Results in a strange tournament

The 2025 League Cup is happening, and I have been watching some of the matches in a strange tournament that officially is a "friendly" tournament, but the winner qualifies for the CONCACAF Champions Cup, also despite the fact that the tournament is not sponsored by CONCACAF.

The tournament started in 2019 as a confrontation between the MLS and the Liga MX. 18 teams from each league participate and only play teams from the other league, three matches, with three points for a win, two points for a win on penalty kicks (it goes straight to penalty kicks if it ends in a tie), and one point for a tie (so you keep it if you lose on penalty kicks). The top eight teams, four from each league, then progress to play-off quarterfinals.

Yesterday the league stage ended with two top teams, firstly the Mexican champions from Toluca, and secondly Seattle Sounders, who won three straight matches, one a 7-0 destruction of the CONCACAF Champions Cup winners Cruz Azul. Besides Toluca, Pachuca and Tigres the Mexican sides have appeared very weak indeed; mighty America only managed three ties against Real Salt Lake, Minnesota United and Portland Timbers, while other sides than Cruz Azul also suffered big defeats to MLS sides such as Necaxa, Atlas and Santo Laguna. Regarding the latter I watched their 0-4 defeat against an LA Galaxy side with the German veteran star Marco Reus in midfield, and frankly 0-4 was too little in a match where Santos Laguna looked more like a Danish 3rd division side, and on top of that got two well-deserved red cards.

What Santos Laguna showed was perhaps the worst side of Mexican football.

While MLS sides did well overall, there was not much difference between the top four teams, amongst which Messi's Inter Miami ended on second place. In their last match they also proved better than the Mexico City side Pumas UNAM, who may have gone ahead, but then were vastly outplayed by a Miami side with Luis Suarez and Rodrigo de Paul as goalscorers and architects of the goals. I must admit that I have had reserves against Miami, but this was one of the best matches I have seen them play, and are really worth following.

The quarterfinals are in a couple of weeks, and fully replace the league matches in both leagues. All this said, it is more a comparative tournament between two leagues, perhaps more valuable for MLS to show the significant advances that the league is going through. 

CONCACAF likelihood

Although all teams can still theoretically qualify in the CONCACAF Octagonal for the three direct spots for Qatar 2022, it appears more and more likely who the three teams will be, and who will be out after the matches played yesterday.

Canada remains on first spot and is a likely participant in Qatar after defeating Honduras 0-2 in Tegucigalpa. Honduras in the meantime, with three points only, takes the last spot among the eight teams. USA trails Canada by one point after defeating El Salvador 1-0 in Columbus, Ohio, in a match that proved more difficult than expected for the USA. El Salvador is on seventh spot with only 6 points, but they played well, and if they start scoring more goals they would be more competitive.

Mexico has suffered, and suffered yesterday against Jamaica as they were down 1-0 with only 6 minutes to go, but two quick goals gave them a victory, and they remain on third spot, only two points behind Canada. 

That is who I think will qualify in CONCACAF: Canada, USA and Mexico. The order may change a bit, specially when USA and Canada face one another this weekend.

The fourth spot (which gives a play-off) is Panamá's right now, with 14 points. But after Costa Rica defeated them 1-0 yesterday, Costa Rica creeps up to 12 points, and may still take the spot from the Panameños. Both teams have some difficult matches ahead for them, but be sure that both will fight hard for the play-off spot!

Canada Number 1 (!)

"Canada number 1" is something I have never said before, but it is the truth in the CONCACAF region´s qualifiers, where the top three qualify directly for Qatar, while the fourth gest a play-off. Although everyone who has been watching Canada lately knows that the team, captained by the phenomenal Alphonse Davies from Bayern Munich, is to be reckoned with, their rise culminated yesterday with a 2-1 victory over Mexico, the team that has historically always dominated CONCACAF. Canada already tied 1-1 in Mexico City, and recent victories over Costa Rica and Panama has put them on top, and we should all be looking forward to a clash between USA and Canada, going for first spot. 

Mexico, traditionally dominant in CONCACAF has fallen to third place after their two defeats to USA and Canada respectively, with 14 points, alongside Panama on fourth spot, also with 14 points. That said, it appears that the top four in CONCACAF is taking shape: after defeating El Salvador 2-1, Panama and Mexico are five points clear of Costa Rica on fifth place. Panama, coached by the Spanish-Dane Thomas Christiansen, are looking for their second World Cup in a row, and have already played some epic matches to defeat the USA, and coming from behind to defeat both Honduras and El Salvador. 

My prediction is that the CONCACAF will end as its stands, with Mexico, USA and Canada qualifying, and Panama going to the play-offs. 

 In the meantime, I should say something about El Salvador, because it is the country in which I am currently residing. El Salvador´s manager Hugo Perez is being widely criticised for the lack of results and from some quarters also for his selection of some players who were not born and bred in the country, but are rather a product of the country´s huge diaspora, mainly in the USA. The team is relatively young, and I think Mr. Perez has a long-term plan, to build up a base of young foreign-based players who are now gaining experience and could compete for the 2026 World Cup. Right now, the team is clearly not competitive at the highest levels; even when they went ahead early against Panama they lacked a high pressure and controlling the match against a much more experiences and tactically savvy Panamanian side. The problem appears a lack of patience with the lack of quick results and what I consider a strange lack of support when things are not going well: last week´s home match against Jamaica was not sold out in San Salvador even though it was a crucial match for a team that could still qualify for the World Cup. 

