The field for the 2010-2011 CONCACAF Champions League began to fill on September 2 when the Seattle Sounders beat D.C. United 2-1 at Washington's RFK Stadium to win the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and claim the first berth in the 24-team field. The United States receives three other berths: the MLS regular season champion (Supporters' Shield winner) and MLS Cup winner, both of which are placed automatically into the Group Stage, and the MLS Cup runner-up. Mexico also is granted four berths. Apertura and Clausura champions are entered directly into the Group Stage while the runners-up are put into the Preliminary Round. Canada determines it champion and Preliminary Round berth through the Nutrilite Canadian Championship. The Caribbean is allotted three berths and qualifies its teams in the CFU Club Champions Cup. The remainder and bulk of the berths are reserved for Central America, with two berths allocated to Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama, and one each for Belize and Nicaragua. QUALIFIERS North America (9) United States (4): Columbus Crew, Real Salt Lake, Los Angeles Galaxy, Seattle Sounders Mexico (4): Monterrey, Toluca, Cruz Azul, Santos Canada (1): Toronto FC Caribbean (3) CFU Club Champions Cup (3): Puerto Rico Islanders (PUR), Joe Public (TRI), San Juan Jabloteh (TRI) Central America (12) Costa Rica (2): Saprissa, Brujas El Salvador (2): CD FAS, Metapan Guatemala (2): Municipal, Xelaju Honduras (2): Olimpia, Marathon, Motagua@ Panama (2): Arabe Unido, Tauro, San Francisco# *Teams in italics qualified automatically for Group Stage http://www.concacafchampions.com/page/CL/201011/0,,12856,00.html
Puerto Rico Islanders shock LA Galaxy CARSON, California (AP) — Nicolas Addlery scored twice to lead the Puerto Rico Islanders to a surprise 4-1 win at the Los Angeles Galaxy in the preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions' League on Tuesday. David Foley and Josh Hansen also scored for the Islanders, which play in the second tier of professional North American football but proved far too good for a Los Angeles team that is top of the Major League Soccer standings. The second leg will be played Aug. 4 in San Juan, with the overall winner to progress to the group stage. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/2010-07-28-1311001996_x.htm
Some more info on that PRI - LAG match. From what I have seen, Galaxy featured a full lineup, including Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle. The SBI report I linked indicates that the Galaxy dominated possession and had 23 shots, but only picked up an own-goal. MLS sides routinely struggle in this competition and I think its the same reason why European sides struggle when they visit the US. Beating the Galaxy means a lot to the Islanders, the opposite simply isn't true. MLS sides typically open play with lower rated sides in CONCACAF who are more motivated to win. By the time group play starts, the season is wrapping up and the MLS sides in this tournament are more worried about the playoffs than the group stage and they struggle there. I think MLS teams are more than capable of competing in this tournament, particularly a loaded Galaxy team, but the MLS calendar just doesn't really allow for it to happen.
Seattle Sounders 1::0 Isidro Metapan Seattle Sounders managed to defeat the visiting team of Isidro Metapan of El Salvador by one goal. Freddy Montero of Sounders was able to score within 60 minutes with a 40 meter center kick that surprised the Isidro Metapan goalkeeper Misael Alfaro who allowed the ball to go into his net. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RNJJhhriN8&feature=player_embedded# Freddy Montero scored his sixth goal for the Sounders in the 2010 Season with this goal after replacing Nate Jacqua. The game itself was intense, with the Sounders dominating from the beginning with their consistency and discipline. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ns-league-seattle-sounders-1-0-isidro-metapan
Toronto FC blanks Honduras' Motagua in CONCACAF qualifying TORONTO (AP) — Toronto FC built on early momentum and beat Club Deportivo Motagua of Honduras 1-0 on Tuesday night in the first leg of a CONCACAF Champions League qualifier. Dwayne De Rosario earned an assist on Chad Barrett's first-half goal and created several chances of his own. [video=youtube;N9nOr-CaFAE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9nOr-CaFAE[/video] "It was fun," De Rosario said. "We saw a lot of the ball in the midfield, guys were moving, guys were on the ball, and I think that was a big key to our success." Toronto earned an invitation to the tournament with its successful defense of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship in May. The CONCACAF Champions League — comprised of North American, Central American and Caribbean teams — takes part in three stages, and sends its champion to compete in the FIFA Club World Cup. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/2010-07-27-toronto-fc-deportivo-motagua-concacaf_N.htm
And the Galaxy are out. I know there's a lot coming out from Don Garber about how he wants MLS teams to take this seriously. I don't think that can be directed at the Galaxy, who were using most of their top players, including Donovan, Buddle, Franklin and Gonzalez. The team is also going through a rough patch in general so the loss isn't too shocking, though the 4-0 scoreline was. I think for MLS to get more competitive in this competition, roster exceptions need to be added for the participants. If they were allowed more players and an increased cap, they could continue to compete in MLS and in the CCL.
