5️⃣ Poch the luchador, El Salvador the tourists + more: What to watch for in September's international break
Anguilla already won. What more can we expect?
The summer of soccer is over. Let the fall of football begin.
The September slate of the Concacaf Nations League already is underway, with a trio of League C thrillers that I’ll address later in this newsletter (Spoiler: Anguilla is included)
At the top, there’s a (kind of) new manager debuting for Mexico, no new manager for the U.S. and some high-pressure games in League A for the teams who didn’t secure one of four byes to the CNL quarterfinal round.
Here’s the full schedule for this month:
And here are five things to watch for in the region during the September international window:
🇺🇸🇨🇦 Is Poch showing up like a professional wrestler?
It was all done. The important journalists confirmed it: Doug McIntyre for us Americans, Fabrizio Romano for the international audience. Mauricio Pochettino would be the manager of the U.S. men’s national team. And, it seemed, it would be announced
Then … nothing.
Reporters local and abroad continue to say things are on track, but even the players themselves seem to be trying to work out when the Argentine will arrive - or if something has been knocked off track. After all, Doug noted in his report that the deal wasn’t totally done, and this is global soccer. Anything can pop up at the last minute: A different job, a family situation, or just cold feet.
So, what better way to announce Poch than to spend the entire first half of Saturday’s United States friendly against Canada nodding to his absence, then playing his music at halftime and have him run down a huge ramp to suplex Canada coach Jesse Marsch, rip his shirt open, and take the mic to cut a promo about the U.S. being so back.
Or … something. The writers can put in something similar.
Marsch actually has been waiting - not to get body-slammed but to see who he’ll be coaching against Saturday and going forward.
"I've checked almost every day over the past month, like "OK, is he going to be the head coach (or not)?’” he told Goal. “Because I'm trying to prepare a team and not knowing what to expect. So, it's been strange."
While the pro wrestling work may not be feasible, actually bringing out the new manager would ease a lot of anxieties in the U.S. fan base and get folks excited for October matches against Panama and Mexico. Plus, there’s the sporting matter of getting a plan in place for November’s matches - which will determine places in the Nations League Final Four - as we tear off calendar pages ahead of the World Cup.
The other disquieting factor of Saturday’s match is the presence of Marsch in the Canada locker room.
It has been well-documented that Marsch wanted the U.S. job that ultimately went back to Gregg Berhalter, only for him to take over Canada and lead the Reds to the semifinal of Copa América. That happened just as U.S. Soccer administrators were realizing that Berhalter wasn’t the answer as the manager who should take the squad to the World Cup.
Marsch speaks to the press for the first time this window a few minutes after I write this. He’s never minded having a few pointed comments about those leading the U.S. federation - though he
Just how much he stirs the pot, if a coach actually gets announced, and, of course, the result on the field will determine how the U.S. is feeling coming out of the September window as things start to get serious.
🇨🇷 Can Costa Rica continue the momentum without Alfaro?
After Canada, Costa Rica was the Concacaf team happiest with its Copa América showing. The Ticos didn’t advance like Canada or Panama did, but they held Brazil to a draw, beat Paraguay and proved the young generation fans have been to emerge truly is in the works.
And then, Costa Rica got sad. Gustavo Alfaro, the manager who oversaw and engineered the Copa contentment, left for Paraguay in a strange saga that drew out well into August. Now interim manager Claudio Vivas, Costa Rica’s sporting director, is leading the squad.
The same pieces are all there, many of them coming off a month or two with new, more competitive clubs. Patrick Sequeira is the starting goalkeeper at Casa Pia in Portugal. Jeyland Mitchell is yet to debut with Feyenoord but has made the bench. Brandon Aguilera is coming in as the late energy in attack for Rio Ave, also in Portugal.
The Ticos’ first game, against Guadeloupe at home tonight, is a must-win - though travel difficulties for Manfred Ugalde mean they may be doing so without their starting forward. Fans will also expect them to come back from a trip to Guatemala on Monday with a win, but that won’t be an easy match.
There also is talk in Costa Rica about the country falling out of love with the national team, or at least not supporting it as it has in the past. Vivas serving as the interim after an uninspiring tenure doing the same when he arrived from Argentina hasn’t exactly rekindled those fires. The addition of legend Paulo Wanchope, they hope, inspires a bit more faith.
“We agree that right now the “click” with fans isn’t there. Honestly, I don’t know why. We had a really acceptable Copa América, the group has shown very interesting things and we put this shirt on to represent it with all the love and passion in the world,” captain and center back Francisco Calvo said yesterday.
If Costa Rica is going to get that vibe with the fans back and reclaim its place as the top team in Costa Rica, it must win these matches. Whether or not they can win them with Vivas at the helm is another question.
