👑 Kings of Central America? Panama puts its title on the line + more to watch in the November window
Five things I'm watching this month
Our typical trip from A to C begins - with a twist! This month, there areno League C matches, with the winners from the League C groups already fighting for their Gold Cup lives.
This window also sees things get very serious in League A as the quarterfinals begin. Some of the biggest teams in the region have a nervous week, knowing if they don’t advance, they’ll spend March playing some very unwanted contests rather than chase a trophy in the Final Four.
That is certainly the case for the United States in its series against Jamaica and Mexico in its games against Honduras.
Mauricio Pochettino and the U.S. coaching staff know this is the first real taste of Concacaf they’ll get - with the rain currently falling in Kingston giving way to a steamy evening at The Office - while Mexico lost to Honduras last year and needs to show fans it has made progress since then.
Far from just the traditional powers, though, there is plenty at stake for nearly every team in action during this window.
Here’s a reminder of the matches on offer:
And here are five things I’m looking out for (beyond the U.S. and Mexico):
🇵🇦🇨🇷 Can Costa Rica overturn Panama’s Central America dominance?
Thomas Christiansen definitely has Costa Rica’s number. In nine meetings as Panama manager, he has lost just once against the Ticos.
That has allowed Panama to boldly and conclusively declare itself the best men’s national team in Central America - even after missing out on the 2022 World Cup.
Since that tournament, Panama has won all five meetings with Costa Rica, but the region’s historical power gets another crack at their neighbors to the south in a two-legged quarterfinal rematch.
Either team could advance, but there are reasons to believe that this won’t be as lopsided as the 2023 edition, when Panama won the first leg 3-0 at the Estadio Saprissa and finished things off at home with a 3-1 dismantling that saw it concede just a second-half consolation goal.
While he certainly could do some boasting, that has never been Christiansen’s style - whether that be because of his Danish upbringing or just a personality trait.
“I don’t think there’s a favorite in these knock-out matches. There never has been,” he said Wednesday night after Panama’s late arrival to San Jose. “They’re always really tightly fought games with a lot of respect - which we feel is mutual. You have to show on the field who is best, in the best conditions and I hope we have our day tomorrow and on the 18.”
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
There is some reason to believe that Costa Rica may be able to have their day today. The teams reversed roles, and Costa Rica had to play matches in September and October as the unseeded team. That allowed them to steel themselves against a few tough opponents, notably a Guatemala team that hoped to make its own jump in the Central American pecking order.
While Christiansen’s presence and project has given Panama a huge advantage on its rivals, who lack stability, Costa Rica now has a better idea of what the future looks like than it did 12 months ago.
After a respectable showing at the Copa América, Gustavo Alfaro left for Paraguay. But the oft-bland tactics he installed can be used as a solid base. Current interim manager Claudio Vivas already washed out of the coaching job once, but this time around he has a good defensive core and in-form forwards Manfred Uglade and Alonso Martinez.
The question has been how to get all those players on the field while covering up some of the absences yet to be filled as Costa Rica continues its long and painful generational change from the group that took it to such great heights in 2014. I’m skeptical Vivas has the answers, but he might have solutions for how to get past Panama in a two-game series.
If he does, perhaps we’ll see him on the touchline in March. If not, Panama will once again be Kings of Central America, and Costa Rica will likely start a search for a more long-term solution as manager.
🇬🇫 French Guiana goes commando
After last week’s announcement from the governing body of soccer in French Guiana that the team would forfeit its Gold Cup playoff play-in series against Belize, it looked like the dream of reaching the top competition the non-FIFA member can make had died.
But, as I reported EXCLUSIVELY on my newly launched BlueSky, sources told me this week the games would go on. The team traveled Wednesday, heading for Belize via Miami, and on to Belmopan.
Steven Caroupanapoullé, elected as FA president, scrambled to put a team together. According to local reports, he wanted not only to avoid the embarrassment of a forfeit, but also was worried about 100,000 euro fines per match missed - and potentially missing out on funding from Concacaf that reaches $850,000.
Caroupanapoullé was able to act fast and put a team together that will represent the territory and avoid the fines.
That’s great. But, uh, who are these guys?
Interim manager Stephane D’Urbano - who has experience with youth clubs in Lebanon and the U.S. in addition to work in Lyon - will lead the squad with Jean-Claude Darcheville and his staff unable to arrive on short notice.
"I don't know the players, but that's not a problem," D'Urbano said before the team left.
I’ll be honest, it does seem like a bit of a problem!
Yanis Letard, one of four defenders named, veteran USL defender/midfielder Thomas Vancaeyezeele, and forward Jules Haabo are familiar from past French Guiana matches. But it’s fair to say there are some notable omissions, and it’s a squad that definitely was affected by the forfeit/unforfeit situation.
