It's interesting to see how in the last few years the US and Mexico have become similar to Rangers/Celtic in terms of quality and $$. The owner of Chivas made some interesting comments about the new relationship between the two countries..... http://www.mlsnet.com/content/03/mls0623quotes.html Vergara on how the game benefits Chivas economically: "Here we are looking for more than commercial benefits. We are in search of being able to beat the United States and showing that Mexico is still capable. There are benefits comercially and economically but in this case they are not important. We are really looking for the soccer benefit of this, and being able to beat the United States." Gazidis on the future integration of U.S Soccer and Mexican Soccer: "I think the growth of U.S Soccer has been of benefit to the game in Mexico. Now we have a real rivalry in the region." "In a larger sense, the future of Mexican Soccer and U.S. Soccer are tied together. These are two countries which are neighbors. We're tied together demographically, socially and economically. Now we're integrating into the world soccer scene together. In a wider sense that will only raise soccer in this region and benefit us as we go out to compete against other regions in the world." What does the rest of region think of this? I think it has raised the game for the whole region.
The success of the US in particular & the lack of success for Canada (particularly in the 1996-97 period) helped to give Canadian soccer a kick in the butt to get its house in shape & start improving in a hurry. There are still things that need to be fixed (getting a better domestic pro scene in Canada, & some stadiums we can actually play soccer in, to name but two), but overall I'm a lot happier with the direction soccer in Canada has been heading in since our Director of Development, Holger Osieck, was hired in late 1998. Our team was on a downward sprial prior to that.
Well, you brought up Scotland... Do you really think Celtic and Rangers have helped out Scottish soccer? I'm not so sure. I think the rest of the teams have just accepted that they'll be 1-2 and are playing for 3rd place. Motherwell isn't aspiring to beat Celtic - they're aspiring to beat Hearts and finish third. I hope that doesn't happen in Concacaf. One comment, though... Costa Rica throws things off a bit because they're close to the US and Mexico in soccer achievements. In Scotland, arbitrarily assigning ranks to teams, they have two teams ranked 10 and then a gap to the rest of the teams ranked 6 and below. In Concacaf, it might be more like two 10s, then CR as a 9, then a bunch of 7s or so. I don't think there's as much separation as there is in the Scottish league, and I really hope it doesn't develop into the same situation.
Well now. I dont find this comparisson very accurate. In fact Costa Rica has had better results against the USA and MExico in both of the last 2 WC qualifiers.. on the other hand we didnt qualify to France 98.. and we didnt play any of the above teams in the WC but we did play the USA in the Gold Cup Final. The rivalry CR - Mex or CR - USA in the past few years has been more exciting or at least more competitive than the USA - Mex one. The only reason that the USA - Mexico rivalry is getting big is because they play way too many games against each other. The USA has had Mexico's number in the past few years, in fact Costa Rica has been much more successful against the USA than MExico. USA vs Mexico currently not much a rivalry right now. Old Firm is more than just a soccer rivalry, in the USA most of the people dont even care about the team. I dont think there is a big big rivalry in Concacaf ala Brazil - Arg., Holland - Germany, England - Germany. Perhaps among Central American countries. Just because most of the people here either support Mexico or the USA doesnt make it the biggest rivalry.. heck if there were half as many ticos as mexican supporters here it would be a different story. In the field I like the USA - CR rivalry right now.
I disagree. Maybe the US-Mexico rivalry has been a bit one sided the last 2-3 years, but it won't always be that way. USA-CR is a good on field rivalry, but it doesn't have the excitement or political under tones of a US-Mexico match. I'm willing to bet that 99% of US fans consider Mexico our main rival, not Costa Rica.
Say 99% of 5% of the total population which follows soccer? Far away from the Old Firm. You do make a good point though, it has helped raise the level in the Region, the U$A has enough money to play anyone and their level of play is really good (except in Europe). That exposure has boosted the stocks of the Concacaf.