2019 CONCACAF Champions League Thread

And people thought teams played their scrubs for the Open Cup? Will be interesting to see what kind of lineups these teams come out with for a pretty meaningless one-off game...

 

SuperLiga came about because CONCACAF treated LigaMX (and to a lesser extent MLS) as a piggy bank and structured the CCC to maximize the number of games smaller federation countries got to play against LigaMX teams (at the expense of MLS teams) so that Mexican TV would pay money for the broadcast rights to the smaller feds.

In a 2 1/2 year period there were exactly two games between MLS and LigaMX teams. A home/home series between DC and UNAM (I think).

After SuperLiga had run for a couple years, CONCACAF responded with the CCL with 4 team groups that began a brief period with a bunch of LigaMX/MLS group stage games.

As soon as SuperLiga was wound up, CONCACAF restructured the CCL to groups of 3, seperating the U.S. MLS teams from the LigaMX teams. Other than the odd year that the Canadian MLS team was grouped with a LigaMX team (instead of an MLS team), the number of LigaMX/MLS matchups has again dropped.

This Copa Campeones and a rumored return of SuperLiga are all a way to put pressure on CONCACAF to respond to the needs of LigaMX and MLS instead of just treating them as a cash machine.

 

The first edition of the new knockout-only CCL was pretty successful at creating LigaMX-MLS matchups. From the quarterfinals on, six of seven matchups were LigaMX vs. MLS. It's going to be a bit random, but any MLS team that survives the first round has a good shot of ending up facing a LigaMX team.

I don't see the SuperLiga returning--teams aren't going to want the extra schedule congestion. The SuperLiga existed in the era of the 30-game MLS schedule.

 

Except that currently on 5 of 23 (and growing) MLS teams get international competition each year. If SuperLiga returns it'll be along the lines of the last year where the "next 4" or so teams are involved. And while some teams would mail it in, there are others that will be happy to have the extra competitive minutes to get a good look down rosters and keep a few extra players match fit.

In 2009 the SuperLiga teams came down table from a 14 team 2008 season. Some truly marginal MLS squads were involved. Now we'd be talking about 6-9 out of 23 (for next year). These are good squads, and 2-3 games against LigaMX teams in a structured competition could only be good in the long run.

One issue MLS teams have always faced in CCL play is that we're playing against teams that are there every year with players with a career of CONCACAF international club experience. That year after year experience can make the difference and help an on-paper weaker side prevail in a given game.

 

This would be good for player development as well. This could provide more minutes for young players against quality competition, in a "meaningful" tournament setting. It also provides more opportunities for scouting players, which is beneficial for those players who want to pursue opportunities abroad.

 

I thought CONCACAF using the U.S. and Mexico as a cash machine was section 1 of their bylaws...

 

And let's be honest. The U.S. is NCAA Men's Basketball to Mexico's NCAA Football. We think we're a big deal, but to the football team we might as well be the lacrosse team.

 

So we're not talking about Kentucky then

 

While the Liga MX clubs may appear quite free now, that could change next year. Talks are ongoing about the league’s return to the Copa Libertadores. And since the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana are now fully aligned and interlinked it wouldn’t surprise me if Liga MX starts playing in the latter as well.

 

CONMEBOL can't quit that delicious Mexican TV money either.

 

The first Supeliga was in summer of 2007, the CCL started fall of 2008, so the reaction of concacaf was immediate, it did not take a couple of years (works for the CCL were in place before the second SL happened in 2008).

Mexican teams (I remember one of the Monterrey teams specifically) were complaining that there were too many games in the CCL, so Concacaf to accommodate them and reduce the number of games, switched to a 3 team group in 2012.

I don't think it had to do with the Superliga running its course, but perhaps you are right and it was part of the decision.

Nah. just another Partido molero like the usual Mexico vs the USA friendly games. SUM-FMF cashing in on the Mexican teams popularity in the USA.

Remember in concacaf tournaments, Concacaf gets a small percentage of the gate revenues for their competitions, they get zero from the friendly games played in USA territory (where these friendlies tend to happen).

Concacaf has this dilemma, The more Mexican teams (70% or so of gate revenues at one point) and MLS team in the tournament and the more they play each other (LMX vs LMX or LMX vs MLS) the more revenue they can collect, but they also know that the only way fans will pay attention to other concacaf teams is if they are playing a LMX or MLS team.

 

Is this a permanent change or is it just due to this being a transition to the new structure?

If permanent, it certainly ramps up the importance of the USOC.

 

Is what a permanent change? The USOC winner getting a CCL berth? That's been the case for a decade.

 

As ArsenalMetro says, the U.S. Open Cup winner has gotten a CCL berth since 2008 when the tournament expanded to four spots instead of two in the old CONCACAF Champions' Cup.

The current system of two MLS Cup and two U.S. Open Cup winners (or substitutes) getting in is just for this year to get the calendar aligned with the Spring-only CCL.

Starting next year the normal allocation will presumably return:

1. MLS Cup winner
2. Supporter Shield winner
3. Opposite Conference winner
4. U.S. Open Cup winner

 

Just to be pedantic
3. Opposite Conference Regular Season winner.

 

I meant having the past two USOC and MLS Cup Winners, as opposed to MLS Cup, Supporters Shield, other conference best record, USOC, which @Yoshou answered.

 

Other conference regular season winner is too tedious. It's time to give them a name.

I've suggested Supporters Shield Jr. or Silver Shield.

 

To be fair we still do not know what would happen if a lower D team wins the open cup or do we?

 

I have seen no ambiguity. The winner of the USOC goes to the CCL.

 

USSF determines the entrants, not MLS, so a lower division team winning the Open Cup would result in said lower division team qualifying for the Champions League.

I don't anticipate that happening any time soon, but like @onefineesq said, there's no ambiguity about it.

 

2018 CONCACAF League
Semifinals
Home team first, times are EDT

First Leg results:

Thursday, September 20
Tauro (PAN) 2-1 Motagua (HON)
Herediano (CRC) 2-0 Arabe Unido (PAN)

Second Leg:

Thursday, September 27
Arabe Unido (PAN) v. Herediano (CRC) 8:00 pm
Motagua (HON) v. Tauro (PAN) 10:00 pm


The Finals start on October 25.

 

Somewhere Chris Klein is reading this and saying: "There's that word again... 'Scouting'... what is that?"