These are the matches where the stadium should be sold out. Instead, with lacklustre support, El Salvador and Jamaica tied 1-1, and with the defeat to Panama, El Salvador are likely out of the contest. Good luck, and hope they can get more support next time.

USA-Mexico in the CONCACAF Nations League

The inflation of national team tournaments has reached CONCACAF, and yesterday the very first CONCACAF Nations League final was played in Denver, Colorado, between the two all-dominant teams from the CONCACAF region, Mexico and the USA.

It was an eventful match in what I guess must have been historical in being the first final of this tournament. But also, it underlined the almost-hateful rivalry between the two sides that compete to be the best among all the small teams of CONCACAF. And in Denver the Mexican team was almost at home, as Mexican fans seemed to outnumber the home-fans.

Mexican fans have been known to be passionate, if not dirty, and as has been happening a lot recently, the match was suspended temporarily due to Mexican fans' homophobic chants of "puto". It is ok they suspend the match, and have fined Mexico for this. However, I would love to see this kind of approach in other parts of the world, not least Europe, where national teams still seem unpopular for the mere act of kneeling against racism.

The passion of the Mexican fans seemed to provoke the US players who in my view reacted wrongly to the Mexican fans' attacks. In particular when Christian Pulisic scored the penalty kick for 3-2 in extra time, he ran directly towards the Mexican fans silencing them.

A clear provocation that should have cost Pulisic.

After 2-2 in ordinary time (where the USA twice equalized a Mexican lead), USA went ahead on a penalty which was revised thoroughly on VAR. In the dying second of the match Mexico was awarded the chance to equalize on a penalty, but Andres Guardado's kick was saved by the young Ethan Horvath, who had come on as a substitute for goalkeeper Zach Steffan when he got injured. Horvath, who plays in Club Brugge in Belgium had two great saves before taking the penalty that effectively gave USA the title.

Horvath was the hero of the day.

Less of a hero was the Panamanian referee. Granted, it was not an easy match amid the near-hateful atmosphere in Denver, but the referee did not help, failing to efficiently strike down on the numerous little dirty tricks played by both sides.

It was an interesting and eventful match, but it is nearly impossible to want either of these teams to succeed.

CONCACAF Champions League play-offs

The CONCACAF Champions League has reached the round of 16, and tonight the team from El Salvador, Santa Tecla, was hoping to make an upset against the MLS side Seattle Sounders after winning 2-1 in El Salvador. After a good first half, the Salvadoreans fell apart deep into the second half, and lost 4-0.
Very disappointing but at the same time it was a good show against an MLS side which, as all MLS sides, think they are much better than they are...
Seattle Sounders will face Chivas Guadalajara in the quarterfinals. Chivas are in a deep crisis in the Mexican League; they are unlikely to make the play-offs and in reality Champions League are their only hope for a title. While this could be the time for Sounders to be facing a Chivas side in crisis, one has to consider the absolute dominance by Mexican teams in the CONCACAF Champions League: of the four Mexican sides participating, all have made it to the quarterfinals. Since the tournament was introduced in 2008, it has been won by Mexican sides every single year. In fact, in all but two years (2010 and 2015) the final has been between Mexican sides. In 2016, all four semi-finalists were Mexican sides. This just illustrates that the Mexican League remains far superior to any league in the CONCACAF region, including the MLS, and when MLS sides compare themselves to other sides, they should look to smaller leagues than the Mexican, which is certainly the much stronger than the MLS.
The coming quarterfinals of the tournament will see the following clashes:

• Club America-Tauro
• Toronto FC-Tigres UANL
• Tijuana-New York Red Bulls
• Seattle Sounders-Guadalajara

I hope particularly Tigres UANL through, after the fantastic final I watched them play in December last year. I also hope Chivas destroy Seattle, avenging Santa Tecla, and saving their poor season.

UEFA 2-Concacaf 1

Another UEFA-Concacaf tie when Belgium played USA. USA were not convincing, but played with heart and spirit, and that always wins friends. I do think they need to take more risks; go more forward, instead of relying so much on defense. That said, great defense, and not least a fantastic Tim Howard! The first round of this tournament has been all about the strikers, but these knock-out stages have been largely about the goalkeepers, with some incredible performances. In my view, Tim Howard's was the best.

Belgium are now in the quarterfinals where they face and Argentinean side they should hardly fear and barely respect.

In the meantime one UEFA-Concacaf match remains, where Netherlands and Costa Rica will clash. UEFA will likely make it 3-1 to complete the routing of Concacaf.

Concacaf 1-UEFA 1

Yesterday two matches between Concacaf and UEFA teams ended with a victory for each of their representatives.

