Best of 2022: 🌎 World Cup shows Concacaf's need for improvement

OK, maybe not a 'best of' Plus: Newsletter thoughts for 2023

This the final installment of a five-part series looking back at the best and biggest moments of 2022 from the Concacaf region & what they mean for 2023 and beyond

Monday: Canada runs the Octagonal. What does it mean for CanMNT & the region in 2023?

Tuesday: Sounders break MLS’ CCL hex

Wednesday: Dominican Republic comes from nowhere to clinch 2024 Olympic qualification

Thursday: Concacaf W Championship showcases teams still striving for a World Cup debut

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OK, maybe we’re closing out on something that isn’t a “Best of…” but is more of a “Biggest Moment”.

On the biggest stage for the sport this year, Concacaf teams largely fell short.

Was the 2022 World Cup a failure for the region? You certainly could make a case. While Costa Rica’s playoff win meant Concacaf had four teams in the tournament instead of just three like in 2018, only one team progressed from the group stage. That team, the United States, promptly lost and was eliminated at the Round of 16.

(Photos of sad Concacaf coaches and players via Getty Images)

Mexico missed out on advancing for the first time in decades. Costa Rica sandwiched two pretty frustrating matches around a victory. Canada scored its first-ever goal at a men’s World Cup but will go into 2026 still in search of its first-ever point at a men’s World Cup.

The blow is softened by expectations. The draws for Canada and Costa Rica looked rough, and in hindsight, after Morocco’s Cinderella run, look even more difficult.

El Tri fans who suffered through middling results in late 2021 and early 2022 weren’t surprised to see an uninspired performance against Poland, a scared showing vs. Argentina and a too-little, too-late rush against Saudi Arabia lead to one of the worst World Cup showings for Mexico in recent memory.

But why shouldn’t fans in the region ask for more? Nobody in Concacaf has Messi. Nobody in Concacaf has Mbappe. Nobody in Concacaf has the development structures in place that France has.

But why couldn’t a team make a run like Morocco? Why shouldn’t a team aim to be the next Croatia, population less than 4 million but whose clubs have forged a team that made back-to-back runs to the World Cup semifinals?

It’s clear Concacaf teams just aren’t there yet.

What it means for 2023 and beyond

Hopefully just 25% of the region’s participating teams making the knockout round and zero of those teams winning a knockout match will serve as a wake-up call to the individual federations and to Concacaf as a whole.

Figuring out exactly how to raise the level of senior men’s soccer in a region as complex as Concacaf isn’t an enviable task. Yet, while the actual national federations (plus the actual managers and actual players on the field) are the ones who need to do the lion’s share of the work, Concacaf also bears some responsibility here.

Costa Rica ended up recuperating its dignity after the 7-0 loss to Spain by beating Japan, but this is the second tournament in a row when the lowest-ranked Concacaf team was embarrassed by a top European squad. There will always be difference in talent levels, something we’ll see even more of in 2026 when the field is expanded.

But Concacaf needs to work to find a way to make the competition taking place in its region stronger, to manufacture a soccer arms race that forces its members to keep taking steps to improving coaching education, invest in facilities, pave pathways for young players to become professionals.

The Nations League is one component of that master plan, and we are seeing some hints the overall level is being raised.

Ahead of the 2026 Men’s World Cup coming to Concacaf soil, the disappointing showing in 2022 must be a wake-up call that development won’t happen on its own.

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And now for some navel-gazing

It’s been a great year for Getting CONCACAFed.

Thanks to readers spreading the word and enjoying the directions the newsletters took, I doubled the number of premium subscribers this year (like, exactly doubled). The growth of the free list wasn’t that dramatic but still grew by thousands of people.

I’m not planning on slowing down.

There’s the Liga MX preview Monday, more stories around the Mexican league in English coming next week and throughout the season, some interviews with Concacaf legends and rising stars, and a lot more coming in 2023.

That’s before we get into the return of Nations League, the last-ever CCL in this format, the Women’s World Cup, the Gold Cup, the Leagues Cup … and surely a cup or two I’m forgetting.

As I mentioned a few issues ago, I left what has functioned as my ‘day job’ earlier this month in an effort to tell even more of these stories and do an even better job digging into what I think really matters.

🔮 The future of Getting CONCACAFed

Those stories I believe need to be told might end up finding a home at a legacy media outlet that hires me, a startup doing innovative things, or even in broadcast form on TV or YouTube.

But, for now, they’ll be right here, and the more of you who come along for the ride, the more I can justify investing the time and money it takes to tell those stories.

So, thank you. Happy 2023. And let’s keep Getting CONCACAFed together in the new year.