and shoulders ahead of all the other CONCACAF nations and will never be paired in the same group. The argument for this format is to give a number of the smaller nations more matches to play and develop their talent pool, a worthy goal but one that seems to be skewed. You want these smaller nations to get more World Cup qualifying games? Then create a pre-qualifier tournament for these nations, for example:

• Take the top 5 CONCACAF nations and they are in the final group.
• The remaining nations are broken into groups - 5 groups of  6 nations. The winners of each group move on.
• The 10 nation group then plays home and away to determine the ranking.
• Top 3 go to World Cup, 4th team goes to playoff.

I realize this might not work from a time perspective but there should be a way to make this work. This would give smaller nations more games that count, while preserving the competitive aspect of CONCACAF qualifiers - aka Mexico v USA.

The real issue for me is that CONCACAF does not need to give the minnows more games but needs to get their big 2 more serious matches. I have always thought CONCACAF should work with South America to merge their qualifiers. I realize this is a pipe dream, but for nations like Mexico and the US, being forced to play regular qualifiers against the likes of Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Chile, Peru, Uruguay and the rest of the South American nations would help their teams develop. As Wahl points out in the article, CONCACAF does not have the equivalent of the European Cup of Nations to bridge World Cups. While I am not convinced the US and Mexico will ever move to the level of Germany, Italy, Brazil and the rest who are legitimate World Cup contenders on a regular basis, the ability to play more serious, more competitive matches on a regular basis are the only ways they will move the needle when it comes to competing on the world stage.

I realize that Gulati will never want to jeopardize the US' ability to qualify every 4 years to the World Cup. As it is currently constructed the US and Mexico are both almost 100% guaranteed to qualify, under the new format they will be 101% guaranteed. Merging with South America will drastically drop that percentage, but it would give those squads more serious international matches and potentially make the US and Mexico legitimate contenders for international silverware. Alas, I am sure that the revenue from attending the globe's biggest sporting event every 4 years is too important to sacrifice for an opportunity to truly develop your program.