I believe that a Caribbean pro league is in the works, but I don't see how that will actually improve the Caribbean clubs in the near future. Their best bet is that the NASL expands further into the Caribbean, say a team or 2 in Cuba, and maybe Jamaica.
Well, more pro clubs in stabile league (would/should) mean more players focused on their game only (possibly no part-time football, part-time jobs, only full-time football), more kids being attracted by better level of football and better chance for them being noticed by bigger clubs from abroad. It would surely give a boost to local football academies. I believe that a pro league consisted of clubs from top 5-6 countries (JAM, TRI, CUB, DOM, HAI) would bring more players from abroad, more quality coaches - players would play with (and against) better players and work under better experts, more investments in infrastructure, facilities, players' preparations and trainings and stuff that go along with it. Caribbean club football needs total reconstruction. This what they have now - ridiculous CFU Club Championship that lasts for 10 days and this what they have in the CCL - four games (losses mostly) in three months is sad and painful to watch. As of now, they stuck in a middle of nowhere, just like New Zealand in their confederation.
A couple things: 1) For the most part, these are teams that wouldn't have survived the prelims in the old format. So then the question becomes: is it a good or bad thing for them to play more games at a level clearly beyond their own? I'd say that it's beneficial in that it wakes up local football in these countries to needed improvements if they intend to compete at the continental level in the future (especially if CONCACAF and CONMEBOL ever warm up to a merger). 2) Who were the competitive teams Caribbean teams back in the day? A US 2nd-division team, the CFU President's plaything (Joe Public) and W Connection. Well, we're getting a US 2nd-division team back in the Caribbean this fall; the current CFU President's plaything (Antigua Barracuda) didn't even play the CFU Championship this year; and W Connection are still around, although with a weaker squad than the one that nearly reached the Champions League quarterfinals in 2009-10. Which brings me to my last point: over the last decade, the expansion of lower-division club football in the US has siphoned off talent that would have been playing on Caribbean club teams instead (see: Guyanese NT players going to the NASL or USL instead of T&T), as is natural in globalized football.
I agree with all you mentiond. But, I think that they should qualify to the competition through qualifiers against little bit stronger teams: for instance, I use same logic when I argue UEFA's format with my friends - I am sick of weak teams (e.g. very Dinamo Zagreb ) qualifying via qualifiers where they can face only teams of their stature or way weaker (Dinamo against Albanian team last season, Legia against Irish team this season etc.). That's pathetic - Dinamo qualified to three CLs in last five seasons, played 18 matches, avoided defeats in only two of those. Unlike their Caribbean counterparts, they got 40ish million Euros. I think it's counter effective (if that's the correct term) to see them qualifying and getting trashed again and again and again. I don't see point really. Four games (usually first two at home) and that's all. It's useless to go to play at Saprissa, Pachuca, New York when you know you are out of contention. Maybe the solution could be: 24 teams in Round 1 (same qualifying method as now); 12 ties; winners (12) progress to the CCL group stage, losers (also 12) progress to the second, Europa League-like competition; both competitions use the same format - 3 groups of 4 (or vice versa) with semis and final played in spring. That way all CCL teams would play at least 6-8 matches competitive matches with best opponents in the region - top teams against top teams, second-level teams against second-level teams. BTW, speaking of formats and stuff, are there any infos on money teams get since ScotiaBank entered the stage?
Sound obvious. So obvious, in fact, that it has already been done. Plenty of fans of Caribbean football would love to see professional football in the region, but making that a reality is just easier said than done. Money is a serious issue - travel costs within the Caribbean are high and attendance is not always great (airfare was key to killing the original league). The media market is not that large or concentrated so mega TV deals are harder to come by. The Corporate Caribbean isn't swimming in the kind of cash you see in some of the more populated parts of the world so money can be scarcer there too. Unless a benevolent billionaire white knight with a passion for Caribbean football shows up and decides to just bankroll the whole thing, just getting it all off the ground would be difficult. And then there are the socio-political issues. Organization has historically been lacking in the Caribbean, and organization would need to be flawless to get this to work. Caribbean politicians and administrators are not good at this. Caribbeans don't always play nice with each other when it comes to matters of football and money and even when they're on the same page, they can rarely get anything done. Proposals for a new pan-Caribbean pro league have been on the table for years now and very little progress has been made. In my view, the most plausible way forward for Caribbean professional football would be to plug in to an existing league. This would USL, NASL, and hopefully MLS sides in the region. Ideally, there'd be a flagship MLS side on one of the larger islands (Jamaica or Trinidad most likely) with an NASL side (like PR right now) and a couple of USL teams. Realistically, the region will never be able to afford an MLS team without the aforementioned billionaire white knight to cover the exorbitant expansion fee, so it'd be more feasible to aspire to an additional NASL side and a USL side or two. That'd give the region 4 fully pro teams - if this is coupled with some sort of arrangement to allow each of those sides to count all CFU players as domestics, it would benefit the entire region. I think that with careful planning and negotiation, the region could sustain that much.
