What an amazing World Cup so far for the CONCACAF teams. We could not have asked for a better movie script. If this had been a pitch for a movie in Hollywood, the producer might have laughed to death. Of course, the movie would have very likely starred Mexican goalkeeper Memo Ochoa.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we are on the verge of a CONCACAF Revolution.
CONCACAF has four teams playing in Brazil: Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras and the United States. Out of these, Costa Rica has already moved into the round of 16 (a 1-0 win over powerhouse Italy), Mexico is very close to advancing (El Tri just needs a draw against a tough Croatia team) and the U.S. chances are good as well (they defeat Portugal and they’re in, but a draw would still be good news).
Even Honduras gave a valiant effort last night against Ecuador, after imploding against France.
All of these results are great news for soccer fans and soccer businesses in North America. If more and more competitive teams from the region managed to show great results and advance in tough groups to the next round, it will translate into more attention to the confederation. No longer will it be called “CONCACrap.”
Now, if we could only separate the Caribbean from CONCACAF into a separate confederation, to see more Caribbean teams reach the World Cup finals more often. That, however, might be asking too much.
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Edwin Jusino is the Editor-in-Chief of the daily online soccer newspaper, FutbolBoricua.net. He’s been writing about soccer since 2008, filing reports for the CONCACAF Champions League, CFU Club Championship, Puerto Rico Soccer League, Puerto Rico National League, Brazil 2014 CONCACAF Qualifiers, U20 Men’s World Cup Qualifiers, CFU Nations Cup and various international friendlies of the Puerto Rico National Team, including the August 15, 2012 friendly against Spain.
