The dumbest thing you can bring up when talking about US Soccer is “CONCACAF”
Or Mexico too…
As the two “Giants of CONCACAF” bowed out of the Copa America losing to two “giants of CONMEBOL” people flooded to Twitter/Facebook/ESPN airwaves/Univision airwaves to lament the state of “CONCACAF soccer”. I’m here to say it once and for all: bringing up the governing body of association football to which a country’s football federation belongs to and linking that to the performance of a soccer team is just about the dumbest thing you can say.
Argentina is a good team. Chile is a good team. Is it because they’re members of CONMEBOL? Would they be worse/better if they were members of CONCACAF? The answers to both of those questions are No and No. Argentina is good not just because they have the best player in the world but because they have players playing in the best leagues in the world. Their national soccer infrastructure is sound and has existed for many many years. There are leagues and clubs that invest in the youth and bring them up, and export players like crazy. The culture as a whole embraces soccer as the national sport and has done so for generations, instead of a baseball cap or a football kids are given soccer balls and they grow up playing….notice how this has nothing to do with CONMEBOL? Chile is good for many of the same reasons and they have a golden generation headed by Alexis Sanchez, and Arturo Vidal. You’ll never hear a Chilean fan talk about being “The kings on CONMEBOL” much less a Brazilian fan, or Argentinian fan. Why is this? Because they realize their success has NOTHING to do with their governing body.
Mexico has realized this to an extent. For years the strongest league in the region has been the Mexican league, same thing for the national team. Understanding this and not being complacent in being “The giant of concacaf” the Mexican soccer federation has gone to multiple Copa Americas. The clubs have berths into the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana. Was this something that CONCACAF organized? No. This was the Mexican federation taking matters into its own hands and doing what the technocrats consider best for the national sport.
There is no such thing as “CONCACAF soccer”. Does St. Lucia play “CONCACAF soccer”? What about Martinique? Do you think they “represent CONCACAF”?
There’s also no such thing as “CONMEBOL soccer” or “UEFA Soccer”. Just like there’s a Germany, there’s also an Andorra. The greatness of one team or another is not determined by the association to which they belong but rather to the efforts the federation does to build a strong soccer culture in their country. To seek out and foster talent. To build an infrastructure. Indeed by how much that country has invested in soccer not just financially but culturally and in the collective psyche of its people.
The only thing CONCACAF has been good for is for allowing the USA and Mexico to have an easy road to the world cup, but to be proud to “represent CONCACAF” in anything is downright silly because it has nothing to do with the state of soccer in any given country.
Mexico lost to Chile, because Chile was vastly better than Mexico. Chile was better than Mexico because it had a better game plan, and it executed it better. Chile is living a great moment in their soccer and it showed. USA lost to Argentina because Argentina is one of the best teams in the world right now AND IT SHOWED. In the 2018 World Cup however things may not be the same. This is because soccer is a fluid thing, it comes and goes in cycles. Spain was invincible for much of the early 21st century and now they’re not so hot. Brazil is but a shadow of its former self. England fluctuates so badly it’s dizzying. All of this has nothing to do with their respective governing bodies.
Please stop talking about CONCACAF.
