Opportunity cost, opportunity Lost

Eight years ago, when football’s world governing body- Fifa made the decision to extend the 2026 World Cup finals from 32 to 48 teams, the Concacaf region stood to benefit big time.

Hence, co-hosts- the United States of America, Mexico, and Canada- were automatic qualifiers, giving the confederation more places in the final.

It meant that the trio which invariably would have qualified anyway, left an opening for others in the region to capitalize on the change.

Citing the openings and the opportunities, then National Senior Men’s Coach of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Kendale Mercury, began sermonizing for the local football authorities to put the necessary mechanisms in place to give the country the best chance of making a fist of it.

Mercury at the time foresaw that the region would have that psychological boost knowing that the big ones were not part of the qualifiers.

However, unfortunately, no one paid attention to Mercury and on hindsight it can be concluded that his idea was deemed far-fetched by the sports’ local administrators What resulted was another run- of- the mill World Cup campaign, whereby little or no effort was expended on the preparations, no extra desire to use the occasion to do better and minimal exertion done to seek reinforcement via players who are eligible through genealogical ties with St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Mercury in his wisdom and forethought, did not think that it was outside the realms of possibility for St Vincent and the Grenadines to be counted among the contenders if the mindset of self-belief was embedded in the subconscious being of all stakeholders.

This column, though, is not implying that if the authorities had heeded, St Vincent and the Grenadines would have qualified for the show piece, starting next July.

But juxtapose St Vincent and the Grenadines’ mentality against that of others in the region that went all out to give their respective national senior men’s teams that opportunity to extend their sojourn the qualifiers and to reach as far as possible.

Hence, there is no fairy tale story when it was confirmed last Tuesday, November 18, 2025, that Curacao had booked a place in the 2026 final.

As it stands, Curacao became the smallest nation to have qualified for the Fifa World Cup finals.

Curacao has a population of approximately 150 000 and a land size of 171 000 square miles.

Ten years ago, Curacao was ranked 150th in the world, today they sit at 82nd.

Getting to that point was not coincidental, as Curacao’s Football authorities engaged the same mentality as Mercury proposed.

This was not dissimilar to that of the likes of Bermuda, Haiti ,and Suriname who reached that final stage, all because they saw the moment imperative to seize.

But we here in St Vincent and the Grenadines can attest to the truism which states: “where there is no vision, the people perish”.

Time after time, successive football authorities continue to conform to limitations, rather than expand their horizons with hope and political will.

Opportunities lost may never be retrieved and that holds for all spheres of life. Therefore, St Vincent and the Grenadines has missed the boat, missed the trick to place football back on a pedestal and provide an outlet for national engagement and mobilization.

Such occasions that have just evaded us are lifetime chances that may never return in the foreseeable future.

The optimistic state of mind is seemingly evading our football administrators and is put on repeat time after time. We can still hope against hope that one day, the right configuration is installed to lead the charge of placing football on the pathway that guarantees development, and ultimately positive results on and off the field of play.