Chuck Blazer is nice to enough to respond to my questions, and today I pay him back by calling for the destruction of his organization.
CONCACAF is so incompetent, they can't even get the cheap publicity of naming a Player of the Year. So I do it. It's usually kind of fun, but, well, how do YOU feel about CONCACAF right now?
There isn't much the US can do about the World Cup debacle that isn't difficult or risky. But while the USSF can't do much about FIFA, they can certainly take out their frustrations on CONCACAF.
Nick Green has what I'm sure will be a popular suggestion.
Soccer America charts how CONCACAF might have stayed loyal, but even then – the whole point of sucking up to Jack Warner was to gain an advantage in last week's elections. Whether he stabbed us in the back like he did England, or whether he worked his hardest for us – what's the difference? He didn't do his job.
Does South America want us, though? Mexico has been sending CONMEBOL little love notes for as long as any of us can remember. Yeah, having a second regional power has been profitable and all, but Mexico wants more than anything to be thought of in the same breath as Brazil and Argentina. If Mexico could have joined CONMEBOL before this, they would have. If Jack Warner annoys us American Joe Public-come-latelies, just imagine how much he pisses off the traditional powers in Mexico.
And while they will tolerate Chivas in Copa Libertadores, it's not really clear how many tickets the Rapids would sell – even if they had kept Claudio Lopez. Or what kind of TV ratings a Salt Lake game would get in Brazil.
Here's the interesting thing, though. South America has ten votes, and no beef with FIFA. They should have been plowed under by the super-federations with dozens of members, but Brazil was given a World Cup by acclamation. If FIFA is a one-nation, one-vote democracy, why hasn't CONMEBOL begged to join CONCACAF, rather than the other way round?
The lesson here is that smaller (by number) federations can work. So, let's get Mexico, Canada, and Central America, and break away from Jack Warner. Let CONCACAF become COCAF, and be this hemisphere's Oceania.
Hell, bring the Caribbean nations in, if they want. Make Trinidad a one-nation confederation.
Or bring Trinidad. Turn Jack Warner into the Emperor Norton of world soccer. The problem, though, is the power base that gave Warner such power. As long as the political power of the region lies in the Caribbean, CONCACAF is going nowhere fast.
Then again, it's not clear whether FIFA would recognize a breakaway confederation, especially one designed to flip off FIFA. I don't think it's written anywhere that FIFA can avenge slights against CONCACAF, and the Oceania precedent proves it takes very little to be a confederation, but considering the amount of power FIFA claims – i.e., that of God Almighty – I'd anticipate a ruckus.
In the short term, some of this is something you and I can do about. How much do you care about the CONCACAF Champions League now? A lot less than the Open Cup, I hope. What's the point of playing all those extra games? So Jack Warner can pretend he runs UEFA?
What's the downside? Missing the FIFA Club World Cup. Have you even noticed that thing? It's going on right this second. It's not making any money for anyone. As if we'd make it that far – the CONCACAF Champions League is just a cavalcade of refereeing screwjobs. If it's so important that Americans get that experience, send youth teams. Let the starters focus on games that matter.
Another way we can sit-down strike against CONCACAF, of course, is to take Green's implied advice, and ignore the Gold Cup. But here, we start to cut to the real meat of taking on FIFA – what it means for the national team. But that's complicated enough for a future post.
So, yeah, Players of the Year nominations for the world's most worthless confederation.
Landon and Marta, right? Any objections?