Concacaf and Conmebol are already competing ‘side-by-side’

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In the past FIFA date, the Central American teams gave a slap to those of South America: of eight games they played among themselves, they did not lose any

At the end of March, the news in the world of football, especially the American one, was the result of the clashes between the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) and the Confederation of North America, Central America and the Caribbean Football (CONCACAF) that, of eight games played among themselves, the teams from the south of the continent couldn't win even one.

Leer en español: ¡Concacaf ya le compite 'de tú a tú' a la Conmebol!

As reported by ESPN, of these meetings, the teams from Central and North America won four and tied four, with special participation from Mexico, which managed two wins against Chile (3-1) and against Paraguay (4-2). The picture of victories is completed by the amazing 2-0 of El Salvador to Peru and the 1-0 of the United States to Ecuador.

For its part, Panama tied a goal against Brazil, like 'La Roja' against the United States, while Ecuador drew 0-0 with Honduras, and Bolivia did not go further a 2-2 result against Nicaragua.

Change of command?

It is no secret to anyone that CONMEBOL throughout history leads the numbers in terms of direct clashes with the CONCACAF teams. According to the Data-Driven Solutions platform (Data4), for 2016, the confederations had faced each other a total of 697 times. At that time, 48% of the historical encounters resulted in victories for the South American teams, against 27% of victories achieved by the selections of the upper part of the American continent.

Only three years ago, in the Copa America Centenario, the two finalist teams of the same tournament in 2015, Chile and Argentina, as well as the gold finalists in the same year, Mexico and the United States, faced each other in clashes that demonstrated the supremacy of CONMEBOL against CONCACAF. The exercise conducted by the newspaper AS showed that in both games the South Americans were superior in every way, especially in the score: Chile 7-0 Mexico, in the quarterfinals, and Argentina 4-0 United States, in the semifinals of the cup.

However, the result of the last FIFA date resulted in a pleasant surprise for American and Central American fans, while generating some doubts and concerns for their South American peers.

Data4 ensures that only once in history has CONCACAF been superior to CONMEBOL, and it was in the decade of the 60, when the first exceeded by a victory (20) the second (19), out of a total of 49 matches that they were played from 1960 to 1969. Now, this is the story that the South Americans of today do not want to live.

It may interest you: Together but not upset! Concacaf and Conmebol say no to FIFA

Lack of planning

However, which could be the reason for what many have considered as a decline of South American football? Perhaps the best answer is the one that the BBC presented in one of its articles, which explains that, although in the South they have men of great renown in the best European leagues and the rest of the world, in their national teams they do not have same as in their clubs: a process.

The English media remembers that there are very few South American teams that believe in planning as a basis to be able to reap victories in the future, highlighting the work of Uruguay that has been headed by Óscar Tabárez for more than 10 years. At his command, 'La Celeste' reached a Copa America (2011), as well as the semifinals and quarterfinals of the World Cups in South Africa 2010 and Russia 2018, respectively.

Although Chile also showed support for a process with a surprising generation of players who stayed with the last two Copa America, 'La Roja' has not been able to raise its head after not qualifying for the last World Cup and the starry arrival that the Colombian Reinaldo Rueda to the technical bench has had.

The rest of the teams have not decided to believe in true processes that lead them to win triumphs. There are examples such as Brazil (Tite), Peru (Ricardo Gareca) and Venezuela (Rafael Dudamel) who have retained their coaches for several years, but have not been able to determine what their dream formation is, testing with players who pass lightly through the international teams of your country, without establishing themselves as truly indispensable for the growth of them.

On the other hand, there are some like Colombia and Argentina, that until now are organizing a new beginning, hoping to fulfill the two America Cups that already arrive (2019 and 2020), as well as the qualifiers to Qatar 2022; everything in a race against time, which is needed to sow serious processes if what they really want is to win.

LatinAmerican Post | Christopher Ramírez Hernández

Translated from "¡Concacaf ya le compite 'de tú a tú' a la Conmebol!"