2014/2015 Champions League--Concacaf Style

[wlu_lax6]

Draw was yesterday. Have to like DC United's draw. Pretty friendly for a team that won 3 league games last year but took the US Open Cup. Bronto's team has a tough away trip to face the Purple Monsters. I enjoy this tournament's early round because you get some little clubs you never knew existed. A few years ago I saw a fun Joe Public (Jamaica) side play at RFK.

Group 1: Pachuca (Mexico), Real Espana (Honduras), Municipal (Guatemala).

Group 2: Sporting Kansas City (U.S.), Saprissa (Costa Rica), Real Esteli (Nicaragua).

Group 3: New York Red Bulls (U.S.), Toronto FC or Montreal Impact (Canada), FAS (El Salvador).

Group 4: Tauro FC (Panama), D.C. United (U.S.), Waterhouse FC (Jamaica).

Group 5: Olimpia (Honduras), Portland Timbers (U.S.), Alpha United (Guyana).

Group 6: Alajuelense (Costa Rica), Cruz Azul (Mexico), Chorrillo FC (Panama).

Group 7: Leon (Mexico), Isidro Metapan (El Salvador), Belmopan Bandits (Belize).

Group 8: Comunicaciones (Guatemala), Club America (Mexico), Puerto Rico Bayamon FC (Puerto Rico).

[Pruitt]

A couple of years ago, we saw Toronto FC kill C.D. Aguila from El Salvador - in front of 4,000 fans here in Toronto.

A brutal game - the Salvadorean team had spent the night in the Miami airport and came to the stadium straight from immigration in Toronto.

The amazing thing was that half the crowd seemed to know and love Aguila.

[wlu_lax6]

DC United has game 2 against Waterhouse FC (Jam)
Montreal can book their passage with a win over Red Bulls tomorrow

and the reference in the temporary soccer thread

[wlu_lax6]

DC with a 2-1 win. Espindola had both goals. He and Boswell have been great pick ups from the discard pile draft..

[Pruitt]

DC with a 2-1 win. Espindola had both goals. He and Boswell have been great pick ups from the discard pile draft..

I watched a few minutes of that game and found it depressing as all hell. It looked like they were playing in a vacant lot.

[wlu_lax6]

DC with a 2-1 win. Espindola had both goals. He and Boswell have been great pick ups from the discard pile draft..

I watched a few minutes of that game and found it depressing as all hell. It looked like they were playing in a vacant lot.

I have found TV coverage of these away games terrible. They tend to use a single camera and lighting is garbage.

[Pruitt]

DC with a 2-1 win. Espindola had both goals. He and Boswell have been great pick ups from the discard pile draft..

I watched a few minutes of that game and found it depressing as all hell. It looked like they were playing in a vacant lot.

I have found TV coverage of these away games terrible. They tend to use a single camera and lighting is garbage.

But also, the state of that (empty) stadium. Jamaica's "National Stadium." Wow...

[wlu_lax6]

Knockout starts this week with first legs
Olimpia v. Herediano (Tuesday)
Pachuca v. Montreal Impact (Tuesday)
Saprissa v. America (Wednesday)
Alajuelense v. DC United (Thursday)

[wlu_lax6]

Montreal gets a 2-2 draw (was up 2-0) at Pachua in leg 1. 2 away goals before the return match at Olympic stadium
1 -1 draw for Olimpia and Herediano

[wlu_lax6]

America 3 away goals v. 0 for Saprissa

[wlu_lax6]

DC United got CRUSHED 5-2. Apparently fiasco in goal (Hamid is still hurt) and terrible give away for the 5th goal.

[degenerasian]

Montreal gets a 2-2 draw (was up 2-0) at Pachua in leg 1. 2 away goals before the return match at Olympic stadium
1 -1 draw for Olimpia and Herediano

OMG!

[wlu_lax6]

Nice that he did not go down on first contact outside of the box and fought through it. Hope for the same type of miracle tonight for United...Need a 3-0 or 4-1 win. Doubtful.

[degenerasian]

Wow. America lost 3-0 last night.

Montreal up 2-0 early.

Is this real life?

[wlu_lax6]

Montreal has won 7 of the last 45 MLS matches...but is 2 legs away from the Club World Cup. A 4-2 loss allowed Montreal to move on via away goals. Last time an MLS squad was in the final, Real Salt Lake in 2011 (where they blew a 2nd leg to Monterrey)

[P.D.X.]

Aaaannnd... Montreal is in the final.

[degenerasian]

America is up 5-0 at the half! With the other guys down to 10 men

[wlu_lax6]

I liked MLS-side chances more against a team from outside of Mexico....Grant Wahl made some comment on twitter about this tournament being the wildest in the world. The first that crossed my mind was the impact of gambling syndicates.

[degenerasian]

Impact draw 1-1 at the Azteca. A great result.

The Big Owe will big rocking next week. 59000 tickets sold.

[wlu_lax6]

Hope for a better final result than last time an MLS side was in the championship game 2010 (RSL had a 2-2 draw after the first leg to Montreal and lost 1-0 in the 2nd leg). Not a good Goal Keeper situation for the Impact.

2nd yellow in the tournament for kicking a ball out of the goal forces suspension of the starter. Montreal's backup...he is cup-tied to another team. Kristian Nicht gets signed from NASL Indy 11 to start in the pipes. Almost got very MLS-silly with an intra-league loan for the game.

[degenerasian]

Glad that didn't happen. Would have been a tainted victory with random MLSers

[wlu_lax6]

Glad that didn't happen. Would have been a tainted victory with random MLSers

Still strange that they are basically signing a guy for this game. MLS is in a tough spot because of the way the tourney gets cut across two MLS seasons. I feel like UEFA CL rules would not allow this as they have a player list that gets submitted before the group stage and another for the knockout games start

[degenerasian]

Glad that didn't happen. Would have been a tainted victory with random MLSers

Still strange that they are basically signing a guy for this game. MLS is in a tough spot because of the way the tourney gets cut across two MLS seasons. I feel like UEFA CL rules would not allow this as they have a player list that gets submitted before the group stage and another for the knockout games start

I was just reading the CONCACAF rules and they are similar (a team for group stages and a team for knockout).
But the main difference is that where UEFA you have to declare a set number, CONCACAF you can declare a maximum of 30 players.
If you are under 30, you can add players at any time upto 30 and that's what Montreal did.

[degenerasian]

Wild start. Impact with and early goal but America is pressing. Missed a sitter on the goal line.

Impact in some card trouble early too.

[degenerasian]

6 yellows ( 3 each)already in the first half. Mexicans trying to rough it up

[degenerasian]

That ended in a hurry. America with 3 goals in 15 minutes.