Ladies and gentlemen: we have liftoff. http://www.concacaf.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12813~2680953,00.html The first round features three groups (hosted in the Cayman Islands, Guyana, and Haiti), with two clubs from the host nation in each group. The group winners and the best runner-up move on to Round 2, with two groups of four (one in Puerto Rico, the other in Trinidad and Tobago). The best two from each group will move to a final round of four in TBA, with everyone but the last-place team going straight to the group stage of the 2012-13 CONCACAF Champions League. Unfortunately, once again Jamaican clubs have opted out of the tournament (what gives?), but Antigua Barracuda (the USL-Pro club that provides the backbone of the Antigua and Barbuda national team that upset Haiti) have decided to participate. Just one question: what have they done to earn a bye to the second round? Oh yes, and as mentioned before, Haiti's going to host a group! Here's hoping Centro Barber and Bayamon don't pull out like Bath Estate did last year.
Well, no Jamaican clubs again, just 1 Surinamese club this time, but Curacao returns to the tournament with 2 clubs.
Georgetown 0-0 North Village Elite Sports Club 2-1 North Village http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20120328/SPORT01/703289973/-1
Also, from Haiti: between yesterday and April 5, Tempete, Baltimore and Victory will play each other once, with the top two teams participating in the first-round group later in April.
CONCACAF decided to give all the professional teams a bye and all the amateur teams must play in the first round (Source: http://www.concacaf.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12813~2707008,00.html)
George Town advances in CFU clubs cup http://www.concacaf.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12813~2707008,00.html
An upset in Haiti: Tempete and Baltimore SC tied 1-1 in the St. Marc Derby. I haven't been able to find out what happened in the Victory SC-Baltimore SC game, but apparently Baltimore managed to avoid losing as badly as Tempete did, because the last CFU Champions Cup runners-up ended up last place in the three-team play-in group. So then, Victory and Baltimore will take on Centro Barber and Bayamon in a week's time.
Wiki says that the T&T Pro League hasn't ended yet, yet they already have qualified their 2 participants. ??? How is that possible? Also, what about the local league of the Barracudas? They get completely shut out? And why does Curacao get 2 berths?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_CFU_Club_Championship says Tempete is competing so somebody should correct that if that's wrong. http://www.ttproleague.com/index.ph...is-oncfu-spots-at-stake&catid=1:domestic-news
It is over though W Connection is the champion T&TEC FC was second. http://www.ttproleague.com/index.ph...mphatic-style&catid=1:domestic-news&Itemid=80
A couple of updates: down in Guyana, Milerock lost to Curacao's Hubentut Fortuna, while Alpha United lost the "Guyanese Clasico" 1-0 to InterMoengotapoe of Suriname. Meanwhile, Centro Barber from Curacao decided not to show up for the group in Haiti, which began with a 2-0 win for Baltimore over Bayamon.
INTER MOENGOTAPOE qualified as winner of the group. http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2...t-qualification-to-next-round-still-in-limbo/ Baltimore 1-1 Victory Victory win group
The only question left is which runner-up will join the Islanders, Caledonia and George Town in the next round. Between the runners-up in the three-team groups, Baltimore finished with four points to Elite's three, so the Cayman Islanders are out of the equation. Now, between Baltimore and Alpha United: if the CFU apply the same criteria as with the Caribbean Cup two years ago (when the Dominican Republic were not even considered for advancing as a runner-up), then Alpha will get the nod just based on having qualified from a larger group. But if the CFU decide to drop Alpha's result against the worst-ranked team in their group, in order to even things out (UEFA-style), then Alpha would have three points to Baltimore's four, and both Haitian teams would move on to the second round.
Wikipedia has Alpha United advancing. Obviously they and Baltimore were in different groups so the tiebreaker can't be head-to-head. Alpha United and Baltimore both finished with the same percentage of possible points earned (6 out of 9 equals 4 out of 6) and the same goal differential per game (+1). The next commonly used tiebreaker is goals scored and Alpha United had more goals scored per game than Baltimore (5/3 > 3/2). I'm not saying CONCACAF used those tiebreakers but I'm providing a justification for Alpha United advancing.
That's a fair argument, but there's not a single federation or confederation in world football that uses percentages as tiebreakers (too bad, because that would be more just than simply "dropping games against the last-place finisher" as UEFA does). Also, in my earlier post, I meant to say "last-place" rather than "worst-ranked". That is, if the CFU were to pull a UEFA and drop from consideration Alpha's 2-0 win over Milerock, then the Guyanese would drop to three points, giving Baltimore the nod.
The ruling is in, and... Called it! Round 2 Groups: Group 4 Puerto Rico Islanders (PUR) Caledonia AIA (TRI) George Town (CAY) Baltimore SC (HAI) Group 5 W Connection (TRI) Antigua Barracuda (ATG) Inter Moengotapoe (SUR) Victory (HAI) ...but, an important detail:
So the 4 that will play in the final round are already determined. Then what's the point of playing this 2nd round? I thought the CONCACAF was going to subsidize the poorer clubs' expenses. This is a joke.
SO CFU no decided that Group 4 will be played in the Cayman Island and will be played later in May from the 19 to the 26. Guess where the new President of the CFU is from... This means the islanders will have to play 6 games in 18 days, thanks CFU and our new Dictator Webb.
Intru, this does stink. Unfortunately for PRI, this year's CFU Club Cup has become a little bit of a cluster (if you know what I mean). The Islanders will have to fly from Carolina to Cayman and play the next day. It reminds me of the mess we had last year with flying Metapan, Montreal, San Juan and Edmonton. After Group play, we then travel to wherever they decide to have the finals. It would be nice if they decided to play them in Grand Cayman. At least we could save the airfare, should we advance. CONCACAF says only four of the remaining teams are eligible for the CONCACAF Champions League (only professional clubs may qualify). That sound like if one of the non-qualified clubs advances to the semi-finals, the other three teams automatically qualify for CCL.
They provide the subsidies for CCL competition; CFU Club Champions Cup participants are on their own. In fact, IIRC the Caribbean clubs have to pay an entry fee.