Al-Ahram Weekly | Sports

		13 - 19 June 2002 Issue No.590 Sports	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

Mighty small
It sounds like decaffeinated coffee, but CONCACAF is indeed brewing up a storm

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The Americans, part of the CONCACAF group, tied with co-hosts South Korea to remain unbeaten

When you think of football's strongest sides, the mind wanders to Europe and the UEFA's powerhouse squads with all the pedigree and prestige a football fan could hope for.
South America's CONMEBOL squads also have legitimate claims to superiority with Argentina and Brazil among the ranks. Success stories are also being written in Asia and Africa.
But at the moment it is the traditionally humble CONCACAF -- which encompasses North America, Central America and the tiny islands of the Caribbean -- that has hit out at the 2002 World Cup with ferocious abandon.
The modest confederation's representatives were not only undefeated over the first string of first round clashes but managed to win them all.
Every confederation aside from CONCACAF has suffered a loss at the latest instalment of world football's finest feast -- holders France, China, Uruguay, Ecuador and Nigeria to name but a few.
But Costa Rica, the United States and Mexico, for the time being at least, are oozing confidence with a perfect record. Costa Rica downed Asian debutantes China 2-0 in their opening match on the strength of goals from Ronald Gomez and Mauricio Wright, then drew with Turkey 1-1. Mexico, too, earned two victories with a 1-0 win over aging Croatia and a 2-1 win against Ecuador. But it was left to the United States to pull off one of the shocks of the tournament, beating fancied Portugal 3-2 and moving on to tie co-hosts Korea 1-1.
"I wasn't surprised," said ecstatic US boss Bruce Arena following the storybook win. "I felt that Costa Rica would beat China. Mexico beat the team (Croatia) that finished third in the 1998 World Cup which was quite an accomplishment, and obviously we had a good win. This speaks well for our region. Hopefully our teams will continue to move forward and meet in the second round as well."
Could the tide be turning? While not many, aside from the confederation's most ardent supporters, would have the audacity to call CONCACAF a world power, thus far at least, the numbers tell a different tale.

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