🇸🇻 Will El Salvador enjoy its tropical trips?
El Salvador is trying to craft itself as a tourist destination, but the national team has been the one doing most of the traveling in recent years. That continues this week, as La Selecta heads to Bonaire for games against Montserrat and Bonaire
In theory, El Salvador will travel to Montserrat for its next CNL matches before closing out in San Salvador, though whether or not Montserrat will actually host those matches is a conversation for another time.
“The team is really excited after the trip and all the complications with arriving,” manager David Dóniga said in a video released Wednesday by the federation. “Yesterday, we got in, went to train and today have another session. With the little time we’ve had, we’re getting the best performance possible, with treatment, recovery and tactical preparation.”
The thing is, of course, that El Salvador got itself into these journeys. Concacaf’s shift to a ‘hub’ model rather than the traditional ‘home matches hosted at home stadiums’ means longer trips away (and also the challenge of marketing a pair of home games in a single window rather than just the one)
El Salvador didn’t win a single Nations League match in League A - which maintains the home-and-home structure, albeit with the horrible ‘Swiss style’ still in place - last time around and now is traveling to exotic and unknown locales.
These are the types of matches El Salvador should be winning easily given its soccer history and its advantage in resources compared to the islands. Yet, they’re the type of matches which have tripped them up lately.
🇵🇷 Puerto Rico is at home! Will it make a difference?
The Puerto Rican federation’s fight with venues and various officials spilled into the public, and for some time it appeared the island would have to forfeit its right to hosting this set of CNL matches.
A compromise was found, however, and Puerto Rico welcomes Haiti and Aruba to the Estadio Centroamericana in Mayaguez, on the island’s West Coast.
Some of the enthusiasm in Puerto Rico centers on Real Madrid youth player Jeremy de Leon, who is missing this month’s matches because of an injury. That’s a chance for Leandro Antonetti, Wilfredo Rivera and the rest of the attack to show that Puerto Rican fans can be excited about more than simply the red-headed sensation with Los Blancos.
The game against Haiti is an interesting litmus test. As Puerto Rico becomes more organized, as its federation continues to work on the game at home and pushes players abroad to go to bigger clubs and find more difficult competition, the situation in Haiti makes it harder and harder for its national team to perform up to its potential.
Has the balance swung so far to Puerto Rico that it can overcome a Haiti team accustomed to road tilts? We’ll find out Friday.
🇦🇮 Anguilla already did it! What other surprises await as League C moves to hub model?
I may have buried the lede here.
ANGUILLA WON A MATCH.
For the first time in more than a decade, Anguilla won an official contest.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
There’s some joker yapping about it above (follow on TikTok if you have an account!).
Anguilla has been building toward a victory, and while the goals weren’t exactly jaw-droppers, the result is still a shock. Yes, Anguilla had gotten past the Turks and Caicos Islands in World Cup qualification, winning a shootout after a pair of draws.
But playing TCI IN Providenciales, it felt like the first win would have to wait. While TCI had more of the ball, Anguilla did have dangerous chances. It converted, with captain Germain Hughes and Lamar Carpenter scoring in the 2-0 win.
We also had a 3-3 thriller, with the Bahamas going ahead on three occasions and the U.S. Virgin Islands equalizing each time.
As we enter this new era of League C (and League B, but I think the changes will be more deeply felt at this level), what other surprises await us?
Quickly taken
🇯🇲 Steve McClaren debuts as Jamaica manager with a home match against Cuba. The game is taking place at night, notable as Jamaica was unable to host a night match in the summer because of lighting issues that have since been remedied by the local government.
🇻🇨 Another intriguing managerial debut is Ezra Hendrickson taking over the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines squad he represented for more than a decade.
The former Chicago Fire boss starts tonight against Bonaire before meeting Montserrat.
🇩🇴 The Dominican Republic’s forward line is made up of a pair of players who play for clubs in Kazakhstan, one in Kuwait, one in Bulgaria, one in a Spanish reserve club, and finally one for the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
It’s got to be the most diverse collection of clubs for any ‘line’ in the world. They play Bermuda and Dominica.
🇵🇦 Panama not having matches this window shows just how tough it is for teams to find quality opponents - or opponents of any caliber - right now. World Cup hosts Canada, Mexico and the U.S. were prepared for that, but Panama is in this situation as one of the four teams given a bye until November’s CNL quarterfinals.
Senior national team manager Thomas Christiansen is leading a U-23 team against Mexico in a pair of friendly matches that may help him find depth. In October, the senior team travels to meet the U.S. and Canada.
What else? Let me know in the comments what I missed, and I’ll see if I can include it in the wrap-up newsletter!