“Even if we were called up at the last minute, we are happy to represent Guiana in ‘commando mode’,” Jean-Luc Yenoumou, a 37-year-old defender whose last cap came in March 2023, told local press. “We have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
🇸🇷 Another shot for Suriname
Since its government cleared the way for athletes to receive passports while holding a passport from another country as well, Suriname has had several opportunities to pull off a big upset and announce itself as a contender within Concacaf.
They haven’t taken those opportunities.
After qualifying for the Gold Cup for the first time since the 1980s, Suriname crashed out of the 2021 tournament in the group stage.
A shootout loss to Puerto Rico in the qualification round meant they didn’t even return to the 2023 Gold Cup. They were in that position after failing to win a single League A game in, admittedly, a tough group that also included Mexico and Jamaica.
This year, Suriname is once again finding a rhythm, with manager Stanley Menzo putting the pieces together. The Natio has one loss in 2024, a 1-0 reverse in Guadeloupe.
At the risk of sounding like the guest on a college football call-in show … Suriname ain’t played nobody.
Yes, Suriname impressed in a draw with Costa Rica, but the Ticos were focused on getting out of Paramaribo with a point. That became even more true when they dropped to 10 men early in the second half. Suriname failed to find a winner, once again struggling against a team that is higher in the rankings.
That brings us to tomorrow’s visit from Canada and the return trip next week.
Could this be the big moment Suriname has so long craved? The time it finally finds an upset?
You can find reasons to believe. Alphonso Davies isn’t making the trip for Jesse Marsch’s squad, and while it was a different coach at the helm Canada just last year fell to a Caribbean opponent in this round.
With Davies out, plenty of attention has shifted to forward Jonathan David. But Menzo is hoping his team takes a more holistic approach to shutting Canada down.
“You play against a team with a lot of qualities. It is a collective that you have to arm yourself well against,” he said at a news conference in Dutch (I used Google translate here, hopefully it hasn’t led us astray). “It is not Maradona or Messi, with all due respect. We have to make sure that we try to eliminate him in our way of defending and playing.”
The problem is that the collective is very good. Marsch doesn’t have Davies to call on, but he does have a red-hot David and players of note at nearly every line all the way back to the best goalkeeper battle in the region.1
Suriname can’t go man-for-man like that. Sheraldo Becker scored for Real Sociedad against Barcelona but hasn’t shown the consistency a player like David has. Etienne Vaessen is a strong shot-stopper, but he may be busy in this series.
Perhaps that’s the curse of being an underdog, that it always seems an impossible upset until it’s been proven possible. For now, I’m still in ‘wait and see’ mode when it comes to the idea of Suriname finding that breakthrough.
🇱🇨 Can Saint Lucia make it easy on themselves?
Saint Lucia never has been to the Gold Cup but will qualify if it wins Group B of CNL League B.
After opening the CNL with a 2-1 upset of Curacao, it looked like manager Stern John and his team would cruise to that goal. But a slip-up last window in a 4-0 loss to Saint Martin - just days after needing a furious rally to get three points against the same Saint Martin team - has Saint Lucia needing another result against Curacao to lock up its place in the continental championship.
John has called some new faces to the team as he prepares for the deciding contests, among them Djal Augustin, a Czech-based forward, and London-born attacker Shiloh Remy.
Mentality, though, will be key for a team that clearly has the talent to beat teams with Gold Cup experience but also has played well below its potential.
💳 Non-FIFA fun
In addition to French Guiana, a number of other teams who are members of Concacaf but not FIFA.
That means the Gold Cup is the top competition they can aspire to, being the continental championship but, of course, not the World Cup.
It’s a big window for most of the six teams who fall into that category. French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Bonaire, Saint Martin and Sint Maarten all have some hope to move on. (Martinique is inactive and will return to play in March’s Gold Cup play-in games).
The hope is highest for the two teams that were in League A. We already covered French Guiana, but Guadeloupe plays the Cayman Islands this window. While some regulars are not in the Guadeloupe team, the level still should be high enough to get to March’s matches.
Bonaire also is maintaining hope of a second-place finish in Group A, but it may have to settle for staying in the second division.
A contest against El Salvador in San Salvador to start things off is a daunting task - even for a team that has held its own against La Selecta this year with a draw back in March and a one-goal loss earlier this fall.
Closing the window against Montserrat, then, could be a fight for survival.
Hope you have as much fun reading these as I do writing them! Tell a friend about my Concacaf coverage, which will continue throughout the window!
(take that, Ochoa v. Malagon).