3️⃣ Three takeaways for Concacaf teams from the September FIFA window
Woof.
Not great, Bob!
The only real rooting interest at Getting CONCACFed HQ is for the weird, wacky region I live in and love. So, seeing the Concacaf team win just four of the 19 matches played against opposition from outside the region wasn’t exactly good for a man whose business relies on people paying to learn more about soccer teams from the Concacaf region.
That meant there was plenty to think about, to learn and to take away from the window. Let’s get into it:
Nobody is happy
All three North American teams headed to the World Cup were handed bitter defeats during the September window. While you may feel like the sky is falling, take solace in the fact that your neighbor feels the same way.
The United States continued to have its two biggest weaknesses turn up: No one seems to want to score - even against a Saudi Arabia team that has happy to hand them opportunities - and the defensive core is not strong enough.
Canada had a great victory over Qatar, riding a fast start to a good result and overall performance. When the difficulty slider was moved up, however, it struggled to find that same confidence. Sure, Canada eventually righted the ship after Uruguay scored twice in the first 30 minutes, but as manager John Herdman deadpanned, “There's not going to be any special award for losing games where you have a chance to win them.”
We’ll get to Mexico below.
Should teams in this region panic? Maybe. It was a brutal window during a period in which teams are supposed to be entering their strides ahead of the tournament they’ll be judged on for the next four years. Then again, U.S. group rival England ran its winless streak to six matches. It’s one win in five for key Mexico opponent Poland. (Canada’s group rivals are generally flying. Sorry, Canada). Perhaps nobody is ‘elite’.
Now, I will say, I posted a tweet saying the window wasn’t inspiring for teams in the region and got a few Costa Rica fans saying they were the exception.
Now, hold on a minute, Costa Rica fans. I saw your games. Good results. Maybe even a good performance in the draw with South Korea, but I also saw you need two goals in stoppage time to beat Uzbekistan. I saw center back Kendall Waston again becoming the Ticos’ best attacking weapon by turning open play into de facto set-piece moments - then score from a set piece.
Now, Uzbekistan actually is a team on the rise judging by youth results. It was in a tough group, but it’s still a team that didn’t get out of the second round of World Cup qualification.
“I like the way we won the game, that feeling of always believing it can be done. I think that’s a good message,” Costa Rica manager Luis Fernando Suarez said after the game. He noted, however, that Costa Rica struggled to break the Uzbeks’ defensive line and was frustrated by giveaways, saying, “We have to be a lot more careful, above all when we’re building.”
The fight Costa Rica showed was good. The results were better than their Concacaf rivals this month. But there’s still plenty for the Central Americans to work on (and worry about) before their opener against Spain.
Mexico had a dream send-off…until it didn’t
It’s amazing what a hot start can do.
With the recent slog Tata Martino and his team have been pushing through, it’s easy to forget the Martino era started well. Really well, in fact. El Tri ran off 11 wins to start 2019 before that fateful friendly loss against Argentina. They bounced back well from that, too, avoiding defeat in their next ten.
The first 45 minutes against Colombia brought memories of that era back. The press was suffocating, with Colombia unable to play out of the back, conceding cheap opportunities. El Tri converted two of those, first earning a penalty thanks to some slick work by Henry Martin. Alexis Vega converted from the spot, and then, before the half-hour mark, left back Gerardo Arteaga brought another memory of Martino’s good ol’ days back.
An energetic, aggressive fullback popped up in a smart spot in the attack, with a seeing-eye pass going through to him (and Vega playing a clever dummy). He converted, and the good times were rolling in a stadium that hasn’t always been home to happy moments for El Tri.
Alas, after throwing the clock back to 2019, Mexico jarringly brought fans back into the present: The one where the attacking punch is non-existent, where the wide channels are inviting to opposing attackers and…fans went back to the chant.
Also, what a goal.
“My obligation is to say that, recognizing we lost a game that we were winning 2-0, we weren’t ‘erased’ from the field,” Martino said after. “We had 15 minutes when we weren’t concentrated, when we lost our mark on a set piece, when they scored a third goal that no matter where you analyze it from, is nearly impossible to stop.
