U.S. completes CONCACAF hat trick

SUWON, South Korea (Reuters) -- The United States' stunning 3-2 win over Portugal on Wednesday completed a shock hat-trick by countries from the CONCACAF region of North and Central American countries at the World Cup finals.

Mexico upset the 1998 third-placed team Croatia 1-0 on Monday and Costa Rica defeated China 2-0 on Tuesday.

CONCACAF is generally regarded as one of the weakest regions in world soccer.

At the last World Cup four years ago in France, the U.S. lost all three group games and Mexico was the only CONCACAF team to make it into the second round, where it lost to Germany.

After all 32 teams had completed first round matches at the South Korea-Japan finals, CONCACAF is currently the most successful regional confederation.

The normally powerful European sides have won five but lost six matches an South America has two wins and two defeats so far. Africa has won one and lost two, while Asia has won one and lost one.

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