The first round of Concacaf World Cup qualifying is in the books. In March a total of 30 nations —29 if you account for Saint Lucia withdrawing — battled for six precious spots. On Tuesday, the final qualifying games were played as six nations punched their tickets for round two of Concacaf World Cup qualifying.

If you need a refresher on Concacaf’s World Cup qualifying format, then I recommend the video below. The dates aren’t accurate — you can thank Covid for that — but the format remains the same.

The U.S. men's national team defeated Mexico in a highly contested match on Sunday to win the CONCACAF Nations League, marking the country’s first competitive victory over its rivals since September 10th, 2013.

The fruitless streak continued so long that I personally graduated middle school, high school and was just one year away from graduating college before the U.S. was victorious again. Christian Pulisic, the American captain who scored the go-ahead goal, was just 14 years old when the U.S. last claimed victory. 

The U.S. National team defeated Mexico in a highly contested match to win the CONCACAF Nations League Championship, marking the country’s first competitive victory over their rivals since September 10th, 2013.

The defeated streak continued so long I personally graduated through middle school and high school, and was just one year away from graduating college before the team was victorious again. Christain Pulisic, the American captain who scored the game winning goal on June 6th would be just around 15 years old when the U.S. last claimed victory. 

If there's one takeaway from last night's CONCACAF Nations League final, it's that the USMNT vs. Mexico rivalry is alive and well.

The first competitive match between the North American rivals since the 2019 Gold Cup Final had everything: late equalizers, abundant yellow cards, penalties, missed penalties, VAR controversy, on-field scuffles and inexplicably long periods of injury.

Sunday night’s Concacaf Nations League final between the United States and Mexico was the craziest game I have ever seen. Period.

The game had everything on and off the field, including a fan parkouring off the Paramount+ set to evade security. The fact that a fan taking a plunge into the stands from the broadcast booth isn’t big news goes to show how nutty this Concacaf classic was.