“My takeaway will be us playing a first half that was among the best in four years, even with the potential of scoring another goal, and going to look for the equalizer in the last 15 minutes with a lot of young guys playing some of their first games with the national team.”
That brings into question, however, why players like Arteaga, Diego Lainez (who Martino said probably should’ve played more Tuesday), even known quantities like Erick Gutierrez weren’t given more chances when Mexico had more time.
Martino seemed to offer up a lack of squad depth as another defense, highlighting the individual skills players like Rafael Santos Borre, Luis Diaz and Juan Cuadrado provide the Colombia national team.
“What happens is when you have players like the 9 from Eintracht Frankfurt, the winger from Liverpool and the midfielder from Juventus, there’s going to be a moment when they’re going to make the quality they have felt,” Martino said. “Those are the times we have to keep our composure, keep order, not make mistakes and get control of the ball back.”
Obviously that will be true in the World Cup against an Argentina side that has PSG’s No. 10, a 9 from Manchester City, another at Inter and a couple Juventus midfielders for fun.
Martino’s challenge is figuring out how to minimize those lapses in control as much as possible and again take fans back in time to the start of his era - or even the first 45’ his team played Tuesday.
2026 hopefuls don’t inspire much hope
Maybe it’s the wide-angle lens I try to keep trained on the region, but I thought this was quietly the biggest disappointment of the window.
The teams headed to the World Cup will get it together for those few weeks in winter. Or they won’t.
If they crash out, they’ll hire new managers, utilize new development strategies and focus their efforts toward a tournament 3/4 of them are hosting.
The ones who aren’t in Qatar, though, are the ones who most need good games right now. They need players to raise their hands and prove they’ll be the ones to lead a push for qualification in 2026, when more Concacaf teams will play in the showcase tournament than ever before.
Yet, the only team that played a side from outside the region and came away with a victory was Panama. The 2-0 victory against Bahrain with a mix of regulars and new faces will be great tape for Thomas Christiansen and his staff to review as they look to strike back after this cycle’s disappointment.
Others will have tape that is less fun to review.
Back under Remko Bicentini, there were glimpses of the fun, fighting Curacao he led during the team’s rise to an historic Gold Cup. But beating Canada when the Nations League resumes will be a tall task for a team that twice fell to an Indonesia squad that sits 155 in the FIFA rankings - more than 70 slots below Curacao.
Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Jamaica all served as foils to much stronger South American teams, showing the chasm that must be closed between Concacaf’s strivers and teams competing for or securing World Cup places on the other side of the Darién Gap.
Of that quartet, I felt Jamaica gave the strongest accounting of itself with new manager Heimir Hallgrimsson’s back line holding mostly firm against Argentina and fullbacks Javain Brown and Amari Bell standing out as top performers.
“It was a good feeling…up until the 80th minute maybe,” the Iceland native joked to reporter Simon Preston after the game. “I thought we did a lot of good things, what we were asking for was a good team performance, especially defending a good opponent like Argentina. I think we did. We kept them away from chances until the 80th minute, and then they have a guy who can convert.”
That guy is Lionel Messi, who found two goals from relatively little late and put the makeup on a game that until then had seen neither team excel in the attack.
Those transition moments will be key for Jamaica, a side that always is full of speed but sometimes doesn’t know how or when to use it. It’ll be easier to work out against future opponents in the region than it was against the Albiceleste.
“We can learn a lot from this game. We can show the players a lot of positives, and we can also show them a lot of negatives,” the manager said. “We said they’d expose all our weaknesses, and it’s good for the position we’re in. We’re improving, trying to learn, trying to implement a new way of thinking and playing. Overall, it was a good test for us.”
Still, I long for the day when a spirited 3-0 loss isn’t one of the better results for Concacaf teams playing top competition from elsewhere in the world. The opportunity is there for squads that never have made the World Cup before to get in and change the history of the sport in their countries.
They need good administration, good coaching, good nutrition, good leadership and good players. It’s not easy, but it is possible to foster those environments over the next four years. It remains an open question who will step up and do it.