This tournament has sucked since the move to 3-team groups, and it sucked before the transition to becoming the Champions League. All things old are new again, and this tournament will still be terrible. This "solution" fixes nothing.
i really hate that mls gets breaks like this and they still bittch about the calendar when it would affect everyone but them...
2017/18 definitelly will be a shit tournament..... but what I hope for 2018/19 : to give one extra spot for 2017/18 TH and made an format 8 groups x 4 teams as UEFA Champions League !! Yes, with 5 teams from Mexico, 4 from USA, 3 from Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Panama, definitelly the format 8x4 is the best !!
Looks like they got their way: Puerto Rico FC kicked in the door and will be participating after all. They replace Central FC in Group D and will host it in Bayamón; as for the defending champions, they are now seeded directly in the Final Round, and will host the five group winners in Trinidad and Tobago in May. As we know, the tournament winner will qualify for the 2018 CCL, while 2nd through 4th place will go on to the 2017 Play-In Tournament.
CRC gets screwed by the new format. They should really have the Caribbean's spot in the final tournament as well, maybe even one of the other CA nations'.
Worth noting: this will be the first time since 2009 that the best qualifier from El Salvador is considered equal to its Costa Rican counterpart. Mind you, CONCACAF did say that more ranking information is on the way, so we don't have the full details yet.
Racing des Gonaives of Haiti is first to qualify (along with Central - host and double title holder) to Final round of CFU Club Championship. Action continues 1 March with play in groups B and C.
History made in Group B: Cibao FC tied Don Bosco 1-1 in Haiti to eliminate the hosts and become the first Dominican club ever to reach the final round of a CFU tournament. To make it better: their goalscorer is Haitian.
In Group C, Montego Bay hosted their group and managed to finish third! And behind teams from Antigua and Barbuda and the Dominican Republic We have something historic brewing in the Caribbean: With Grenades (Antigua and Barbuda) joining Cibao and Racing des Gonaïves in the final round, we are guaranteed a debutant in the next CCL play-in tournament. In addition, not a single host has managed to win its group in this first round; I expect Puerto Rico FC to buck the trend, though.
I honestly haven't watched a single game up to now, so I can't answer that second question for you. But I highly doubt it's due to lack of interest. On paper, Racing were the best team in their group going in; while Don Bosco just played in the Champions League, and surely did not want to suffer the embarrassment of losing to a Dominican club. It might just be that as teams from the top Caribbean leagues get weaker (particularly by losing their best players to the US lower leagues) and the rest get better organized, parity draws nearer.
Grenades has a bunch of Jamaican players, and they also appear to have been reinforced by several players who played for other clubs in the recently-concluded Antiguan league season.
Some important news from Canada: the schedule for the 2017 Canadian Championship is out. (home team first) Play-In Wednesday, May 3: Ottawa Fury vs. FC Edmonton Wednesday, May 10 FC Edmonton vs. Ottawa Fury Semifinals Tuesday, May 23: Play-In Winner vs. Toronto FC Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Impact de Montréal Tuesday, May 30: Impact de Montréal vs. Vancouver Whitecaps Wednesday, May 31: Toronto FC vs. Play-In Winner Final First leg on Tuesday, June 20 or Wednesday, June 21 (the latter if Montréal's involved) Second leg on Tuesday, June 27 Now, you might ask: what does any of this have to do with this CCL qualification cycle? Well, the CSA has responded to the transition with the following: the winner of this year's Voyageurs' Cup (assuming it's not TFC) will visit Toronto on August 9 to decide the CCL berth in a one-game playoff. With that, I'll go ahead and drop TFC off the list of qualifiers. As for the other teams ostensibly in the 2018 CCL: we do not yet have an indication from USSoccer as to which season (2016 or 2017) will be taken into account, or if playoffs will be used to decide the berths like in Canada. On the other hand, I presume Mexico won't make any changes, as the current calendar (2016 Apertura and 2017 Clausura feeding into the 2018 CCL) dovetails perfectly with the Copa MX-to-Copa Libertadores calendar. 2018 CCL Qualifiers 1. FC Dallas [USA] 2. Colorado Rapids [USA] 3. New York Red Bulls [USA] 4. Tigres UANL [MEX] 5. Club América [MEX] 6. Seattle Sounders [USA] 2017 Play-In Qualifiers 1. Árabe Unido [PAN1, PAN2 or PAN3] 2. Real Estelí [NCA] 3. Deportivo Saprissa [CRC1, CRC2 or CRC3] 4. Antigua GFC [GUA1, GUA2 or GUA3] * 5. Santa Tecla [SLV1, SLV2 or SLV3] 6. Motagua [HON1, HON2 or HON3] * Assuming FIFA suspension lifted in time