Aside from having a drink to drown his sorrows Larry Mussenden is unsure what his future holds.

Still reeling from the shock of his defeat in the Concacaf presidential election, the Bermuda Football Association president said the time had come to “lighten the load.”

Mussenden went in to yesterday’s vote thinking he had support from 24 nations, more than enough to win with 41 votes at stake.

In the end Victor Montagliani, his rival, got 25 votes, and Mussenden just 16. A body blow for a man who expected significant backing from his fellow Caribbean Football Union presidents, countries who held 31 of the votes cast.

“I’m disappointed, obviously,” Mussenden said. “I think I have to look back at how people view a leader coming from the CFU.

“If I analyse it I think some of the foreign language voters within the CFU were looking for somebody else, rather than a traditional Caribbean football person.

“I’m happy with my campaign. I knew the people and I thought that people could make their decisions based on who I am. I have been around [football] a long time.”

As director of public prosecutions in Bermuda, Mussenden already has plenty on his plate, added to that are his roles within football, which includes his position as chairman of the Fifa appeals committee.

“I’m involved in football, it won’t stop me being involved in football, but I am looking forward to lightening that load somehow.”

Eventually the disappointment of the defeat will wear off, and there was plenty of support from within the Congress for a man Montagliani described as a “dear friend.”

“Elections are easier when you hate someone, it is harder when you are friends,” Montagliani said.

“Larry, you made me a better man. Thank you for pushing me, for making me become who I needed to be. You are an integral part of Concacaf and I thank you.”

Immediately before yesterday’s vote Mussenden appealed directly to the Caribbean nations urging them to “move forward together.”

“We need a president who is one of you,” he said.

Ultimately almost half of the CFU nations ignored that plea, and the feeling from inside the Bermuda camp was that far from being a point in his favour, Mussenden may have suffered precisely because he was from the CFU.

Yesterday’s vote was the first time that Concacaf has had “free and fair elections” as one delegate put it, and the evidence shows that the evolution of Concacaf includes a desire for change.

“There was a freedom there that did not exist before,” one Mussenden supporter said. “Countries are no longer being bullied to vote one way, and they used that freedom to see what change might be like.

“That can only be good for Concacaf in the long run, it just was not good for Larry this time.”

Following in the corruption-riddled footsteps of Jack Warner and Jeffrey Webb, when the CFU voted as a block, was never going to be easy for Mussenden.

His platform of transparency and good governance was his antidote to that, still, having a third Concacaf president from the Caribbean was something voters were clearly not comfortable with.

Not that that lessens the shock. Bermuda Football Association members were still scratching their heads some hours later, and the suspicion that Mussenden paid the price for Warner’s and Webb’s misdeeds will be one that is hard to shake.

None of which should detract from Montagliani, who ran an impressive campaign and his ability to speak three of the four languages prevalent in the Concacaf region certainly won him admiration and respect.

His presidential bid took him to more countries than Mussenden’s did, and his brief speech on winning hinted at a candidate — one who thinks of himself as one of 42 presidents, and not a man who stands alone — who understood the fears and hopes of the region.

“I understand, you made me understand,” he told Congress. “The walls are down, it’s time to come together and work together.

“I stand before you not promising perfection, or promising a presidency without mistakes, but to work hard for you every day.”

The walls in the Caribbean may be down after Montagliani successfully split that vote, but they have risen in the Central and North America federations, both of whom voted in a block.

That shift in power could change things dramatically, and one of Mussenden’s supporters within the Caribbean suggested that the ghosts of the past had impacted that directly.

“The idea behind the CFU is right, but Jeffrey [Webb] and Jack [Warner] betrayed that, and this is the result. People were afraid to vote for one person again.”

Montagliani also promised to devote himself to the job full time, something Mussenden cannot, and did not do. Whether his role as Director of Public Prosecutions played any part in his defeat is something even he is unsure of.

“That might have been factor, but I don’t know,” Mussenden said. “People did not come up and raise that as an issue with me.”

Despite saying he wanted to step away from some of his football commitments Mussenden may yet be persuaded to change his mind.

The CFU elections have been set for July, and Gordon Derrick, the CFU president, is being investigated by Fifa as part of the ongoing corruption scandal.

Mussenden has reportedly already been approached about the position, and by his own admission he did “have fun running for president.”