CONCACAF

I've been thinking lately about all the comments I read and hear everywhere about CONCACAF being such a weak region. I've gone along with that thought for years, but then had to pause.

Yeah, UEFA is the strongest region in the world; they have 13 of the 32 WC spots for a reason.

CONMEBOL is strong but really how much stronger than CONCACAF is it? Yeah, Brazil is amazing, Argentina is usually good, but are Ecuador, Chili, and Paraguay really that much better than, say, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Canada? I'd give a edge to CONMEBOL, but we're at least in the same ball park.

OCEANIA is a joke..they rightfully get only half a WC spot.

CAF has some good teams, but really, would you say they're stronger than CONCACAF? Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Egypt - good teams, but inconsistent and very beatable. I think in a best 5 vs. best 5, CONCACAF would beat them - we have better organization and more technical players overall (though they have most superstars).

AFC is another region with some good teams, but would you really say that Australia, South Korea, Japan, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia are beter than our best 5? Not by a long shot.

You can't really talk about minnows, either. While CONMEBOL, with only 10 nations, doesn't really have any that qualify, UEFA, CAF, and AFC are full of minnows that rank right up there with Grenada and Belize. Hello, how many times has England played Andorra?

So, I'd have to place CONCACAF solidly in 3rd place in the regional strength chart and, most importantly, we're getting stronger.