I don’t know what’s weirder, the fact that the U.S Youth National Team (USYNT) faced off against the U.S Virgin Islands in a FIFA u17 World Cup qualifier, or that they ended up winning with a final score of 22-0.

That’s Concacaf in a nutshell!

14 out of those 22 goals came in the first half, with Chase Adams getting 8(!) goal contributions in the half and 10 total, the most by any U.S player in a qualifier match. This was the biggest win in U.S Soccer history for any FIFA World Cup qualifying match, men or women. 

To put into context the scope of this feat, the u17s averaged one goal per approximately 4.5 minutes. If they scored the same amount of goals in 34 matches (one MLS regular season), they would have scored 680 goals. 

Wacky statistics aside, this result, and the Concacaf qualifying process for every level in general, is always bizarre. With 41 member nations, the confederation is smaller than its European, Asian, and African counterparts, but the distance in quality between the top three and everyone else is astronomical.

Aside from the occasional upset, there is close to zero parity in Concacaf play. If Honduras are playing against Bonaire, I’m pretty sure you don’t need to watch the match. If the U.S Virgin Islands are playing any country with a population size over one million, I’m pretty sure you don’t need to watch the match. You already know the result.

The lack of parity can be attributed to several factors such as Carribean islands preferring baseball rather than soccer, the financial struggles of several countries in the region, and most importantly, the lack of incentive for teams to succeed. 

This past summer, we saw the Euros and Copa America draw the eyes of the world, as they should. Both Conmebol and UEFA have a long history of success in international competitions. Concacaf, on the other hand, has always seemed to drag behind, particularly thanks to the U.S and their inability to go blow for blow against Mexico for years. 

The Concacaf equivalent of these competitions is the Gold Cup, but in complete honesty, it’s treated as an afterthought. In fact, the Concacaf Nations League, in my opinion, has added more to the majority of Concacaf’s members than the Gold Cup. The fact that the Nations League system has promotion and relegation means that there are actual stakes in wins and losses, even at the lower levels of the competition. 

The harsh reality is that there are very few  teams in Concacaf that can stand up to the big three of Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. Meanwhile, other confederations are filled with dramatic upsets and storylines that fans can get invested in. Concacaf needs to give its teams a reason to want to win, whether it’s increasing the weight of the Nations League or increasing the number of teams in the Gold Cup, something has to be done, or else we will keep seeing 22-0 scorelines for years to come.