In 2019, Concacaf held the largest-ever Gold Cup, with 16 teams creating an event that was actually pretty exciting. For the 2021 Gold Cup format, Concacaf is doubling down on the 16-team field but adding some weird new spice to the tournament — and for some reason an odd choice for its first guest participant in over a decade.
CONCACAF has unveiled a new qualification format for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after COVID-19 forced a rejig of the usual system, the governing body for soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean said on Monday.
The new format, which will feature all 35 of the region's members, has been split into three rounds with the first being played in October and November with teams ranked from No. 6 to No. 35 in CONCACAF as of July 16 drawn into six groups of five.
SAN JOSE — Costa Rica became the first country in the Americas to restart their professional soccer league on Tuesday, with an afternoon game played behind closed doors and substitutes sitting in the stands to ensure their distance from others.
The Costa Rican league was suspended on March 15 but Guadalupe’s 1-0 victory over Limon was the first of six games due to be held across the Central American nation this week.
"It is difficult to get up to speed again," said Arturo Campos, scorer of Guadalupe’s winning goal. "We feel heavy, but we are happy to return."
FIFA has proposed that teams should be allowed to make up to five substitutions per match, instead of the usual three, as a temporary measure to help cope with potential fixture congestion in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Football has been at a standstill since mid-March but many leagues and federations are still hoping to complete the season but to do so they would have to cram fixtures into a shorter period than usual once play re-starts.
The format and dates for CONCACAF's qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar are up in the air due to the sports shutdown amid the coronavirus pandemic, confederation president Victor Montagliani said Monday.
Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Montagliani admitted that CONCACAF could wind up changing how it determines which three teams will earn direct berths in the World Cup and which one will head to an inter-continental playoff.
LAFC made MLS history Thursday night while the Seattle Sounders avoided it. The Sounders left a sour taste in the mouth of MLS fans on what was a monumental night in the Concacaf Champions League.
Let’s start with the good news. Carlos Vela and company became the first MLS team to defeat a Liga MX side after losing the first leg by multiple goals.
Last Wednesday, El Salvador’s Alianza FC upset Tigres 2-1 in the most eye-catching result of the CONCACAF Champions League Round of 16 first legs. Playing the reverse fixture at El Volcán in Mexico tonight, Tigres’ wrath seemed unavoidable. After all, the Liga MX club has finished runner-up three of the last four years and has a favorable route to this year’s final as the only Mexican team on its side of the bracket.
Thierry Henry, one of the greatest strikers of his generation, isn’t much of a proven manager. Though he played for the likes of Arsene Wenger, Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti, his first stint as Monaco coach was about as bad as it gets. The former World Cup and Champions League winner clearly wasn’t ready to lead one of Europe’s top clubs.
Major League Soccer, on the other hand, might be the perfect place for the 42-year-old coach.
With top spot in Group A “up for grabs” at the 2020 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Championship, it took four minutes for Christen Press to effectively take it.
Costa Rica had never beaten the USWNT, lost 6-0 in a friendly back in November and smartly decided to rest seven starters with both eyes on a crucial semifinal matchup against either Canada or Mexico, but any notion of this being an entirely worthless exercise for the viewer at home was put to bed thanks to Press’s stunning early strike.
According to a press release from FOX Sports, the network has landed an exclusive multi-year English-language rights deal with CONCACAF for coverage of the 2021 and 2023 Gold Cups as well as men’s and women’s Olympic qualifiers and the CONCACAF Champions League.