Foot & Soccer Soccer Match Reports, Football News
March 6 – With the Concacaf Nations League Finals (CNLF) two weeks away, the confederation has stepped up preparation for the final four event at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Starting March 21 the Dallas Metropolitan area will host the most important Concacaf men’s competition of the year with, sandwiched between the semi-finals and final, the final knock-out play-ins in Frisco, Texas, for the final two Concacaf slots at the Copa America.
Texas has become a key go-to hosting venue for Concacaf having hosted multiple Gold Cup game. The Dallas area will host nine matches for the World Cup in 2026 including a semi-final. It is the first time it has hosted the Nations league, now in its third edition.
“The Nations League has been a gamechanger for Concacaf and transformational for our nations. We have 41 member associations many of whom before the Nations League would play just two matches, home and away, in the four-year cycle between Gold Cups. For a lot of them they were sitting idle for three years, just playing occasional friendlies,” said Phillippe Moggio, Concacaf general secretary.
Philippe Moggio: Nations League has been transformational
“This competition has given all 41 members the opportunity to compete consistently in a 4-year cycle and with the way this is designed, with promotion and relegation, there is something for everyone.”
Moggio makes the point that the competition is raising standards and giving nations the incentive to develop, knowing there is a consistent pathway to the top tier.
The proof of this is that in its third edition, there will now have been seven different nations who have made it to the final four.
Mexico and the USA have been the ever-present countries, the US having won the first two editions beating Mexico in the first final in Denver and Canada last summer in Las Vegas, having beaten Mexico in a spectacular semi-final.
The four national team coaches – Heimir Hallgrímsson (Jamaica), Jaime Lozano…
Source link : https://www.insideworldfootball.com/2024/03/06/nations-league-finalists-draw-battle-lines-mexico-panama-jamaica-promise-burst-us-bubble-texas/
Author : Paul Nicholson
Publish date : 2024-03-06 08:02:42
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
