📆 How I got CONCACAFed in 2024

From Managua to Guadalajara to ... Arlington, Texas, these are my favorites pieces of the year

Almost there! Depending on where you are reading this, there are just a few hours left in 2024 - or it’s already over. Either way, it was a year that provided plenty to talk about in the Concacaf region.

My challenge to myself (and promise to my subscribers) is that I struggle to put this piece together next year, having to leave even very strong newsletters on the cutting-room floor because of all the bangers I’m sending your way. I have big plans for Getting CONCACAFed next year.

Before I get into all the changes, improvements and additions I’m planning for Getting CONCACAFed in 2025, though, allow me to look back at a few of my favorite and most important articles from the previous year - with a bit of director’s commentary:

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The journey to Nicaragua

The most ambitious project I undertook this year was my trip to Nicaragua, where I stayed in the hotel where Howard Hughes holed up in the 1970s, saw lava in a volcano and, oh yeah, watched Real Estelí beat Club América in the first leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup series.

This is a trip I was able to fund thanks to the support of premium subscribers and one that gets to the heart of what this newsletter is about: Telling stories that matter that no one else is telling.

Estelí is certainly not one of the country’s major cities but the club has put itself on the ‘Concacaf map’ with consistent success in domestic and continental competition.

I pictured myself speaking to politicians, to club executives, to the types of folks whose perspective is invaluable for the other reporting I do anywhere else. That didn’t quite happen, and I was frustrated about it.

As I look back at these pieces though, and also after speaking with reporters who work in and around Central America, I’m proud of what I produced for this independent newsletter. Very few writers talk about Nicaragua at all, much less look at the country beyond what is happening with the Ortega-Murillo regime.

I went to Nicaragua, traveling to Managua, to Estelí and then trying to make sense of everything in Granada, the lovely colonial city on a lake. In addition to players and coaches, I spoke to regular Nicaraguans, people whose voices are rarely heard.

There are soccer fans in Nicaragua, people like you and me who live for the game even as their lives are shaped by the political forces around them. I’m not sure I ever would’ve met them were I not publishing this newsletter.

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Copa criticism

There were some great moments in the 2024 Copa América, which brought all 10 CONMEBOL men’s national teams and six invited guests from Concacaf to the U.S.

The tournament ended up being the moment in which the U.S. and Mexico decided to cut bait and switch managers after disappointing showings, but it was a high point for Canada, who I watched advance to the semifinals with a win over Venezuela in front of a raucous crowd decked out in Vinotinto jerseys.

Yet, away from the field the tournament proved to be a huge disappointment. From start times in high temperatures that led to poor attendances and dangerous conditions to the chaos of the final. Copa América may return to U.S. soil, but the legacy of the 2024 edition for most of us who actually went to matches will be one of a missed opportunity - not only for venues and cities in the U.S. to start riding a wave toward the 2026 World Cup but for soccer in the Americas to capture a new fan base.

Maybe it was just because I started the tournament off with a bit of a negative mindset, visiting a Bolivia team while trying to answer the question of why La Verde always has been so bad.

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Unique stories

Sometimes I write something here that I don’t think would get published anywhere else - not because it isn’t a story worth telling but simply because it’s not the type of story major media outlets are willing to spend money on.

Whether a small glimmer of hope in oft-hopeless Haiti, a soccer revolution underway in a baseball country or a young Mexican making his grandfather’s dream come true, here are a few pieces that fell into that category this year:

Oh, I also teed off on Concacaf’s deal with the PIF and the lack of transparency around the agreement with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.

🇸🇦🌎 PIF? Concacaf? WTF?

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Mexico’s shifting soccer geography

This fall, I went to Guadalajara both to chronicle Mauricio Pochettino’s second match at the helm of the United States men’s national team and to figure out how a soccer-crazed city would receive a national team it hadn’t hosted for more than a decade:

Part of the reason the match was in Guadalajara, of course, is that the Estadio Azteca is undergoing major renovations ahead of the 2026 World Cup. I didn’t think about it too much at the time, but this Concacaf Champions Cup match - after which I caught up with Alejandro Zendejas - is the last match I’ll experience at that iteration of the Azteca.

I’ve thought about that much more as the saga around where América and Cruz Azul will even play in Mexico City continues to become increasingly dramatic.

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Ones for the little guys

Getting CONCACAFed always will be a place to share stories about some of the teams who get the least attention. It was great to continue to tell the story of Anguilla’s rise from the worst team in Concacaf to … the worst team in Concacaf but one that can get results:

These countries also give us stories unlike anywhere else, like when I was able to speak with Portugal-born lawyer Hugo Costa Liziario about scoring for the British Virgin Islands in World Cup qualification.

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Even as I start to adjust some of the cadence of this newsletter, its regular features and its scope in the new year (The surveys are still open! Check your last newsletter for the link!), I plan to continue chasing stories from the Concacaf region that no one else is telling.

We’ll talk more about 2025 later this week. Until then, enjoy your NYE celebrations. Can’t wait to Get CONCACAFed with you next year.