Then there was one. Costa Rica are the last men standing for a Concacaf region that has hailed the Brazil World Cup as a crucial breakthrough for a region of world football that has sometimes felt patronised and overlooked.

Los Ticos have been the surprise package of this World Cup, topping the supposed “group of death” ahead of Uruguay, Italy and England and overcoming Greece on penalties in the second round.

But Mexico, agonisingly overhauled by Holland in the closing seconds of their second round game, and the USA, whose surge to the second round and narrow defeat to Belgium energised a nation, have contributed to a huge surge of goodwill towards Concacaf nations.

With three of the four teams reaching the second round, outdoing Asia (none) and Africa (two) in the process, Concacaf has boosted its long-running campaign for a fourth direct qualifying spot. Only South America, at 83%, had a greater percentage of teams advance.

At present the fourth-placed side in qualifying, after a byzantine, tortuous process, has to play off against a team from Oceania. The success of the USA side, in particular, has also reanimated enthusiasm for a potential bid to host the 2026 World Cup, notwithstanding the continuing controversy over when and where the 2022 edition will take place.

The success has had some odd side effects. Countries that are normally deadly rivals – particularly so in the case of Mexico and the USA – have embraced in a warm and fuzzy love-in.

Previously the name of the federation was only ever invoked as a kind of swear word – if their country’s hopes had been undone by incompetence or a bizarre episode in a far flung nation fans would refer to having been “Concacaf-ed”.

But here in Salvador fans have tweeted “CONCACAF” in support of their rivals, the confederation has run a successful social media campaign under the banner “WeAreConcacaf” and there have even been isolated chants of “Con-ca-caf” in the bars of Brazil.

Even in Michel Platini’s wildest dreams, it is hard to imagine European rivals giving Uefa the same treatment. Observers believe it is probably a sense that the rest of the world has continually underestimated them that has fuelled the outbreak of collectivism.

Even Jürgen Klinsmann has joined in. During qualification Costa Rica were furious that a qualifier played in a blizzard was not abandoned. When they turned up for the return, the USA team had to run a gauntlet of crowds shouting abuse, eggs were thrown at their team bus and they were forced to practise at a dairy farm and not provided with any balls. The episode culminated in a bizarre incident where a cow with an airhorn interrupted Klinsmann’s press conference.

Yet all that did not stop the USA manager congratulating Costa Rica on their qualification for the quarter-finals and subsequently singing the praises of the wider region. “To be honest, I know people, how they look from Europe over to our region. There’s that kind of level of respect there that we would like to have, so with these results now, things are changing,” he said. “People look differently to our region and say: ‘You know what, there’s a lot happening here.’”

American fans who watch the MLS are probably also more aware of more of the players – there are seven domestically based players in Klinsmann’s squad and several more from Costa Rica and Honduras play in the US.

Concacaf, the federation that became a byword for corruption and controversy under its former president Jack Warner, has been trying to overhaul its image since the notorious Trinidadian resigned from all football positions in 2012 as the walls closed in.

In political terms, the region arguably has just as much sway as during the discredited Warner era. Jeffrey Webb, who was for 22 years the leader of the Cayman Islands football federation, was anointed by Sepp Blatter as the new Concacaf president and is seen as a coming man within Fifa. He leads Fifa’s anti-racism taskforce and is an increasingly visible presence.

He identified the decision to play the Concacaf Gold Cup every two years instead of every four, and an improvement in mentality and preparation as key.

“We have also witnessed outstanding coaching in our teams. Managers have successfully adjusted their teams and formations during the course of games in order to get the result,” he said. “We have also seen their ability to motivate and unite their respective squads.”

Sunil Gulati, the US federation president working his way up Fifa’s greasy pole, has more clout in the newly reconfigured executive committee.

While there are unanswered questions for both Gulati and Webb, given their longs tan ding involvement in the region during the era in question, they are seen as part of Fifa’s future rather than its past.

Gulati was scarred by the experience of bidding for the 2022 World Cup that went to Qatar and has said the US will only bid again if the rules are changed.

There is still an outside chance Qatar could be stripped of the 2022 tournament, depending on the outcome of a pending ethics committee report and the mores of Blatter. But it is not inconceivable that a US bid, or even a joint one with Mexico, could be effectively anointed as the preferred candidate for 2026.

Fifa’s secretary general, Jérôme Valcke, no doubt pondering the commercial potential on offer, certainly talked up the idea this week: “What we see in the United States is staggering. The audience is unprecedented, more than the NBA. The country has the largest level of youth soccer in the world, with 20m young people playing,” he told the Brazilian TV channel Globo. “I think after 2022, they have an interest in hosting the 2026 World Cup.”

That is all to come. For now, all eyes are on whether Costa Rica can take the region’s unexpected success story to even more unlikely heights.