🤝 What to watch this international break
What's drawing my interest as World Cup preparation continues, as do friendly matches for teams that didn't make Qatar
It’s hard to believe it, but we’re in the home stretch ahead of the World Cup. Most teams are playing two matches this month, then will play a game or two more before they really start counting.
Here’s what the quartet of Concacaf teams are up to this weekend and next week, plus a few thoughts on what to keep an eye on both for those squads and the Concacaf teams who won’t be going to Qatar but hope to qualify for 2026 and beyond.
Mind the gap
I think Canada is a good team. You don’t top the standings in World Cup qualification, nearly going the entire cycle without defeat, without having something special.
With the exciting generation of players, the organization and scouting done by Canada manager John Herdman and his staff, and those positive results, Canada may be able to notch its first-ever World Cup win if not get out of the group.
The truth? Who knows?
Canada hasn’t played a team from outside the region since a January 2020 non-FIFA date friendly against Iceland in Southern California and hasn’t played on non-Concacaf soil since a March 2018 friendly against New Zealand in Spain. That changes with matches this month against Qatar and Uruguay, games that should let Canada see how big the gap is between them and the type of teams they’ll meet in Group F.
“Being our first trip outside of Concacaf and first games against non-Concacaf nations since the journey started back in 2018, we will learn a lot in these moments,” Herdman said in a news release. “Both opponents present different types of tests and with the quality of Uruguay we will see and feel first-hand the intensity of that next level opponent.”
It’s not just Canada.
With the Covid-19 pandemic condensing the international soccer calendar, this window is one of few chances teams from our region have to show what they can do against the absolute best.
At least the U.S. and Mexico were able to utilize the summer window to get some games as well. Costa Rica was busy actually qualifying for the tournament in a one-off playoff against New Zealand, while Canada had its disastrous window with a game against Iran canceled because of political pressure and a meeting with Panama called off because of players’ dispute with the federation.
So Canada’s matches against teams who will utilize a different style of soccer and have more quality in their ranks than plenty of the final round Concacaf squads will be a critical measuring stick to know what to expect from the Reds and just how much work the team needs to do. The same is true of Costa Rica as the Ticos not only look to knock off a fellow World Cup rival in South Korea but also get momentum going against Uzbekistan, a non-qualifier.
Who’s up top?
The starting forward situation for most of the teams in the region is somewhat in flux. There are likely - or even obvious - starters for some teams but questions about health, form or if a young player is really up to it. We should get some clarity about the managers’ thinking from how they approach these games.
In Mexico, Tata Martino is going to take Raul Jimenez to the World Cup and start him if he’s healthy. The problem is he’s not healthy now, with a groin problem keeping him out of this month’s matches, and he’s had plenty of health issues all season.
Without the Wolves striker, it appears Martino is ready to go with Rogelio Funes Mori as his second option up top despite the good form of Henry Martin with América and Santiago Giménez with Feyenoord. The manager says he’s taking three forwards, so it appears to be a fight between those latter two for one spot on the roster.
The United States’ situation looks more clear with Union Berlin forward Jordan Pefok not on the roster. Likely No. 9 Jesus Ferreira needs to prove he can do it against top competition to fend off former FC Dallas teammate Ricardo Pepi and Josh Sargent of Norwich.
Costa Rica doesn’t have the same depth, with Anthony Contreras looking like the starter against South Korea this week and in Qatar as Joel Campbell works on the wing. While the Herediano forward wasn’t in the picture until late in the cycle, he scored twice to cap qualification, then started and played the entire playoff.
Still time to make the cut?
It shouldn’t be a huge surprise to see a manager ‘stick with his guys’. U.S. boss Gregg Berhalter went with the forwards mentioned above rather than risk bringing in even an in-form forward like Brandon Vazquez. Martino isn’t going to just start bringing Marcelo Flores for his ‘A team’. He hasn’t been in all cycle, and even if fans (and this writer) think he’s talented enough to go, he’s not going to throw off the balance.
Yet, there are still some ‘outsiders’ who have opportunities to be the surprise players when rosters get announced in the fall.
With three goals for Blackpool this season, Theo Corbeanu is in the Canada squad for the first time in 2022, as is Montreal center back Joel Waterman.
Pachuca midfielder Luis Chavez continues to dazzle in league play and could convince Martino to include him in the squad despite having fewer than a half-dozen caps to his name.
There certainly seem to be some spots available in the U.S. back line. With injuries hitting ahead of these matches, players like Sam Vines, Joe Scally and Erik Palmer-Brown have a chance to impress despite few opportunities in qualification.
Costa Rica already had its ‘surprise players’ largely integrated after the young, domestic-based standouts helped steer the Ticos to World Cup qualification when they were all but dead in the water.
One or two good showings generally won’t sway managers, who have formed their opinions of players over month of film study, training sessions, other matches, and one-on-one contact and relationship-building. But coaches are human, too. If a player goes off in one of these final friendly games or looks like a solid option at a place where a team doesn’t have much depth, he might be able to sneak onto the roster and have the experience of a lifetime.
The strivers
These teams didn’t make the World Cup. Some of them didn’t come close. (One of them isn’t eligible - shout out Martinique for pushing on that Nations League prep.)
But they’re playing games as they look to mount projects that will get them qualified in the expanded 2026 World Cup - a tournament in which the region’s powers should already be qualified by virtue of hosting.
Will Honduras or Jamaica hang with Argentina?
No.
Who shows real progress?
…OK, fine I’ll go back to the Argentina games. Look, Argentina not only qualified for the World Cup but is among the favorites to win the thing. Honduras and Jamaica both slogged through the final round of World Cup qualification in Concacaf and missed the tournament. Each is now on a journey to get back to respectability with a new manager, some new players and time to go before their next meaningful game. It could get ugly. Daunting start to Heimir Hallgrímsson’s time in Jamaica.
Among teams that didn’t make the final round, I’m perhaps most intrigued by Suriname and Nicaragua, who meet in a few hours with the Azul y Blanco later playing Ghana.
Suriname’s steps forward under Dean Gorre seem to have been undone, with interim boss Aron Winter seeing mass absences for this friendly match taking place in the Netherlands. It’s not a long trip for most of his guys, but between injuries and players opting out for other reasons, the squad is a bit depleted. Winter told De Telegraaf he’d take over the team in March and work on another trip to the Gold Cup, so it may be an audition of sorts this evening.
There’s no doubt Suriname has the talent to improve. With Nicaragua, that’s less certain.
Playing games like these under Marco Antonio Figueroa, “El Fantasma”, should help, and Nicaragua currently sits atop its League B group in the Nations League. It’s been a long time, though, since Los Pinoleros were playing top teams. With a squad still largely based in Nicaragua, in a country still focused on other sports, it will take a few more results before we can consider them an outside candidate for 2026.
How great is this?
God bless soccer.