This past international window for our National Teams within this confederation of CONCACAF proved to be fruitful and exciting in three different competitions within two tournaments. Of course, everyone knew that the Nations League Semis, 3rd place match, and Final were always going to be the show stopper, but the PLy-in games for the final two Copa America spots were up for grabs as well as the beginning of the journey for the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualification.
Let's start with the opening round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifying. Four nations trying to advance toward the second round that will start this coming June. We had the battle of the Virgin Islands as the US was taking on the British, and while we can say the goal-scoring wasn't there, the action was. In the opening leg, the US V.I. took the lead on aggregate when Jeff Blaschja converted the opening goal in the 74th minute and it felt the home side was going to survive, but the British V.I. had other plans. In second-half stoppage time, Hugo Costa Liziario found the equalizer and it was off to the other Virgin Island for the second leg.
While no goals in regulation or extra time in the second leg, the aggregate knotted at one a piece, and it was time for a penalty kick shootout. The hero for the British V.I. was goalkeeper Frankie Beckles denying two of US V.I.'s penalties and the winning penalty kick tacker was Azarni Callwood as they put their side through.
The other first-round aggregate qualifiers were between Anguilla and Turks & Caicos. Both sides kept each other off the scoresheet in the opening leg, but the action came in the closing leg, and that one also ended in a penalty kick shootout after going one all in regulation and extra time. Once again, Billy Forbes of Turks & Caicos led his team to open the scoring in the 23rd minute of the second leg, and it felt like they would be the ones to advance until Luke Paris converted the equalizer in first-half stoppage time. It took extra kicks to get the winner from Kian Duncan as Anguilla won it 4-3 in the shootout while going one all through regulation and extra time.
In the CONCACAF Nations League play-in games, we saw four teams battle for two spots to earn the final placements in this summer's Copa America. Both matches were at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, Canada defeated Trinidad & Tobago two goals to nil from Cyle Larin and Jacob Shaffelburg as they punished the Soca Warriors, and then the Central American Darby between Costa Rica and Honduras came next. Michaell Chirinos opened the scoring for Hounduas in the 10 minute, but it was all Ticos when Orlando Galo equalized two minutes later and then it was all over in the second half from Warren Madrigal and Jefferson Brenes scored to stamp their tickets.
We all saw what happened at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It was a strong showing from the top four sides battled through the group stages and the quarterfinals to reach this plateau. While Jamaica finished in third place over Panama, the USA showed why they were dominant over Mexico again to win their third consecutive Nations League title. What does this mean for the Confederation as a whole? To me, this is showing that CONCACAF is getting stronger. The Nations League has helped those nations who would never play international friendly games, get involved in official competition matches to improve their play when the time comes for Gold Cup qualifying and World Cup Qualifying instead of being thrown into the wolves toward one and done.
CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani deserves a lot of credit for creating this competition and involving all nations that are FIFA and non-FIFA members who needed minutes on the international level for their nations. While there is still plenty of work to do to climb the level of play globally, it feels good to see the rest of the Caribbean zone starting to catch up with the North and Central American Zones and attempt to be at the same level or better. Right now, we should be happy that there is success across the confederation.
It would be interesting to speculate how the skill level of these little island nations' national teams would compare to U.S. pro soccer teams (Jamaica excluded of course!). Everyone would agree that an average MLS team could probably beat the pants off all of most of these island teams. But how about USL Championship or League One teams?? The fact that so few of those national teams feature any player of renown, be it pro or even college level, makes one think that perhaps the skill level falls between USL League Two and NPSL?? Please discuss!!
Im hoping we see the two Caribbean cups get more participants in future iterations. Usually it seems like a lot of countries don't even enter a team into it maybe because they don't even have pro leagues?