Politics stand in the way for an improved Gold Cup

The problem with being a first-rate soccer power in a third-rate soccer confederation is that whatever triumphs are achieved can never be truly enjoyed. So it was last weekened when the United States defeated Panama on penalty kicks at Giants Stadium to win the CONCACAF Gold Cup for the third time.

Once Mexico was unexpectedly knocked out of the tournament in the quarterfinals, the fizz went out of the whole event. The 12-nation championship had been built around a U.S.-Mexico final, the North and Central American and Caribbean (CONCACAF) region's two heavyweights.

Without Mexico, it became a ho-hum, who cares affair. No offense to the CONCACAF's 36 other member nations, but that's a fact. The U.S. and Mexico have won seven of the eight Gold Cups contested since the first in 1991.

Occasionally, another country puts up a good fight, as Panama did Sunday, but only Canada's surprise victory in 2000 has broken the pattern. And it was not as if Mexico was ousted by a team from this region. It lost to Colombia, which, along with South Africa, was an invited guest in the tournament. That the Gold Cup needs such "guests" underlines its basic flaws.

Things would be far more interesting if FIFA showed some initiative and forced CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, the South American confederation, to combine into a single, 48-nation confederation. The Gold Cup could then disappear and the Copa America could become the regional championship - an honest-to-goodness Cup of the Americas.

With the likes of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and the U.S. competing, it could, in time, rival the European Championship in appeal. Or, if that's an exaggeration, at least it would be a lot better than what is being offered. As it stands, CONCACAF's 2005 showcase was merely a blip on soccer's global radar, a pale and largely amateur imitation of last summer's wildly successful Euro 2004 in Portugal and of the equally entertaining Copa America in Peru.

Even CONMEBOL acknowledges its own weakness by inviting foreign teams to play in the Copa America. Costa Rica and Mexico took part in 2004. Combining the Americas into one confederation could also boost the potential for a club championship along the lines of the enormously successful and lucrative European Champions League.

The LA Galaxy against Boca Juniors with something on the line would be a lot better than the Galaxy against Real Madrid just for fun. The logic of such a move is undeniable.

What stands in the way is politics. Those who have built small fiefdoms in soccer's backwaters, especially in the Caribbean, will be reluctant to give them up, even for the greater good.Self-interest, as usual, will prevail, and more is the pity.

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