Central America

Watch a couple minutes of Concacaf U-17 Championship highlights and one thing is clear: There is a lot of talent in the youth ranks at some of North America and Central America. 

This isn’t that surprising to anyone who follows MLS these days. Two of the biggest stars in the field are Mexico’s Efrain Alvarez and the United States’ Gianluca Busio, two 16-year-olds who are already making waves in MLS. 

Montserrat — a tiny Caribbean island of less than 40 square miles named by Christopher Columbus, a territory of fewer than 5,000 inhabitants that was wrecked by a volcano 24 years ago, with a team ranked No. 200 in the world — is one win away from qualifying for the 2019 Gold Cup.

Legendary American wide man DaMarcus Beasley began his 20th year as a professional on Tuesday, and the 36-year-old started with an almighty bang.

After preaching the verb “compete” as one of the mantras of his new leadership, Gregg Berhalter began his reign as USMNT manager with a 3-0 victory over Panama on Sunday night. The first starting eleven of Berhalter’s tenure included five players making their international debuts, and three of them — Real Salt Lake’s Corey Baird, Chicago’s Djordje Mihailovic and San Jose’s Nick Lima — played huge roles in the opening two goals.

The third was created and finished by two more players making their international debuts — NYCFC's Jonathan Lewis and LAFC's Christian Ramirez. 

Last we saw the Panama women's soccer team, Yenith Bailey was doing everything she could to try to get the tiny Central American nation to its first ever women’s World Cup. Panama fell just short, finishing fourth place in the Concacaf Women’s Championship, missing out on the final automatic berth.

Lost amidst the scratched Frenchmen and bashed Irishmen during the opening day of the UEFA Nations League on Thursday was the start of the Concacaf Nations League. Kind of.

England’s putting on a finishing clinic versus Panama to begin Sunday’s World Cup group play. John Stones sent a precise downward header beyond Jaime Penedo to open the scoring, Harry Kane added England’s second with an emphatic penalty and Jesse Lingard added the third with one of the best goals of the tournament so far. A second from Stones and another Kane penalty has England up 5-0 at the half.

Here’s the opener from Stones.

Club América vs. Tauro delivered an entertaining CONCACAF Champions League fixture last night.

Barely 3,000 fans attended the game at Estadio Azteca as Las Águilas hosted Panama's powerhouse Club Tauro.

Even after Tauro achieved a shock victory against Dallas FC in the round of 16, it was expected that Miguel Herrera's pupils would come out victorious.

On paper, this is one of the more shocking upsets you’ll ever see in the CONCACAF Champions League. FC Dallas joined the Colorado Rapids as victims of the CCL Round of 16, leaving just Seattle and NYRB as the only remaining American representatives. But while Colorado’s defeat to Toronto FC was widely expected, Dallas’ plummet from grace continues to be a free fall.