For a long time it seemed that Mexico would be able to upset the Dutch, leading 1-0 until almost the end of the match. It was not an impressive Dutch side, which is not looking unbeatable any longer. However, it is most often teams that combine skills, luck and cynicism who win the world cup, and on that count the Dutch are surely the foremost candidate to win the title now. Wesleyyy Sneijder's equalizer was a canonball at the right time, while Huntelaar did not forgive the penalty when it seemed it would go tto extra time.

Was there penalty? Arjen Robben had surely been looking for it the entire match, diving again and again. I guess at one point it had to work. The penalty can be defended, but it looked weak considering other offenses and the time of the match. 

The heat and humidity probably affected the referee as well.

Cosa Rica-Greece was another encounter between a team that plays football and one that awaits to strike back. Greece are not a team that wins many friends, while the Ticos are now the favourites of the world. So it was great when they went ahead, but disappointing when only one minute from the end, Greece equalized after what in Greek terms can be considered massive offensive. It all went to the most nerve-wrecking penalty kicks of the tournament. Keylor Navas was the Costa Rican hero when he saved a good Greek kickk, but truth is that the Ticos also were steadfast and cool, scoring on all their kicks.

Another fantastic Costa Rican match.

The quarterfinal is another Concacaf-UEFA match, as the Costa Ricans will face the Dutch. It will look to be similar to what we saw today, with the Europeans waiting and the Central Americans looking for goal. 

Concacaf success

Mexico played a great second half against a disappointing Croatian side to win 3-1 and make it to the last 16, where they will face the Netherlands in what will, by all accounts, be an exciting match. 

As so often is the case, Mexico has been underestimated, but they are another of the Concacaf success teams of this tournament: Costa Rica has killed the others in the group of death, while the USA are on the verge of qualifying to the next round. This may be the first time we see three Concacaf teams in the  last 16.

With the generally poor showing of Asian sides and mixed showing of the Africans, it should perhaps begin to be considered whether Concacaf deserves a full spot, instead of the half spot being given to them. This was the spot through which Mexico qualified, destroying New Zealand. And see them now.

And who should then be getting a play-off?

UEFA of course!

World cup qualifier in Brooklyn

I love traveling to the USA, but normally, I do have a hard time finding places to watch football. All in all, this is still not a football country. However, today I did get a delightful surprise in Brooklyn New York. I was looking for a place to watch the South American qualifiers, and a friend told me to go to "Woodwork", on Vanderbilt avenue in Brooklyn. While they were not showing the South American qualifiers, they were showing the last match in the first round of the CONCACAF qualifiers, where the USA were facing Guatemala at home. A tie was enough to let both teams through, but the USA were surely the best against a poor Guatemalan side that nevertheless went ahead 0-1, before the USA scored three goals for the victory.
Fully deserved, and I think the USA are on their way to Brazil.
And "Woodwork" was a great place, just until the match ended and they put on a presidential election debate.
Apparently they are having elections sometime soon in the USA. I vote for Clint Dempsey.

The Norwegian miracle and other world cup qualifiers

Besides the many friendly matches between countries yesterday, there were also a few World Cup qualifiers. One of these was in the most uninteresting group in the world, namely the European group 9, where Netherlands with seven victories in a row, already qualified ages ago. In the meantime, the rest of the teams are fighting for the crumbs of a play-off match and basically all four of the remaining teams have an option.
Until last night, Norway was last of the group with a mere three points and two (!) goals after five matches. For most teams this would be catastrophic, but turns out that because the other teams (Macedonia, Scotland and Iceland) have been so lousy, Norway could still have hopes of qualifying by winning against Scotland in Oslo last night.
And the miracle happened: Norway doubled their points and tripled their score by winning 4-0. Considering Norwegian attacking power this is indeed a miracle!
Nevertheless, I must say that I believe that whoever draws the second of this group for the play-off will be going to South Africa.

The CONCACAF qualifers were more interesting: Honduras took a big step to South Africa by defeating the leading Costa Ricans by 4-0 (Costa Rica nevertheless remains on first spot) while Mexico, with a 2-1 victory over the archrivals from the USA, took a step to recover from their bad start in the qualification, and are now in line for a play-off match and threatening both the USA and Honduras in the CONCACAF qualifying group!

USA-Mexico

After the spectacular performance at the Confederations Cup I think there were great expectations to the US team as they went into the Gold Cup - the nearest thing to a Concacaf regional trophy. And the US seemed on the way to fulfill these expectations as they were to face the arch-rivals from Mexico in the final of the Gold Cup in front of 80,000 spectators in New Jersey. After 0-0 at half-time Mexico was awarded a doubtful penalty kick that Gerardo Torredo scored on. After this, the otherwise solid US side fell apart, and Mexico humilliated the US 5-0, winning on US for the first time this century!
This fifth Gold Cup title is surely good for the Mexican's confidence as they struggle to qualify for the World Cup, while it is surely a huge disappointment to the US. However, I don't think this is necessarily bad for the US: as they have now been brought to the world's attention, they nevertheless need to keep their feet on the ground, and enter next year's world cup with some necessary humility, no matter how disappointing this match may have been. This was an extraordinary result, and I still think the US is a better team than Mexico overall.