A more apt question is which Concacaf team has the most unrealized potential but the above title is snappier. What do you guys think? US and Mexico aside, what is a team that has significant upside? Costa Rica is an established Central American power but how much further can they go? Can Panama equal their feats and become a rival to Los Ticos after making history in 2018? I would like to see a strong Jamaican side to assert itself as the perennial Carribean representative. Am I the only one who thinks they've underachieved since 98? I dont know why but always felt they should be better.
Not I think Jamaica given who they could potentially call up is underachieving. The D.R. could certainly be doing better than they have. Guatemala and Canada are others that come to mind
The only thing standing between being insignificant and a force to reckon with is in fact a competent, visionary FA, backed by their gouvernment. Just look at Iceland and what they did do to come to the point they are now! They were twice in a qualifying group with odds against them. For the WC2018 they ended above the later finalist Croatia!
Canada. We're going back to our pre 90s status ad regional power with the likes of Alphonso Davies, Liam Millar, Jonathan David, Cyle Larin, Lucas Cavallini, Junior Hoilett and Scott Arfield. Our new top league starts next spring and more players are coming
Agree. Canada had an excellent stage between the 70's and 90's . Almost qualified to Argentina 78 and Spain 82. At that time the final hexagonal was made in a specific venue: 1977 in Mexico City (4th place) , 1981 Tegucigalpa (4th place ) . f they had been home and away games maybe Canada would have classified before. We must remember that at that time Canada was far superior to the USA and they won or tied away matches .
In 1978, Mexico was the only team to qualify. They won all 5 games in the last round, which was 10 points then. Canada was fourth with 2 wins, 1 draw, and 2 losses. In 1982, Canada was closer, but still the second team out. Honduras qualified with 8 points, El Salvador qualified with 6, Mexico had 5 and a +3 goal differential, and Canada had 5 and a +0. I don't know what the tiebreakers were back then, but the game between Canada and Mexico was a draw, so head-to-head couldn't have decided who was higher. CONCACAF had 15 teams attempt to qualify for 1982.
Surinam is far, far away from being of any significance, being trashed by Sparta Rotterdam: https://www.rijnmond.nl/media/83253/Alle-goals-van-Sparta-Suriname-5-2
Clubs have an advantage over NTs. They're together way more often and practice daily. Suriname is still a minnow and would obviously get trashed by a European club.
Ok last week they were far far away from being significance, but what about the 1970s when Suriname's top clubs and the Dutch's top clubs met in the Netherlands in the same period as the Dutch league reached its peak.
This thread is not clear in whatever to discuss the historical context or just reflected the current situation.
It is called the Canadian Premier League The logo color will change to match each team's colors on the kit The red logo on the kit will be used by Canada day, Canadian Championship games and Champions League games As of 2020, the defending champion will have a gold CPL logo Promotion/Relegation The league will launch a Division II tier in 2026 and start at pro/rel structure. The plan is to grow the league up to that point and split it in half to create 2 National league from coast to coast The league announced that it would also start Division III which heavily implies the takeover of current regional leagues under its umbrella. League structure There will be no conference. It will be single table with no playoffs. The CSA has already started the process of getting extra berth for Canada to qualify for the Champions League. Any extra berths will be hand over to the Canadian Premier League champions and potentially the runner up. The season will be 28 games long from April to October. No All-Star games, friendlies are planned. Teams (From left to right after the league logo) Pacific FC, Greater Victoria, British Columbia Cavalry FC, Calgary, Alberta FC Edmonton, Edmonton, Alberta Valour FC, Winnipeg, Manitoba Forge FC, Hamilton, Ontario York 9 FC, York Region, Ontario HFX Wanderers, Halifax, Nova Scotia Ottawa Fury, Ottawa Ontario* *Strong clues points out to Ottawa Fury leaving USL to upgrade to CPL as it's unlikely that the CSA will allow them to stay. **CPL is in talks with 18 cities to join the league ***MLS teams Toronto FC, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps will not be forced into CPL. However, the CSA still holds all the cards and have the final say on where they ultimately play. Rosters Half the roster will have to be Canadian 6 players out of 11 will have to be Canadian at all time Minimum dedicated minutes might be allocated to youth players. The rosters will be built by drawing on 5 pools Foundationals: Canadians playing in top leagues and National team members Up and coming: Young Canadians playing in D2 or less around the world Homegrown: Teams will have the 1st chance to sign youth players in their respective territories to a contract Colleges and Universities: CPL is in talk with U-Sports (Canadian University network which surprisingly have over 50 teams) to implement a draft Open Market: International players
Canada's a good choice, they have some good young talent, but I'm going to give a vote to Dominican Republic. Large population, they've had good results recently, I could see them challenging for a Gold Cup spot.
They've been challenging for a Gold Cup spot, and would've qualified for 2013 if Miguel Lloyd didn't have the worst game of his life against Trinidad and Tobago in the 2012 Caribbean Cup when the Dominicans were actually favored to beat them and grab a berth.
I'm referring to qualifying during this cycle, and building toward the future. And sorry, making 2 Caribbean Cups out of 18 and nearly getting out of the group once doesn't qualify for me as consistently challenging for a spot in the Gold Cup.
The DR reminds me of Panama of the 90s. Panama was bad because they focused mostly on baseball. The DR has a large population and is also economically stable, has relatively good infrastructure. If they focused more on football they can improve dramatically.
Dominican Republic is improving in soccer, they have the potential but Haiti is WAY ahead of them in terms of talent