Thanks to the guys from the Columbus Crew board for alerting me to today's announcement of the quarterfinal schedule (all times Eastern, home team listed first): First leg Tuesday, February 22: Columbus Crew (USA) vs. Real Salt Lake (USA), 8 p.m. Cruz Azul (MEX) vs. Santos Laguna (MEX), 10 p.m. Wednesday, February 23: Toluca (MEX) vs. Monterrey (MEX), 8 p.m. Thursday, February 24: Deportivo Saprissa (CRC) vs. Olimpia (HON), 8 p.m. Second leg Tuesday, March 1: Santos Laguna (MEX) vs. Cruz Azul (MEX), 8 p.m. Real Salt Lake (USA) vs. Columbus Crew (USA), 10 p.m. Wednesday, March 2: Monterrey (MEX) vs. Toluca (MEX), 8 p.m. Thursday, March 3: Olimpia (HON) vs. Deportivo Saprissa (CRC), 8 p.m. And just a reminder as to how the bracket is set up: The winners of the Monterrey/Toluca and the Olimpia/Saprissa series will host the second legs of their respective semifinals, and one of the teams in the non-Mexican side of the bracket will host the second leg of the Championship. So who do you want to see in the last 4 of the continental championship?
Re: 2011-12 CCL Quarterfinals this draw is effing bullzhit concacaf always trying to help mls and usa
Re: 2011-12 CCL Quarterfinals Someone doesn't understand the poll and the pairings. ...and someone got the years wrong. Been working on that other thread too much
Re: 2011-12 CCL Quarterfinals You know how they do the draw right? Each group winner could only get drawn against a runner-up that wasn't in their group. That was determined before the group stage was ever drawn. You should blame the Mexican teams for not winning every group, then this wouldn't have happened. There was a 2/3 chance that the first Mexican team would get drawn with another. And then if that happened there was a 1/2 chance that the remaining Mexican teams would get drawn together. So, this draw result of two all Mexican matches would happen 1/3 of the time. I'm sure that's enough for you to call BS, but not for most rational people. And, again, if the Mexican teams had taken care of things during the group stage this would not even have been a possibility.
Re: 2011-12 CCL Quarterfinals I agree with you, but even in the final the 2nd leg is played outside Mexico. thats a little bullshit no?
Well, I for one will be rooting especially for Real Salt Lake now that they traded for Arturo Alvarez.
I've never seen Olimpia or Saprissa play - how do they match up against RSL (for anybody that actually watches both and has an unbiased opinion). From what I see on Wikipedia they both have stadiums of about 30k and I assume they don't get much in the way of tv revenue - do they spend more or less than RSL or Columbus?
I can't speak for Olimpia, but Saprissa is owned by the same Omnilife group that runs Chivas de Guadalajara and Chivas USA (Jorge Vergara), so money's no problem for them. However, Vergara imposed the "Chivas" rule on Saprissa, so that now they only play Costa Rican nationals, so that limits their player pool. They do get to cherry-pick the best players from everyone else's youth teams, but then they in turn end up selling off the best players to Europe (e.g. Celso Borges, Michael Barrantes, Keylor Navas), so it's hard for the team to maintain a consistency. And the team just came off of its worst regular season since the 1940s, but they just got a new coach from Mexico. As for Real Salt Lake...in a way it's too bad that they didn't get to play Motagua instead of TFC, because that would have prepared them a bit better for dealing with Central American sides (Arabe Unido was a shell of itself this year). But RSL would feel right at home down there with its possession-based attacking game, so a Salt Lake-Saprissa semi-final would be a match-up of teams with similar styles. However, RSL would have a huge advantage if they could keep Sabo (ex-Saprissa) around.
Real Salt Lake has an opening all the way into the final, specially now after seeing they will be keeping that same strong core and they are looking to add some more weapons. I have a feeling Santos is getting out of this one on top of Cruz Azul
An interesting fact for MLS fans with how the Central American teams still alive in this tournament have done with games in the US (in the CCL era): Saprissa hasn't lost a single game in an MLS stadium, racking up a W-L-T record of 2-0-1 (2-0 @ DC United in 2008, 1-1 @ Columbus Crew in 2009, 2-1 @ Seattle Sounders in 2010). For Olimpia, OTOH, should they make it to the semifinals, the first leg will be the first time that they get to play a CCL game up here in the US (in soccer terms, so leaving Puerto Rico out ). Mind you, of all the teams that have been to every CCL to date, Olimpia's the only one to hold that distinction.
Olimpia has a large following in the US. They automatically get the Honduran National Team supporters and add the Olimpia supporters. They will make the trek out to Columbus or Salt Lake.
I can't predict until the transfer window closes. Columbus has lost 9 players off their senior roster so far, including Schelotto and team captain Frankie Hejduk. They traded DM starter Brian Carroll, and lost 2 players in the expansion draft. There is a possibility that some of the players who had their options declined could re-sign, but the FO said it wouldn't re-sign Hejduk or Schelotto. Anyway, MLS rosters have expanded to 30, and right now Columbus only has 15 players. Right now, RSL has to be loving it with their entire core back. Rumor had Columbus offering Brad Friedel a player/coach contract for next year. He is from Ohio and that would certainly be an upgrade at GK.
An interesting bit of news on the administrative side: Brian Hall (USA) is now the CONCACAF Director of Referee Administration, so please direct all your complaints of referee incompetence/corruption to him.
If I'm not mistaken, it's a new position. In other news, CONCACAF's apparently going to be putting out weekly "how they got here" videos for each of the quarterfinalists in the CCL. This week: Olimpia.
The "Quarterfinal Focus" video for Real Salt Lake has been posted. http://www.concacaf.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12813~2283331,00.html is titled "Stability, changes mark Mexican clubs in CCL."
From Costa Rica: Deportivo Saprissa is being forced to consider serious squad rotation with eight games in the next 26 days - six in the Costa Rican league (where avoiding relegation is still a concern), plus their quarterfinal series with Olimpia.