Assuming your Round 1 would have two pots of 12 clubs, one-third of the clubs in the bottom pot would have to face Mexican clubs, and the Mexican clubs would be likely enough to win that it would make the games pointless. In the UEFA Champions League Group Stage, I would think that at least half of the time Pot 4 (bottom pot) clubs would lose both games to the Pot 1 club in their group. I'm not going to spend time to look at if that is true. The Pot 4 clubs would have a hope at getting points against the Pot 2 or 3 clubs. Your idea for CONCACAF would be like if UEFA played the Round of 32 with the same quality clubs but in two leg series where the Pot 4 clubs would play the Pot 1 clubs. If the Pot 4 clubs played two games against Barcelona or Bayern Munich that the clubs have no chance at winning, it would deprive the Pot 4 clubs a chance at a few Group Stage points and maybe a surprise appearance in the Round of 16. I think many clubs wouldn't use their best players in a consolation tournament. CONCACAF doesn't have a lot of money. I don't think it would make sense to have clubs play 6 games in the Group Stage of a consolation tournament.
Since I was asked to do so last week, here's the current "If the CCL Group Stage Finished Today" bracket: Árabe Unido (PAN) vs. FC Dallas (USA) Vancouver Whitecaps (CAN) vs. CF Pachuca (MEX) --- Pumas UNAM (MEX) vs. New York Red Bulls (USA) Tigres UANL (MEX) vs. Deportivo Saprissa (CRC)
Bad result for Saprissa last night. Winning at Cuscatlán would have put all the pressure on Portland, but now there is a lot of more wiggle room for the Timbers.
Portland wins the group if they get at least 6 points from their last 3 games because Portland trails Saprissa by 1 point and if Portland gets at least 6 points then Saprissa can't get more than 3. Portland also wins the group if they lose to Dragon and get 4 points against Saprissa. Therefore Saprissa probably needs to win hosting Portland. Saprissa also should want to win by as many goals as possible because of the tiebreakers. For example, if Saprissa wins by 2 hosting Portland, Portland gets a draw at Dragon, and Portland wins by 1 hosting Saprissa, Saprissa would win the group on head-to-head goal differential. There are several groups that ended with a Central American club winning a group by winning hosting an MLS club. In 2014-2015, Saprissa ended with a 2:0 win hosting Sporting Kansas City and Saprissa won the group on head-to-head away goals. In 2014-2015, Olimpia ended with a 3:1 win hosting Portland and Olimpia won the group on head-to-head away goals. In 2013-2014, Arabe Unido ended with a 1:0 win hosting Houston when Houston would have won the group with a draw. With Portland and Saprissa, the MLS club will end at home.
Big let down last night. Bookies here gave great odds on Saprissa's win - 1.6, Saprissa was in great shape, trashed the same opponent just a week ago. Snap. Still, I expect them to advance, Timbers are in tough playoff spot race.
Saprissa just finished the first round of fixtures in the national league: 11GP 8W 3D 0L 27GF 7GA +20GD 27Pts Absolutely dominant. Herediano is second with 22Pts and +9GD. Too bad we took Dragon lightly at Cuscatlan. We are playing at a level at which we should be beating them easily home and away. Could prove costly. MLS watchers: I can look up the table, but I want to know from you how is Portland doing lately. Do they have a chance at a capacity Saprissa Stadium, with our well-known welcoming crowd on top of them?
What would you say Portland's strengths and weaknesses are? For Saprissa I'd say our speedy play on the wings , especially on the left through Daniel Colindres, and our killer CFs (Uruguayan Fabrizio Ronchetti and Panamanian Rolando Blackburn) are our main strength. Hence the goal production. Regarding weaknesses, our fullbacks bomb forward a lot, sometimes too much. Roy Miller has been been a lot better than I expected playing CB (as I've never liked him), but you never know with him. I'm nitpicking, though, as no team has really showed us up this season. Which can be a problem when playing a potentially good side like Timbers. It'd be good to know our flaws better by now.
I think Portland's weak point is their MLS playoff race. Haven't seen their games lately beside one of Seattle derbies, they play pretty wild, lots of goals. Saprissa is a favourite there for sure.
Here are the probabilities based on the average of the betting odds from three places: Saprissa win: 46.2 percent Draw: 27.5 percent Portland win: 26.3 percent
Mind you, for those who don't regularly follow the Costa Rican league: their format changed this year, so first place in the regular season (I'll refer to it as Round 1) now has significant title implications. The four best teams from Round 1 now advance to a Round 2, with everyone playing everyone else home-and-away. If the Round 1 winner also finishes top of Round 2, that team is automatically the champ; at worst, if that doesn't happen, then the winners of Rounds 1 and 2 face off in a two-leg Final.
In my opinion this new format is much fairer as it gives a bigger reward to the team that finishes on top during the 'regular' season. Before it was mostly enough to just make it to the top four - there were still some incentives to finish as high as possible, like closing the semifinal legs at home and 'ventaja deportiva', which meant if the home/away series ended up tied the team that finished higher in the regular season would advance, but now if you finish on top you have a pretty good shot at the title.
Still can't find them. Do these streams require you to be logged in (I know that twitter's MLB and NHL streams don't, but this is my first time trying to stream a game on facebook)? I'm not on facebook (can't stand small talk in real life, why would I sign up for the digital version thereof?), so logging in isn't an option.
This is the ninth Champions League and it breaks the records for goals scored and margin of victory, which were both previously held by Club America in a 10:1 win at Puerto Rico Bayamon on September 17, 2014. Including the Qualifying Round when it existed, there have been 586 Champions League games.