Hopefully ATL & NYRB can fair well , I long for the day when we make a CCL appearance. Hopefully that is a goal that we can reach and make a standard
I sort of took it for granted a decade ago. We won 3 Shields in 6 years. MLS got 4 entrants and the league was smaller. So the above average teams had a good chance of qualifying, then losing to a Mexican team. We got blown out by Cruz Azul and Morelia.
They looked terrible in all phases of the game. Maybe it’s being irrational but the roster looks terrible and Bez was the architect. Granted Gio and Vasquez are both gone and not replaced which hurt them today
Can someone who knows Panamanian soccer tell me how hard I should be laughing at TFC? It was 4-0 so I'm already laughing pretty hard but should it be more of a Nelson from The Simpsons "HA-HA" and move on & be happy that it wasn't the Crew who got sent to that buzzsaw or full on rolling on the floor laughing at TFC getting embarrassed by team they should be better than?
My guess is more of a reflection of what TFC is atm than what Club Atletico Independiente is. I question Vanney's coaching skills as well. He thinks they can top their '18 run to the CCL final this year? I mean, that is some stone cold disillusionment there. Altidore has been/was out. They lost Vazquez, they lost Gio. Hagglund and Ricketts as well. New players come in. It's not the blueprint for CCL success to have that kind of turnover that you have to work through in pre-season.
Given that Panama got out of the Hex and we didn't, maybe not so much.... The tough things about these competitions is that the team that qualified is not the team that ends up playing--unless you are one of the really big boys like a Madrid or Bayern or ManU. An example--my guys qualified for the Champions League a few years back by finishing fourth in the Bundesliga. But by the time we played the CL games, our top three players had been signed, one each, by the three teams above us.....
Panama is about the 4th or 5th best league in North America. Good enough that top MLS teams should be pleased with a 0-0 draw in the road leg and expect to win at home. Not good enough to be considered a "buzzsaw" by anyone and would be moderate-to-heavy underdogs against at least half the field.
KC 3-0 home win over Toluca. From what I can tell Toluca is a mid-table LigaMX team currently. Seems like a good result for Sporting. ATL 1-3 loss in Costa Rica to Herediano. They got the away goal (although I'm not sure how important that is for CCL). Not great for ATL but they can fight back from this at home.
Biggest win by an MLS side against LMX since 1997, and I'm not even sure the scoreline did it justice. They were just toying with Toluca out there. Atlanta's definitely got their work cut out for them. They're also playing the home leg in some 10k college stadium because of a monster truck show at Mercedes-Benz. Hooray, MLS 3.0.
Well, they didn't play Mexican teams, so I'm more than happy to revel in their misery. More importantly, fie on rooting for other MLS teams to succeed in CCL. If we can't win it, I certainly don't want any other MLS teams winning it either. Let's go Herediano!
It'll be interesting seeing how good ATL is this year. But there's no way anyone should consider TFC good. Or any of the potential Canadian MLS club representatives in this tournament. All three failed to make the playoffs last year, with TFC having the lowest point total of them all. They got beaten like the crappy team they are would imply. I really do love seeing TFC lose, by the way.
How to watch Houston Tuesday and New York RedBulls Wednesday and will that affect their line up vrs us?
On phone: Yahoo Sports app -> Watch -> Soccer On PC: https://sports.yahoo.com/videos/concacaf-champions-league/ On TV: Ummm... check Univision Deportes, if you have it?
It's a real shame that games of such import must be played on third-rate pitches like those in Guatemala City and Toronto. It reflects poorly on the whole region.