Panama will host the next Central American Cup

         The next Central American Cup will be held in Panama --Surprise - Surprise Surprise!

As you can see it is Guatemala's turn to host. Guatemala has not hosted since 2005 and Panama recently hosted in 2011. 

Year	Host	Champion
2003	Panama	Costa Rica
2005	Guatemala	Costa Rica
2007	El Salvador	Costa Rica
2009	Honduras	Panama
2011	Panama	Honduras
2013	Costa Rica	Costa Rica
2014	United States	Costa Rica
2017	Panama

              It seems that Panama's economy, influence and bid "package" was able to influence the bid committee.

          Neither Nicaragua nor Belize has ever host this regional tournament. If I was going to guess I thought it would be either Nicaragua or Belize. Then I would have had odds that Guatemala, El Salvador then Honduras would be next in line to host in that order. So what happened to "who's turn is it?"
   

        

Rommell Stadium  has had major renovations for the 2011 tournament. The Stadium now has a nice looking roof for many fans. The last Central American Cup Rommell hosted all the games. I don't see any change here.

The tournament will be 17–28 January 2017.

Canada should play in the Central American Cup

------------

The Central American Cup is lacking since it only has 7 nations playing in this nice little tournament.  7 nations create an odd group of only 3 nations. The group needs a 4^th team to complete the group. I believe the Central American Cup should invite Canada to participate. This would finally complete the odd group. The odd group always created an advantage for the winners of that group. The winners, who advance only have to play 2 group games as opposed to 3 group games for the other group. Adding a 8th nation would create 2 groups of 4 teams and making for a nicer tournament.  This idea is good for Canada since they would get more competitive games, good for the Central American participants since they get an extra Gold Cup chance and extra competitive games and good for the tournament since it will complete the odd group of 3 and provide 2 brackets and draw more interest and excitement.

 Canada should offer their guaranteed Gold Cup slot as bait. Presently the CA Cup places the 4 top teams in the Gold Cup. The 5^th place team (Honduras ) plays the 5^th Caribbean Cup (French Guiana) team for the last spot. If Canada offered their spot, CA Cup would place the 5 top teams from the tournament directly into the Gold Cup.  

The tournament could have the top 2 teams in each group earn 4 slots for the Gold Cup. They would play in a knockout round for the Central American Championship so nothing would change here. The bottom 4 teams would also play in their own  knockout round. This is the huge added advantage of having 8 teams in this tournament. Every game becomes crucial. Group A 3^rd plays Group B’s 4^th place and Group B’s 3^rd place plays Group a’s 4^th place finisher. The 2 winners of the consolation knockout play each other for the last guaranteed spot. The Champion of this bracket now have something to play for. The winner receives Canada's guarantee Gold Cup spot. This creates so much more interest for this bracket. 
The loser of this consolation round would still get to play the 5^th place Caribbean nations for the last spot for the Gold Cup. This will not change.

Good for Central American Teams

The arrangement would guarantee at least 4 competitive games for every nation which is badly needed in CONCACAF. The 4 teams would get 5 competitive games, and the other 4 team are guaranteed 4 competitive games.  Presently there are only 12 matches. Adding Canada would increase the total matches to 18 competitive games. The loser of the 3 team group only get to play 3  games and the nations fans are left empty. They have to wait 2 more years for this tournament. The loser of the 4 team group also only get to play 3 competitive group  games and does not participate in the 5th  place finish game. These less talented teams (Nicaragua, Belize and whoever) needs more games to get better. Adding an 8th nation would provide these badly needed games.
The top teams will not have a negative effect since they will still play in the knock out rounds, still get their guaranteed 4 spots for the Gold Cup and still crown a Champion for this regional tournament. I think if the Gold Cup and CONMEBOL Championship can add teams to increase the tournament then the Central American Cup should also. 

Good for Canada

            First of all Canada badly needs competitive national team games, especially before the Gold Cup. They just do not get enough. Playing in another tournament to warm up for the Gold Cup is a great idea. Playing against teams that are about your equal is even better. The Central American Cup is a perfect tournament that meet both these needs.  These teams are great with the soccer ball at their feet. They do not panic with the ball and are skillful dribblers. Canada was bigger, faster and more athletic however they need this type of competition to sharpen their skills. This tournament would provide 4 to 5 very competitive games that mean something. Friendlies against Iceland, Moldova and Bulgaria are just not the same.  

