By Brian Homewood
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - CONCACAF presidential candidate Larry Mussenden promised to help small nations and rival Victor Montagliani outlined to a corporate philosophy as they wound up their campaigns ahead of Thursday's election.
Canadian Montagliani said the region's showpiece tournament, the Gold Cup, should continue to be held in the United States while Bermuda’s Mussenden described his plan to establish a professional Caribbean football league for clubs.
The two men, head of their respective country's FAs, are bidding to lead football's governing body for North, Central American and the Caribbean governing body out of years of turmoil.
The Miami-based confederation has been at the centre of a corruption scandal that has engulfed world football in which 42 individuals and entities have been charged in the United States on a variety of graft-related offences.
Three of CONCACAF's most recent presidents, Trinidad and Tobago's Jack Warner, Cayman Islander Jeffrey Webb and Honduran Alfredo Hawit, are among those charged.
Mussenden said he was confident he had enough votes in the bag.
"I think a big difference is that I come from a small island country and Victor comes from a huge country and so therefore we probably look at things slightly differently," Mussenden told reporters.
"I share the experience of the small island nations and what they want to do as far as development and achievement, that is a big difference."
Mussenden, a former policeman who is now Bermuda's attorney general, added that CONCACAF's reputation had taken a "battering".
"I am not going to fall into a trap of what has happened previously with other presidents, I think we have turned that corner," he said.
"CONCACAF has a good product, everything is in place for us to go to strength to strength and be one of the best confederations a governance point of view as well as from a football point of view."
Montagliani has based his campaign on the key pillars of good governance, strategic planning, investment in football first and strong leadership.
"My manifesto has a significant amount of detail on exactly how to move forward, in certain areas, be it technical development or infrastructure development," he told Reuters.
"Mine has a much more corporate philosophy to it, a corporate outlook to it, understanding that our focus is on income."
He said the majority of Gold Cup games would always be in the U.S., although segments of each tournament could be played elsewhere.
"The damage that has been done to CONCACAF is on the emotional side and on the brand itself," he said.
"We have started to come out of it and at the end of the day people just want to see football on the field, and the headlines should be about footballers and not guys in suits," he added.
"I think we are on the road that started with the election of Gianni Infantino as FIFA president and hopefully it will continue with my election in the morning."