Concacaf Champions League

Mexico has gone into the empty belly of the beast and defeated the Netherlands 1-0 at Johan Cruijff ArenA. The game’s only goal — a penalty converted by Raúl Jiménez — was fortunate in that Jiménez was offside before the foul that led to the spot kick, but Mexico’s play in defense, midfield and attack was superior to the Dutch’s over the course of 90 minutes in Amsterdam.

Here are my five key takeaways after watching Wednesday’s match on ESPN2.    

#1. Tecatito is fun as hell.

It’s flown under the radar since it’s not within the FIFA International Match Calendar — meaning European clubs aren’t obligated to release players — but the Mexico national team returns to action on Wednesday night with a friendly against Guatemala at the Azteca. 

It’s been almost a year since we last saw El Tri (a 2-1 victory over Bermuda back on Nov. 19, 2019), but the likes of Miguel Layún, Uriel Antuna and José Juan Macías are finally back in action for the world’s 11th-ranked nation.

The first ever Gold Cup Group Stage Draw has pitted the USMNT against the foes from up north, Canada. Joining the U.S. and Canada in Group B is Martinique and the winner of a play-in round that will be one of the following teams: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Bermuda, Barbados or Haiti.

In case you are unfamiliar with the structure of the 2021 Gold Cup, I refer you here. 

FIFA has suspended Trinidad and Tobago from international soccer after its football association (TTFA) pursued a dispute through the country's High Court in contravention of the world governing body's statutes.

The TTFA and FIFA have been at loggerheads since March after the world governing body dissolved the executive of the cash-strapped association.

CONCACAF and FIFA provided an update on the 2022 World Cup qualifying process with an announcement that the First Round is being pushed back to March 2021 due to COVID-19 concerns. 

Update on the Concacaf Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 https://t.co/5OK6XtibM6

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.

Hopefully, the party was worth it. Knowing what it was celebrating, it probably was.

Leon Bailey will miss part of Bayer Leverkusen’s preseason after Jamaican authorities forced him into a 14-day quarantine. The reason? He was at the birthday party of Usain Bolt, who last week became one of the most high-profile athletes to test positive for Covid-19.

The preliminary draw for Concacaf 2022 World Cup Qualifying first round was revealed along with the schedules for teams in the Final Round on Wednesday. The usual Hex format has been scrapped with the new Octagonal. 

Eight nations will compete in the final Octagonal with five (USMNT, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras and Jamaica) automatically qualified. The three nations joining these five will come from this pot of nations.

Three years ago, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, leaving the territory’s infrastructure in shambles. Soccer was an afterthought, with hundreds of thousands left without homes and millions left without power. 

This week, Puerto Rico revealed its road to recovery for soccer in the U.S. territory, with an ambitious plan to build green, eco-friendly stadiums that double as shelters during natural disasters — and a goal to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.