            As for the Gold Cup, Canada shouldn't just get an automatic bid; they should have to qualify for it. Entering the CA Cup would solve this issue. Canada did not advance out of the group stage in the 2011, 2013 and 2015 Gold Cup’s. This left Canada with only 3 competitive games for the year, for their national team. The 2009 Gold Cup was only one better they advanced but lost in the opening game of the knockout round, thus playing in only 4 competitive games. This give the Canadian faithful an empty feeling after only watching your national team play only 3 games. The Canadian fans had to wait 2 more years only to see their team fail yet again. The Central American Cup would be a great measuring stick as to how far your nation has advanced. t 
         The teams in the Central American Cup are almost the same teams they face in the Gold Cup. Playing in the Central American Cup as a guest would provide the Canadian faithful with a nice competitive tournament before the Gold Cup. Since Canada doesn't make the World Cup, a tournament like this would do great to raise the interest of the sport in Canada and improve the national team. Qualifying for the Gold Cup would draw more interest to the Canadian national team. 

            I think Canada should offer their guaranteed slot to the Central American Cup to entice the nations (tournament) to invite them.  As for those of you who say this is crazy, why miss out on the Gold Cup….I say if Canada cannot get at least 5^th place in the Central American  Cup then they don’t deserve to go anyway.

This is how things could work. The top 2 teams in each group get the coveted 4 Gold Cups spots. These top 4 teams then play in the Championship knockout rounds, just like it is now. Tjhe winner is the Central American Champion.

Group A	Group B
Costa Rica	Honduras
Panama	Guatemala
Canada	El Slavador
Belize	Belize

              Lets say Costa Rica, Panama, Canada and Belize are in group A and finish that way. Costa Rica and Panama make the knockout round. Group B of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua finish this way. Honduras and Guatemala  proceed to the Championship knockout rounds. These 4 nations will get the 4 guaranteed spots for the Gold Cup. So nothing new here. 

What will be different and better; will be the bottom 4 teams will enter their own MEANINGFUL knockout rounds.  The winner will get Canada's automatic spot for the Gold Cup. The bottom 4 teams enter their own knockout round for Canada’s extra Gold Cup spot. Here is an example. Canada will play Nicaragua and El Salvador will play Belize and the winners play each other for the Canada's automatic spot.
This way all nations in this tournament will play a minimum of 4 competitive games and the 4 others will  get to play 5 competitive games. This increases competitive games for all most every team for this tournament. 

            Lets now say Nicaragua hosted the next tournament. Nicaragua would still have the fans at the games since they would be fighting for the last Gold Cup spot. This would or should increase attendance and interest to ANY host nation and their fans even if they don't participate in the Championship bracket. 

Bad for Canada: Not really

Now let's  Canada doesn't win the final of the losers bracket. They still have a chance to play in the Gold Cup by qualifying for the Central American v Caribbean playoff spot.  They would do this by losing in the Championship of the losers bracket.  This now would give Canada 5 competitive games in the Central American Cup and 2 more games in the playoff against the Caribbean nation 5th place finisher. Qualifying this way would be the best of all cases for Canada. Why?
Well First of all if Canada can not place in the top 4 of the Central American Cup, nor make the final of the losers bracket then you can be assured they could be losing these games in the Gold Cup against better competition. 
OK....you say! i make a good point but why is it the best. IT become the best since Canada would maximize their competitive games in the Central American Cup with 5 games and then have the huge advantage of playing 2 more games against a quality Caribbean nation like Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana or even Dominican Republic. This would give Canada 7 quality, confidence building games leading up to the Gold Cup. This would give the Canadian team such a huge advantage to work as a cohesive team and finally advance out of the group stage of the regional tournament. 

The worse case is Canada doesn't qualify as a top 4 Central American participant and lose the losers bracket against lowly Belize or Nicaragua. I don't think Canada would have advanced in the Gold Cup (only 3 games). So Canada would still play one more competitive game this year. That is the worse case. 
Every other scenario Canada benefits and that is why they should offer their automatic Gold Cup spot as bait to play in the Central American Cup.

Central American Cuo review

Central American Cup 2011


Ok, I have been absent from my blog duties and I am very sorry. The next favorite tournament I like next to the Gold Cup is the Central American Cup. This tournament is a step up from the Caribbean Cup since it does not last 3 months like the Caribbean Cup and the play is better for the most part. IT usually has bigger crowds and interest. As we know the top 5 qualify for the Gold Cup. This year’s tournament was played in Panama’s Rommell Stadium. I was a little disappointed at first with the attendance. Panama played a friendly against Costa Rica and over 30,000 were in attendance. I was thinking this same number would turn out to support their nation in the competitive Central American Cup. I was wrong the biggest crowd was only 20,000. Taking a closer look and with time to reflect I would have to say that soccer and the national teams are progressing slowly but steadily.

