Let's start with what we all know to be true: It's time to give up. ...scratch that: It's time to make history. Never has a US or Canadian club finished a two-game CONCACAF series in Mexico and emerged victorious (although Montreal came desperately close in 2009). The remaining MLS clubs in the current Champions League will have to buck the trend to reach the semifinals. On the positive side, if any of them survive, there will be every reason to think that they can win it all, since finishing a knockout tie in Mexico is pretty much as bad as it gets in the CCL. Here's the schedule (all times EDT, home team first, TV information TBA): First Leg Monday, March 10: LD Alajuelense (CRC) vs. Árabe Unido (PAN), 10:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 11: San Jose Earthquakes (USA) vs. Toluca FC (MEX), 10:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 12: Sporting Kansas City (USA) vs. Cruz Azul (MEX), 8:00 p.m. LA Galaxy (USA) vs. Club Tijuana (MEX), 10:00 p.m. Second Leg Tuesday, March 18: Club Tijuana (MEX) vs. LA Galaxy (USA), 10:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 19: Toluca FC (MEX) vs. San Jose Earthquakes (USA), 8:00 p.m. Cruz Azul (MEX) vs. Sporting Kansas City (USA), 10:00 p.m. Thursday, March 20: Árabe Unido (PAN) vs. LD Alajuelense (CRC), 10:00 p.m.
Tijuana was the worst of the three Mexican teams in the Apertura. If the Galaxy play well, they're my favorites.
@Ismitje This topic will fall off the first page if it doesn't get stickied. I made score predictions in the CONCACAF Champions League forum with all three MLS clubs getting eliminated by at least 2 goals and no MLS club winning a game: Los Angeles 1:1 Tijuana Tijuana 3:1 Los Angeles Sporting Kansas City 0:1 Cruz Azul Cruz Azul 3:1 Sporting Kansas City San Jose 1:2 Toluca Toluca 4:0 San Jose
No, it was at Arrowhead. So the original claim is correct. No "US or Canadian club finished a two-game CONCACAF series in Mexico and emerged victorious..."
fwiw, MLS has adjusted their league schedule to clear the weekend assignment (on March 15) for LA Galaxy so they do not have a competitive matches between the CCL Quarterfinal H&A legs. The MLS match (LA Galaxy hosting DC United) was originally scheduled for March 15 (a Saturday), but now it looks to have be rescheduled to be played on Wednesday, August 27. Edit: this news may be a few days old -- http://www.dcunited.com/news/2014/01/dc-united-vs-la-galaxy-game-date-change
Sort of. San Jose moved their season opener from March 9 to May 7, but also re-scheduled a home game vs. RSL to 3/15 in between the two CCL legs. Whereas the Galaxy are taking their break in between the legs. Galaxy: Sat March 8: Galaxy-RSL Wed March 12: Galaxy-Tijuana (Leg 1) (Sat March 15: Galaxy-DC United: Match moved to Aug 27) Tue March 18: Tijuana-Galaxy (Leg 2) Earthquakes: (Sun March 9: San Jose-Colorado: Match moved to May 7) Tue March 11: San Jose-Toluca (Leg 1) Sat March 15: San Jose-RSL (Match moved from May 7) Wed March 19: Toluca-San Jose (Leg 2) That March 9/March 11 turnaround probably wouldn't have been fun even though both games would have been at home. Though now they have to travel to Toluca after a March 15 game.
It won't be too long though. Should MLS ascendancy continue on its current trajectory, I believe that within 5-7 years to overtake Liga MX in all aspects.
I'm also seeing a definite plateauing of Liga MX. They have not improved too much over the last five years. I wouldn't say that the writing is on the wall but they need to make some changes and I don't see them doing that.
LigaMX is more than 5-7 years away. In the next 5-7 years I would hope that MLS teams would be able to win against LigaMX teams often enough that it's no longer notable.
chiquitibum es una persona sarcastica. Fue puro rebane. You guys have been saying this since this forum began. I don't think it will ever happen.
Stuff never happens...until it does. Maybe not in 5-7 years, but I believe that the odds of it eventually happening are in MLS' favor.
Not the odds, but the economics. The size of the U.S. economy is what makes MLS supplanting LigaMX a possibility.
And the size of this economy is what could help maintain MX being on top. TV deals, it's currently the most watched football league up here. Plus lots of u.s. citizens buy MX merchandise, another revenue stream.