Puerto Rico advances despite loss to Galaxy BAYAMON, Puerto Rico - The Puerto Rico Islanders advanced to the Group Stage of the CONCACAF Champions League for the third straight year, prevailing on aggregate over Los Angeles despite a 2-1 loss to the Galaxy Wednesday night. Starting with a three-goal advantage from a 4-1 first-leg victory in Los Angeles a week ago, the Islanders comfortably won its two-game Preliminary Round series 5-3 on aggregate. Puerto Rico joins Group D with Mexico's Toluca, Olimpia of Honduras and the winner between FAS and Xelaju. FAS and Xelaju drew 1-1 lst week and face off in the second leg in Guatemala on Thursday http://www.concacafchampions.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12856~2111377,00.html
Second-half goal sends Seattle past Metapan SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - Second-half substitute Alvaro Fernandez scored with a header in the 74th minute to give the Seattle Sounders a 1-1 draw with Metapan on Tuesday and send the U.S. side into the Group Stage of the CONCACAF Champions League. Fernandez was making his debut for Seattle after he was acquired following his appearance at the World Cup where he helped Uruguay to the semifinals. His goal came after near total possession and repeated chances by Seattle, overcoming a sloppy, muddy field that made scoring opportunities a premium. Seattle advanced from the Preliminary Round series 2-1 on aggregate and will join Group C along with Monterrey, Saprissa and either Tauro or Marathon. Marathon won the first leg 3-0 in Panama and hosts the second leg on Wednesday. http://www.concacafchampions.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12856~2110083,00.html
A draw in Honduras pushes Toronto forward TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Chad Barrett's 79th-minute goal clinched Toronto FC's berth in the Group Stage of the CONCACAF Champions League, leveling for the Canadians in a 2-2 draw with host Motagua at Estadio Nacional Tuesday night. Toronto, which won the aggregate series 3-2, advances to the tournament's main draw for the first time and will join fellow Major League Soccer squad Real Salt Lake from the United States, Panama's Arabe Unido and Mexico's Cruz Azul, which defeated San Francisco from Panama, 9-2, on aggregate in a preliminary series Tuesday night at Estadio Azul in Mexico City, in Group A. http://www.concacafchampions.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12856~2110057,00.html
Hey! I'm thinking about going to Monterrey in September to see the Sounders play against Monterrey... Does anyone know how I'd go about getting tickets for that game? Ed O.
Just to add to the story, LA Galaxy coach Bruce Arena missed last night's MLS match against New York due to Dengue Fever, which most suspect that he acquired while in Puerto Rico.
Seattle lost to Marathón 2-1 in their CCL opener, but were far from outclassed With only one match played in the competition, Seattle have plenty of time to recover from their opening loss in the CONCACAF Champions League. Past history shows that 10 points is usually enough to qualify out of the group stage, meaning that Seattle still have five matches to get that total. With three of those matches coming at home—including a match against Monterrey on Wednesday—the club is not panicking. But they did get an introduction into the level of play needed to succeed in the competition in the 2-1 loss to Marathón of Honduras. Ekpo, Gruenebaum lead Crew to win over Municipal COLUMBUS, Ohio – An early goal from Emmanuel Ekpo and solid goalkeeping by backup Andy Gruenebaum helped the Crew defeat Municipal of Guatemala 1-0 Wednesday in the opening match of group play of the CONCACAF Champions League. Ekpo scored in the game-winner in the 14th minute, his first goal in any competition since May 9, 2009, against Kansas City. He took a pass from Frankie Hejduk 30 yards out and split two defenders, then flicked the ball with his right foot past defender Pablo Melgar and regained control for a strike that nicked the left post and settled into the goal. RSL dismayed at CCL opponent's gamesmanship MLSers baffled by Los Árabes' tactics, but happy to win SANDY, Utah – Real Salt Lake were welcomed into the CONCACAF Champions League fraternity in a big, if not somewhat bizarre, way on Wednesday night. RSL's first-ever Champions League match in franchise history, a 2-1 defeat of Panama side Árabe Unido, started out as one may have expected. Their potent midfield saw most of the ball, and though there was a swirling wind in the stadium that had an impact on some of the long balls, they still managed to get the better of possession early on and throughout the night. However, a goal scored by Árabe Unido against the run of play changed all of that, sending the game off on a tangent from which it would never recover
Real Salt Lake happy taking 2-0 lead to Costa Rica Kreis's team hope Borchers' disallowed goal won't haunt them SANDY, Utah -- Real Salt Lake had a decisive victory over Saprissa in front of a home crowd of 16,888 at Rio Tinto Stadium on Tuesday. Smiles seemed to abound throughout the RSL locker room after the match. “It was good to get the multiple-goal win,” said head coach Jason Kreis of the 2-0 victory. “It was very important to us to keep the shutout.” Midfielder Will Johnson added, “If you had given us that at the beginning of the game, we would have been extremely pleased with it. I think everyone feels happy with that at the end of the game.” However, the nagging question is whether or not the two-goal advantage will hold up in the aggregate-goals format. Although the MLS side did their part at home, the April 5 return match in Costa Rica will be a much less hospitable environment for RSL. http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/real-salt-lake-happy-taking-2-0-lead-costa-rica
