2018 CONCACAF Champions League Thread

They were last year. But the league has improved since then.

 

He might have been two years ago, but I don't think he is now. His free kicks are better than ever, but he looks to be slowing down.and is less effective in the run of play. He also takes much of the game off which offsets some of the special moments he still has. I think the Toronto front office types see this as well which why he talking contract and the FO is stalling. From what I've seen this year, Vela or Almiron are the class of MLS at this point in my book. As the season progresses, we'll see if he was temporarily slowed down by injury or permanently slowed down by age.

 

Ideally, all tournaments should be home and away. Not only it allows both sets of fans to support their team more easily, but it's also much more fair. If things are organized correctly, it'd be doable, IMO.

Even for a World Cup, if the whole idea of groups is replaced by a playoff model from the first round.

 

When I have some free time I post. When I'm busy I don't.

 

I have to say that a home and away final isn't as climactic as a single game one though. You can't call either game THE FINAL. The fans who attend the first leg don't even get to see a champion crowned.

 

And exactly what were the "geographical advantages" for the opposition in the following matches:

2006: Al Ahly (Egypt) over Club America in Japan (Third Place)
2007: Etoile du Sahel (Tunisia) over Pachuca in Japan (Quarterfinal)
2009: Pohang Steelers (South Korea) over Atlante in the UAE (Third Place)
2010: TP Mazembe (DR Congo) over Pachuca in the UAE (Quarterfinal)
2014: Auckland City (New Zealand) over Cruz Azul in Morocco (Third Place)

Yes, Liga MX clubs struggled a few times against the home side but that isn't the whole story and a bit of a convenient explanation. Two "top-three" placements (in a seven-team competition) in the last twelve editions is underwhelming for Liga MX, no matter how you look at it.

 

Meh.. CCW is largely a poorly designed competition and people seem to have a poor opinion of the AFC champions. Don't get me wrong, some of the losses you pointed out are bad ones, but losing to Gremio (2017), Real Madrid and Nacional (2016), Guangzhou Evergrande (2015), etc isn't horrible.

 

Those who have a poor opinion of the AFC Champions League don't know much about it. I would argue it's the most prestigious club competition outside Europe and South America. Ahead of CAF and CONCACAF. I had the pleasure of attending two finals in 2015 and 2016.

As for Pachuca last year, I was at the match against Gremio and the tuzos did well. Still, ask any Mexican fan if they are happy with Liga MX's performance at the CWC in the last decade. You will hear a resounding "no".

 

If you ask a mexican fan, losing to the AFC CL champion is completely embarrassing

 

really?, at the end most teams are champions of their confederations, it is not easy to reach that level. Of course UEFA tends to have the strongest teams, but it is never easy.

 

Liga MX teams/fans view themselves as being on par with CONMEBOL and only exceeded by UEFA.. Any loss to a team outside of those 2 confederations is viewed as a failure.

 

I look forward to watching Chivas on their “fracaso impossible” mission.

 

me too

 

CONMEBOL also want to think they are sort of on par with UEFA (well perhaps not anymore). So the past decade of UEFA dominace hurts them also.

Chivas is a "equipo copero" so they may surprise like they did in the CCL and may actually get 3rd place+.

At least they did not choke vs Toronto FC like some other team did

 

Yeah that dominance has been terrible. But the money distribution is a huge problem. South American teams, not even rich ones (well maybe brazilian ones) can pay what a midtable team in Europe can. you can't count with a very good player for more than a year or two .

For example, if you compare my team's roster today with the one that won Copa Lib in 2016 you will find ver very few players on both rosters.

 

Well, now CONMEBOL finishes the Libertadores a week before the Club World Cup starts. Only way to take a decent team there, before it gets dismantled.

 

For some reason I did't comment about the final. And for some other reason my local Univision is just streaming the game again and I have some conclusions.

First of all, it was a great final series. I have always thought that 2-way series are way more interesting than 1 neutral-site game. this proves it.

2) what a great tournament it was. each year it's getting closer to CONCACAF´s dream (MLS-LMX showdowns with one or two "rogue" teams from Canada and Central America").

3) there is no doubt that MLS is getting (dangerously) closer to LMX level. Yes, it was TFC (arguably the best) vs Chivas (arguably one of the worst) but the fact that they kicked Tigres' and America's ass was awesome.

4) man how "spicy" this final was with TFC (MLS) eliminating 2 LMX teams while Chivas eliminated 2 MLS teams. What a match up!

5) I'm happy chivas won

6) Bradley is that kind of player that you either love it or hate it. BS poll seems to be hate. But I was in the stadium for the final game and Bradley was easily the best TFC player IMO. Overcritized just for the fact that he's the (top 3) best player in USMTN.

Just to conclude, just hope this is the way CCL turns out for future years. 1st half for Central American teams to taste the glory. Second half MLS-LMX-Canada/Hon/CR showdown.

This tournament is getting closer to the ideal.

 

He is the current MNT "meat shield" and occasionally shares the honor with Jozy Altidore. He assumed the title from Landon Donovan

 

1) He was only in the USSF U17 Residency program because of his dad.
2) He was only drafted into MLS at 17 because his dad drafted him to play with MetroStars.
3) Bruce Arena only gave him some early MNT looks in the lead up to 2006 (he was never considered for the roster, but was part of the extended training camp practice squad) because of Arena's long relationship with Bradley's dad.
4) He only got started in his career with the MNT as a regular player because his dad was the head coach

... years of European club success and national team success not for his dad quietly ignored

5) It's his fault that the U.S. failed in various Gold Cups or in qualifying for WC18
6) Despite the long history of failure, Bradley is single handedly responsible for Toronto FC's failure to win anything - and MLS Cup 2017 certainly wasn't his doing!

Yeah, It's really astonishing what a long and quite successful career he's managed to have, what with all the nepotism and his sucking donkey balls.

(That's sarcasm. I'm a big fan of Michael's - but even I could sense there was no way he was going to make that penalty kick, sometimes you can just feel it - and it's often the biggest names. I've cringed watching my SKC's Besler and Zusi walk up to the spot knowing we were screwed. Shit happens.)

 

unfortunately for him he doesn't score a lot of goals (which always boost your likeability) but as a Mexico fan I think Bradley is easily top 3 USA player I've watched in my lifetime, after LD and CD.

 

I liked him a lot more before he went to Toronto. I'm not going to blame MLS like some people with an ax to grind, but something clearly changed in his game to the point where he no longer pushed the ball forward and just reverted to squaring it or passing back and he became more of a choker. Peak Bradley was awesome though and definitely in the top 5.

 

top 5 of what???