It is widely agreed that the performances of CONCACAF teams at the Brazil 2014 World Cup were directly linked to a broad-based growth programme in the confederation that has started to bear fruit.

In Brazil, Costa Rica flew the confederation flag high by reaching the quarter-finals, while Mexico, the USA and Honduras gave creditable renditions.

Even Jamaica’s historic run of reaching the final of last year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, where they were ultimately defeated 3-1 by giants Mexico, is being viewed as a classic example of the development taking place inside the sub-continental grouping.

Still, there is a collective view within CONCACAF that the journey to measure up to the powerhouses of Europe and South America continues.

Victor Montagliani, the Canadian businessman who has entered the race to become CONCACAF president, eloquently represents that view.

“In the last World Cup we did alright, but I think one of the things we have to look at is to make Mexico and the USA better, as we need not to only develop the bottom end,” he told the

Jamaica Observer recently.

He says to make CONCACAF stronger in the global amphitheatre of the game, there has to be a systematic development where growth is encouraged on each wrung of the ladder.

“We also really need to develop the middle, which is the meat. And that’s the group that Jamaica and Canada would be in… and that’s the group, I think, needs to have a more consistent opportunity to go after big events, whether it’s the Gold Cup or the World Cup,” Montagliani reasoned.

Jamaica, according to Montagliani, did well, in part, at the last edition of the confederation’s flagship tournament because the bulk of the team was made up of professionals plying their trade in overseas leagues.

In the case of the Caribbean on a whole, he believes more opportunities must be made available to players to go outside and develop in a professional environment.

“I know that Jamaica did really well in the last version of the World Cup, but I think that one of the areas we can make better is to create better opportunities for Caribbean players, and even those from Canada, and even Central America in terms of professional opportunities,” said the CONCACAF Executive Committee member.

“One of the areas I think CONCACAF can help with is finding those opportunities, because a great percentage of countries don’t have professional leagues… and we need to see the opportunities in some of our memberships where professional leagues can survive,” Montagliani asserts.

In the Caribbean and Central America, for example, where association members struggle to maintain professional leagues or where they don’t exist, the FIFA Reform Committee member backs a CONCACAF plan to help these regions.

“I heard that the Dominican Republic just started their professional league and that’s going well, so the countries that don’t have the economic ability to do that, we need to help them in terms of those countries that cannot sustain professional leagues,” Montagliani told the

Observer.

He said, and rightly so, that to create opportunities for players to venture outside their jurisdiction to play professionally and generally prop up the weaker members will only make CONCACAF stronger in the long term.

“With players getting opportunities in professional leagues around the world, they will be better and will come back to help their own national programmes. The more teams we have playing at the higher level, our Gold Cup becomes better, our teams perform better at the World Cup, and it’s easier to knock on sponsors’ doors — it’s a domino effect,” Montagliani noted.

The Canadian Soccer Federation president argues that while CONCACAF is strong in women’s football, especially in the North American sub-region, he wants to see a programme that fuels the development of the weaker nations.

“The irony in all of that is that I have seen many of your Jamaican teams play and the potential is unbelievable… I have seen some girls who can play football in the rest of the Caribbean and Central America.

“The problem is that they are not growing up in the proper environment… where the USA and Canada have the capacity to raise the level, we need to invest in the coaching aspect of it and not just a player aspect,” he said.

Montagliani notes further that if the respective islands cannot create the ideal environment on their own soils to aid the growth, then players need to be injected into situations that will expose them to the highest level of technical assistance.

“Again, if you are not able to simulate in your own country, then we should bring those players into the environment and we would have the opportunity to educate people and raise the bar.

“As a confederation we need to play a leading role in that. It’s not just about putting on competitions. I think it’s incumbent on us to increase the environments where the girls can develop in the areas that they are not up to par yet,” said Montagliani, who chairs CONCACAF Women’s Championships Committee.