Attendance:
Like I said I was disappointed in the Panama fans. Only 10k turned out for the group game against El Salvador. Only a few hundred attended Belize and Nicaragua games. This is a shame no one in Panama supported their nation in the group stage. Shame on their fans. Only 10k turned out for the knock out game against the border rival Costa Rica. I guess they(the fans)though they were going to win the tournament and were waiting for the final. Well it serves them right. Their national team needed a full stadium but only 10k came to the Costa Rica game. Any national would be inspired playing in front of a passionate, full house to spur their team to victory. Panama fans abandoned their team when the team needed them the most. Their fans no not deserve the Championship. They (Panama) had 32k turn out for a friendly (Costa Rica) but only 10 for the Central American Cup. I do not know why but this is a reason why the Gold Cup will not be hosted in a Central American nation. No one is interested in other nations….including Panama. Honduras and El Salvador had much better turn out for their national team. 20k turned out for every group game in Tegucigalpa and 20k turned out for the one knockout game Honduras played. This was more that twice the attendance Panama produced.
First we have to congratulate Honduras for winning the tournament away from Home. Honduras won the hard group consisting of Costa Rica and Guatemala. They then proceeded to beat El Salvador 2:0 in the knockout round and Costa Rica in the final 2:1. It had been 15 years without this Championship. That is a long time for this nation to celebrate. No doubt that this national team came in confident after playing in the World Cup in South Africa. They took the experience of playing against the best in the world and applied their experience to win this tournament. After beating Costa Rica in the Hex and beating them again in the Central American Cup we can say they have overtaken Costa Rica as the top team in the region.

This is not only good for Honduras but good for the tournament and good for the region. Let me explain. Honduras becomes the 3rd different nation to win this tournament for the 3rd time in a row (Costa Rica 2007, Panama in 2009 Honduras in 2011). These 3 nations have created a little separation form the rest of Central America. This is a positive sign that none of this nation was the home team in the tournament they won. I am glad there were no outrageous calls and non calls favoring the home team that we see in other tournaments. Having 3 different Champions just make the nations more competitive against each other.

Costa Rica has again made the Championship game. The Tico’s are the most consistent team in the region. This makes 10 out of 11 tournaments they have made the final. The set the bar in the region and continue to be the team to beat. Every nation strives for the consistency Costa Rica displays. I think they would have had another Championship however a Tico was red carded during the final. The red card is the kiss of death for most teams. Costa Rica disappointment was Honduras’s elation.

El Salvador is defiantly a tier 2 team along with Guatemala in the region. They are fighting to make the top tier but are just not there yet. They beat the teams they were suppose to beat (Nicaragua, Belize) and lost to who they were suppose to lose to (Panama and Honduras). There is nothing to report here …hopefully they can field a good competitive team in the Gold Cup.

Guatemala is again a disappointment to me. They are a nation of over 14 Million (largest population) and still did not qualify for the knockout round. They use to make the final every year in the tournament. The made the tournament Championship game 5 times out of 11 (only winning one). Now they are struggling to make the knockout round. It is safe to say that Panama has taken their spot as one of the top 3 in the region. Guatemala has dipped to the second tier with El Salvador. Hopefully we will see a good team perform in the Gold Cup this summer. They certainly have the fans here in the states if they can produce a quality team…time will tell but I a not holding my breath.

Belize and Nicaragua. Ok these 2 nations are the 3rd Tier in the region. They are not that good or very deep. Neither has a strong domestic league. These nations use to be on lopsided games like Honduras 10-2 Nicaragua and Costa Rica 4:0 Belize in the 2001 event. Since 2003 these nations have been in the same group to avoid the discrepancy in play. Nicaragua finally made the Gold Cup in 2009 but Belize is still looking for their first win…this is patheric. Nicaragua has potential with the hiring of Spaniard Enrique Llena. Llena is managing the entire Nicaragua soccer operation (aka Sunan Galati for the USA). He oversees the soccer leagues, he set up a web site and I only now realize there are 3 tiers in the Nicaragua pyrament, he is involved in teaching the coaches how to coach everything. The federation is committed to make soccer the number 1 sport and over take baseball. I think it will take about 4 to 5 years when the youth teams develop some quality players….I hate waiting… but will haveto for Nicaragua.

Belize the only English speaking nation in Central America is struggling mightily to keep pace in the region. They are a nation of only 300,000 people. They have not won a game in this tournament ..EVER! They did beat St Kitt and Nevis in the opening round of WCQ 2010. They ended up playing Mexico and playing their home game in the states. They played in the states to get badly needed $ to run their federation. This did not sit well with the president of Belize and the riff between the Federation and politics widened. I do not see Belize getting anybetter quickly and I do not have much info on their domestic league. Just to say something positive for their fans... They have cool looking uniforms.

All in all it was good a different nation won the event. Panama did host the same event in 2003 and there was hardly a few hundred at each game. Now Panama is getting 10k for bigger games. I want to see a full house. Why on earth did the Federation spend 19 Million to remodel Rommell when they can not even sell out for this TOURNAMENT!!!!!!! Shame on their fans !!!!!! They should have invested 2 million on each little stadium around Panama to grow the sport.....Bad decision in my opinion. OK I am still a little upset at the lack of attendance.....

I just want CONCACAF nations to be more competative in the Gold Cup. My hope is having 5 quality teams from CA but I guess 3 will do.............