2019 CONCACAF Champions League Thread

Jokes aside, why hasn't the US ever bid for this thing? You'd think the ICC people in Miami would love it.

EDIT: or even South America. The first tournament in Brazil was quite well attended...

 

Minneapolis is nicer.

 

Just have it outdoors in Montreal.

 

So as it stands - there will be a new 24 team 'Club World Cup' in June/July 2021 but without any of Europe's leading clubs who say they "will not participate"

— Simon Evans (@sgevans) March 15, 2019

Good bye CWC.

 

Burnley!!!!!

 

Money. FIFA always wanted significant financial guarantees. Guarantees that only Japan, the UAE and Morocco have been willing to pay so far.

European participation in the expanded CWC will also come down to one factor. Money.

 

How can this CWC afford the Euro teams? They'd need to pay UCL numbers without UCL interest.

 

When Infantino tried to push the expanded tournament through previously he had a secret consortium willing to pay USD 12-13 billion for four editions. So about USD 3 billion per CWC edition. A fully transparent process may not yield quite as much but Infantino clearly thinks he can make it work.

 

It's a shame that this CWC won't be done well, if at all, because the format almost creates itself.

Pot 1: 8 UEFA (4 CL winners + 4 Europa)
Pot 2: 8 CONMEBOL (4 Copa Lib winners + 4 Copa Sud)
Pot 3: 4 AFC and 4 CAF (Champions League winners)
Pot 4: 4 Concacaf and 4 OFC (Champions League winners)

If a team wins multiple CLs, pass down slots to runners-up based on some uniform ranking system.

Then the tournament runs as the World Cup does now - 8 groups of 4, top 2 advance, straight knockout tournament.

That tournament would rule. Sure, some teams might fall out of form if they qualify in 2017 for 2021 or whatever, but that's a trade-off I'm good with. Adds more intrigue if a smaller club knocks off a fallen giant.

 

I don't see how the UEFA teams don't take all 4 semifinal spots 9 years out of 10 - and given that, what's the point of this thing?

 

I don't see how PSG fails to win Ligue 1 more than once a decade either, so what's the point of that league?

 

There is a clear second place, there is europa league on the line, there is relegation (i think). This tournament will be another UEFA Champion's League (lite).

 

The big UEFA clubs finally have enough money from the Sheikhs, the Russian Mafia and the "investment" American firms to start an open sabotage of all international soccer.

 

Only good thing about the CWC is that we don't have to worry about it. We are too busy making new rules with TAM, GAM, YAM etc.

 

In other words, they're working hard at making the teams and the league better and letting the results take care of themselves in the long run?

Sounds like a pretty solid plan to me.

 

No Andy, you don’t get it. Everything MLS does is stupid. You need to start from that prime directive and judge everything from there.

 

Unfortunately there's no way of finding that out. Forgetting about shots on goal in a loss, there aren't generic records of shots on goal in each game without looking at individual box scores.

Should players be in a month-long tournament three times every four years for a World Cup, Euro, and your idea? Players won't be on teams that reach the Final of every tournament, but including practice with team at the tournament site in advance, players could average three weeks per tournament. I also don't think the second tier tournaments should be treated as well as the top ones. AFC and CAF have second tier tournaments. The fact that those confederations don't deserve as many spots as UEFA and CONMEBOL doesn't change the fact that it's unfair to pick what second tier tournaments matter because of what is convenient.

 

Only if The Frozen Mississippi is nicer than The Chilly Missouri.....

 

Same river

 

Crazy opinion of the day: Sporting could take Monterrey out.

There's a chance, slim as it is. The Rayados have a very predictable style.

 

Monterrey is the clear favorite, but Kansas City doesn't exactly suck.

I think Kansas City having the second leg at home is hugely important.

According to my records MLS sides are a woeful 7-35 in home/home series against LigaMX teams in official competitions. Kansas City's win over Toluca was the first in which the MLS team won both the second leg in Mexico and the series. A bunch of MLS teams (including Kansas City vs Monterrey) have done well at home in the first leg only to be wiped off the field in a barrage of goals in the second leg in Mexico.

I think it's key that Kansas City get an away goal. If they don't get an away goal, I think it's going to be long odds indeed. And two away goals and a result no worse than a 3-2 loss would be about the best result. Obviously a Kansas City win would be an astonishing result, but frankly I'd probably take a 2-2 tie over a 1-0 KC win in the first leg.

What scares me most about MLS teams playing LigaMX teams is the goal explosions and two away goals gives a lot more leeway. What happened to Red Bulls with the sudden four goals in ten minutes against has been all too common in matchups between MLS and LigaMX teams. That's what scares me - is Monterrey getting on a roll.

As long as Peter does some squad rotation to keep the core group of 28-32 year-old players fresh, I think KC does have a chance. This is an experienced squad of veteran players with a fair amount of international experience.

 

I think Monterrey is clear favourite to win this all. I mean, it is not even an MLS vs LMX at all now. Monterrey and Tigres are basically killing LMX teams too. Unfortunate really that they face KC in semis instead of final. Will be supporting KC.

 

Odd timing to post this right after Monterrey lost to Tijuana.

I'd make them the favorite as well, just because they're the most likely to make the final. Against Tigres though, I think they're a slight underdog.

 

They dream of having their own little Cosa Nostra..........