What is the Concacaf Nations League?
THE Concacaf Nations League is a newly formed international football competition tournament that was founded in 2018. On Sunday, June 6, the first Concacaf Nations League champion was crowned. Founded in 2018, the Concacaf Nations League features teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The matches take place during what is known as the international break from the worlds club competitions. These stretches of dates are allocated for international friendlies and competitions by the FIFA match calendar. The Concacaf Nations League consists of 41 teams. 4 The Concacaf Nations League features teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean Credit: AP  This years tournament was originally scheduled to conclude a year ago, but the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a postponement to 2021. The teams are divided into three-tiered leagues - A, B, and C of four groups each. The six teams which participated in the last round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup (Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, USA, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago) automatically received status in the A division. The group winners of League A enter a four-team knockout competition to be crowned champion, while the group winners of Leagues B and C are promoted to the next tier. In Leagues A and B, the four teams at the bottom of the groups are relegated to the next lower tier. 4 Mexico and the United States faced off in this year's Concacaf Nations League final Credit: Reuters  The tournament also determines which national teams qualify for the next edition of the Concacaf Gold Cup, which is held every two years. The ultimate goal of the Concacaf Nations League is to provide more opportunities for smaller federations to develop soccer in their respective countries. It was the epic rivalry that always seems to entertain soccer fans - as the United States and Mexico squared off in the CONCACAF Nations League final on June 6. This historic rivalry went into extra time, as the United States came up on top against El Tri, 3-2. 4 The United States outlasted El Tri in extra time, winning 3-2, after a winning penalty by American star forward Christian Pulisic Credit: Reuters  The US twice came from behind to draw level before star attacker Christian Pulisic scored the winning penalty kick in the second half of extra time, but it wasn't over there. Mexico was awarded their own penalty kick on a handball in the box with less than two minutes to play in the second half of extra time. Backup goalkeeper Ethan Horvath, in the match because of an injury to starter Zack Steffen, had the save of his career when he denied Andres Guardado to secure the title for the US.