Dominican Republic getting ready for new challenges by Anderson Zavala
We know this World Cup Qualifiers are almost coming to an end, yet some teams are thinking beyond, preparing mentally for the next ones; We barely know about 2026 World Cup, but it is being said that it will be hosted by USA, Mexico and Canada, and the number of teams will be more, 48 teams.
All that mentioned above gives the opportunity to many national teams to dream about going to a World Cup; and regarding to CONCACAF, with the absence of USA, Mexico, and the new power of CONCACAF Canada in the qualifiers, there are wider possibilities for many teams.
One of the nations which wants to take advantage of the opportunity is Dominican Republic; we know players from Dominican Republic who have played for big teams in Europe, prominent examples like Mariano Díaz, Junior Firpo, Pablo Rosario, Juan Familia-Castillo, and we can also mention Kevin Paredes; they are not considered as Dominicans for the fact they have not played for Dominican Republic, but the eligibility is still there, and the majority of them cannot really play for any other nation.
It is impressive the scope they have in Europe, they have players in different teams in Europe, some from second and third tier of football in Spain, second tier in England, and even from first tier in top five leagues, which is fantastic for the level CONCACAF requires, surpassing other nations which have regular presence in the crucial stage of qualifiers and in World Cups per se.
What I like about Dominican Republic is that they are giving opportunity to young players, even if they are just playing for the U-19 team of their club, they need to get confidence, you can play them in friendlies and watch their potential, and then keep taking them into consideration.
In the last call-up of Sedofútbol we can see interesting players from interesting teams:
o Antonio Natalucci (21) – Monopoli – Serie C
o Alex Jiménez (20) – Sant Andreu – Tercera División RFEF
o Christian Schwieren (19) – Bayer Leverkusen U19
o Joao Urbáez (19) – AD Alcorcón B
o Edison Azcona (18) – Inter Miami – MLS
o Luis Coordes (23) – Stuttgart II
o Rafael Núñez (20) – UD Almería B
o Nowend Lorenzo (19) – Subiza
o Gianluigi Sueva (21) – Potenza – Serie C
o Alberto Baldé (19) – Middlesbrough U23
Considering some of the teams of CONCACAF are very limited, they must look for every single footballer playing in stronger leagues than their local leagues; And I consider that as a great way to form a solid project for qualifiers or any tournament you want to compete in. I hope things will work out well for Sedofútbol. They are having the initiative that other federations do not, and that makes it more impressive.