I wish the Americas would form one large group, so the US had to qualify against South American teams (and could still get in with more slots available). The best CONCACAF teams usually get crushed when playing against any average South American or European teams. If they had to play harder to get in, they’d do better; otherwise, the “Conquerors of Haiti and Canada” really shouldn’t even be there.
Qualifying is fine the way it is. No doubt CONCACAF is not equal to Europe or South America. It is on par with Africa, Asia and Oceania. But R\regional play is fine and even with modern air travel, a large group play round is impractical and stacked against those that have to travel the farthest (that means us).
No, the USMNT just has to improve incrementally like we have been. We were just near the level of the best in 2002. We humiliated Portugal, Mexico and with good honest refereeing, would have beat Germany in the Quarterfinals. We lost that edge for a number of reasons, but being in CONCACAF is probably not one of the important ones.
Just my opinion.