Now that the quarterfinals are gone, and CONCACAF's decided to be proactive for a change and set the times early, the schedule for the semifinals of this season's CONCACAF Champions League are set (all times Eastern Standard Time): First leg Tuesday, March 15: Real Salt Lake (USA) vs. Deportivo Saprissa (CRC), 10:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 16: Monterrey (MEX) vs. Cruz Azul (MEX), 10:00 p.m. Second leg Tuesday, April 4: Deportivo Saprissa (CRC) vs. Real Salt Lake (USA), 10:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 5: Cruz Azul (MEX) vs. Monterrey (MEX), 8:00 p.m. Which of the Mexican teams will go through to play as favorites in the final? And where will this Champions League end, in the Ricardo Saprissa or in the Rio Tinto?
cruz azul seems to be playing better than monterrey this season. wonder if the two chilean's will be back, in suazo and drougett who was looking pretty good before his injury kept reading that saprissa were doing bad this season, but they looked decent to me, and good enough to defeat salt lake.
Both Cruz Azul and Monterrey are solid teams. But I feel Cruz Azul wants the CCL more so I pick them to reach the final. I think they will play Saprissa in the final and I think Cruz Azul will finally lift an important trophy for the first time in almost 14 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008–09_UEFA_Champions_League Group winners Barcelona and Manchester United didn't get home-field advantage in the semifinals over 2nd place teams. Fail.
Real Salt lake won their group, with Cruz Azul second. Don't think there is rhyme or reason to who plays where. Anyway looking forward to good semifinals and final round.
You would think that the first leg would be in Costa Rica, since the weather is probably better on early April than mid March in SLC.
rooting for RSL to win. every mexican team not named toluca can burn in hell. not saprissa tho, i hate those damn costa ricans too
Is there any chance if and only if RSL make the final they wold show the game on ESPN? because they do show the games on ESPN deportes, why wouldnt they show the final on ESPN, especially since it would be a big thing for the MLS to win in the region and go to club world cup, and then obviously show that on ESPN as well RSL versus Barca, Inter, Bayern...wow can't wait for tuesday, cmon RSL, MLS fans counting on you, make our league proud and make our league look good
Fox owns the english language rights in the United States so they can't. ESPN doesn't even have the Spanish rights either. That's held by Univision. ESPN only has the rights for latin america.
http://www.concacaf.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12813~2313745,00.html is titled "Borja assesses Champions League semifinals."
http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=1397349.html is titled "CONCACAF cream shrinks to four."
http://www.hexagonalblog.com/2011/03/ccl-201011-semifinal-preview.html by Howard Hamilton is titled "Two tossups in the semifinal round." Edit: http://www.concacaf.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12813~2315810,00.html is titled "RSL plays Saprissa in first of two openers."
caught a bit of the game, RSL was very good from what i saw, and i think they have a real shot at actually beating Monterrey/CA in the final. ill put it at like 40%
Huge clean sheet last night, making our league proud regardless of if they win this whole thing. A Cruz Azul/RSL match-up in the final would be epic.
Pretty dominate perfomance really, especially on the defensive side of the ball where they really outworked Sparissa. At times it really looked like a total gulf in class between them. I believe Salt Lake have scored in every away match so far this CCL and a goal in the 2nd leg would surely put Saprissa out, as I do not see them being able to get a 4-1 scoreline over Salt Lake....that said the 2nd Leg should be pretty fun to watch.
http://www.concacaf.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12813~2316635,00.html is titled "Mexican foe still standing in Cruz Azul's way." http://www.concacaf.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12813~2316779,00.html is titled "Saborio, Salt Lake subdue Saprissa 2-0." http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/real-salt-lake-happy-taking-2-0-lead-costa-rica is titled "Real Salt Lake happy taking 2-0 lead to Costa Rica." http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/rsls-saborío-inspired-against-former-club is titled "RSL's Saborío inspired against former club." http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/rsl-take-2-0-win-over-saprissa-ccl-first-leg is titled "RSL take 2-0 win over Saprissa in CCL first leg."