If Australia can move to Asia..... ...and Israel can be in Europe...why can't the US be in South America...sorta?

Nick Green in the Daily Breeze bring up a topic which as been discussed to death on the BigSoccer Boards to death the last few years. Why not merger CONCACAF and CONMEBOL? His argument is that playing tougher competition will make US Soccer better. He even has quotes from Steve Sampson...

"We would grow much faster as a soccer playing nation if we competed with the likes of the South American countries," he said. "With all due respect to the Central American countries they just don't have the infrastructure nor the finances to look to the long term and build for the long term. That makes it difficult for them to play at a high level for a consistent period of time. So the U.S. would benefit certainly from playing South American and even Asian and European teams more often."

...and Landon Donovan...

"We're accustomed to the style Central American and Caribbean teams play andyou learn to be good at that style," he said. "But that doesn't translate into playing well against other teams around the world. ... Certainly we struggleagainst European teams just because of the style of play."

...to back this up.

I'm not sure I entirely agree that this is a good thing. Granted, playing Brazil or Argentina wouldn't be a bad thing...but it would be taking a huge risk on qualifying for the finals. South American teams won't be the push-over we see in the likes of Panama or Trinidad. Of course, all this will probably be moot anyway. FIFA organizations are more interested in money and politics than what is the best for the game...hang on, is the US improving good for the game? I dunno where I'm going with this. Let's just say, I don't see it happening. The closest the US will come will be getting invited to the Copa America and probably declining the bid as it's played during the MLS season  ¶ 1:38 PM