By Andrew Warshaw
September 11 – While the United States and Costa Rica celebrated qualification for next year’s World Cup finals, perennial powerhouses Mexico have been plunged into further anguish after a dramatic night of action in the CONCACAF region.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 9 – José Manuel ‘Chepo’ de la Torre has been sacked as Mexico coach following last Friday’s shock 2-1 home defeat by Honduras that seriously dented their automatic World Cup qualification hopes.
By Paul Nicholson in Grand Cayman
August 26 – “This is where it all starts. CONCACAF has a duty to develop its youth players and these are the seeds to expand the vision of youth development. How many opportunities do these young players get to play against the best of their own age group? Before this they had no opportunity,” said CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb as the final of the confederation’s U15 boys tournament came to a close in the Cayman Islands.
By Paul Nicholson in Grand Cayman
August 25 – At a reception in honour of the inaugural CONCACAF U-15 championship, the Premier of the Cayman Islands, Alden McLaughlin, declared the country “open for business and sports tourism. I am immensely proud and honoured that we in Cayman are hosting this U15 tournament – the first (under 15 tournment) for CONCACAF. It is also appropriate since we in Cayman also have the CONCACAF president.”
By Andrew Warshaw
August 23 – In one of the most alarming match-fixing scandals of recent months, El Salvador has temporarily suspended 22 players, drawing an immediate response from its governing confederation, CONCACAF, which said it was “deeply saddened” by the allegations.
August 14 – CONCACAF kicked off its first ever U-15 championship in the Cayman Islands yesterday with Bermuda beating the US Virgin Islands 8-0 and Belize beating St Lucia 1-0. The championships, an initiative of CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb (pictured centre), will be played through to August 25 with 23 national teams competing for the title.
By Mark Baber
August 12 – Two Mexican league players have escaped punishment, despite testing positive for the banned performance-enhancing drug clenbuterol, after they claimed to have eaten the substance accidentally in contaminated meat, according to the Mexican Football Federation (FMF). In Mexico, the eating of contaminated beef has been accepted as a legitimate excuse for the presence of clenbuterol in an athlete’s sample since 2011, when the Mexican government pledged to address the public health problem of contaminated meat.
August 11 – CONCACAF took the first steps with its own coaching programme at the weekend with the launch of its D License coaching course in Mexico City. The D License is the first official licensing programme for coaches and will be the foundation of the Confederation’s coaching educational programme.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 7 – A Jamaican international and one of his country’s team officials have been suspended for 30 days by FIFA after they failed drugs tests following a 2014 World Cup qualifier against Honduras on June 11.
August 6 – Hard on the heels of the qualifying rounds of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Women’s Under 20 qualifiers, the CFU Women’s Under 17 tournament qualifiers kick off tomorrow in Puerto Rico.
August 2 – Wells Fargo has become the exclusive retail banking and commercial lending sponsor of MLS following a deal struck with MLS commercial rights agency Soccer United Marketing (SUM).
By Andrew Warshaw
August 1 – Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner, who quit football over the infamous 2011 cash-for-votes scandal during Sepp Blatter’s re-election campaign, has staged a political comeback after winning back his parliamentary seat in his native Trinidad and Tobago.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 30 – Sunil Gulati, head of the US Soccer Federation whose country lost out to Qatar in the battle to stage the 2022 World Cup, has questioned the entire bidding process and called for greater transparency in future.
By Paul Nicholson
July 29 – CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb hailed the Gold Cup, which closed last night with 1-0 win for the USA over Panama, “a huge success, this has been a great Gold Cup”.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 27 – United States head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has been banned from Sunday’s Gold Cup final against Panama, CONCACAF’s showpiece fixture, after being sent off in the semifinal for dissent. The former German international striker, who managed his country at the 2006 World Cup, was dismissed in the 87th-minute of Wednesday’s 3-1 semifinal win over Honduras and incurred a one-match ban.