Lack of Competitiveness in CONCACAF

There has long been a debate in the US and Mexico over the extent to which the lack of top level opponents within CONCACAF hurts their performance in World Cups and other major international competitions. Both the US and Mexico are pretty much guaranteed qualification to the World Cup and while others like Honduras and Costa Rica can occasionally put up a tough fight, they have trouble maintaining any kind of consistency.

But if this is a problem for CONCACAF's men's national teams, there is at least a little competition at that level. Two tournaments that got started this week got me thinking about just how much worse the situation is at the club level and in women's soccer.

First, the final rounds of the Concacaf Champions League began on Tuesday and once again it looks likely to become another all Mexican affair. It's true that Maraton did get a good home result against UNAM in San Pedro Sula, but they still have a way to go before we can consider them a serious threat to break the Mexican hegemony in this tournament. As for the MLS clubs, most of them got eliminated in the early rounds (as usual) and it will take a miracle for Columbus to pull out a win in its series after having dropped points at home.

We have to go back to 2004 and 2005 to find the last time the Mexicans failed to win the Conca Champions (losing out to Costa Rica's Alajuela and Saprissa in successive years). Since then it's just been a question of which Mexican club takes the tournament more seriously by giving it priority over the domestic league. In practice, this has usually meant a Mexican club towards the bottom of the table that has already given up on making the playoffs.

No wonder CONCACAF has done so poorly in the last few World Club Cups. There is no excuse for not getting at least third place in that tournament, but the last CONCACAF club to do so was Saprissa some five years ago. Can anyone really argue that a thoroughly mediocre Atlante side was the best that the region had to offer last year?

Unfortunately, this situation is unlikely to change as long as the Mexican clubs have no real regional opposition to give the Conca Champions a higher profile. Unfortunately, the top Costa Rican clubs are no longer able to hold on to their better players now that they are much more marketable in Europe and I don't see many signs of the MLS challenging the Mexicans anytime soon. In sum, the situation is pretty bleak.

The second regional tournament that got going this week was the final round of qualifying for the Under-17 Women's World Cup. If the lack of competitiveness in our confederation is a problem for men's soccer, it's even worse for the women.

The US has long dominated women's soccer in CONCACAF, but at least they had some competition in the past from the Canadians. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be so true any longer, at least at the youth level. Canada failed to even qualify for the last U17 and upcoming U20 World Cups. Costa Rica eliminated Canada on both occasions and while its undeniable that the Ticas (and Mexicans) have greatly improved in recent years, no one would consider either one to be powers in women's soccer.

Furthermore, while Canada, Mexico and Costa Rica are not top level opposition, they at least can occasionally give the US a good game. Once you get past those four, there really is nothing else. This point was brought home clearer then ever last night, when I was able to watch the first day of games of this latest qualifying tournament. The final scores really say it all:

US 9, Haiti 0

Costa Rica 7, Cayman Islands 0

Total shots on goal for both Caribbean teams combined was 2 (both by Haiti).

As if this weren't bad enough, tonight's games were almost as lopsided:

Mexico 6, Panama 0

Canada 4, Jamaica 1

So once again it looks like it will be down to the same four teams in the semifinals and I can't see the US having any real trouble taking first place. The American women face no one in CONCACAF that represents any kind of real test of how they'll do against the Europeans and Asians.

But perhaps the situation with women's soccer is not quite so hopeless. Or at least it isn't if other countries in the region can follow Costa Rica's example. Less than a decade ago, the Ticas were also getting regularly trounced by the US and Canada with lopsided scores. To make matters worse, Costa Rica can't count on repatriating girls from the US the way Mexico does (there is only one on this current U17 squad). But the federation could and did go on a major campaign to promote women's soccer by encouraging the formation of youth and high school leagues, helping develop a first division, and perhaps most importantly, using the same approach (and coaches) with the girls U17 and U20 national teams that have been so successful with the U17 and U20 boys (who have managed to make it to at least the second round in 7 out of the last 9 youth world cups to which they have qualified).

All this has been helped by a shift in attitudes that has really been quite amazing. When we first moved down here in the 90's, most Ticos laughed at the very idea of local girls playing soccer. Nowadays, the most popular girls in my son's high school are all on the soccer team.

While it may still be many years before the girls can hope to match the fourth place finish obtained by the boys last year in Egypt, it no longer sounds completely impossible. The U20's will likely go 3 and out again at the upcoming World Cup, but just wait another generation. After all, Costa Rica is even beginning to produce girls who should get at least a solid look from US Division 1 college coaches (beginning with Raquel Rodriguez, the star of both the U17 and U20 national teams).