[R] 2003 Champions Cup--Central American Qualifying

Group 1 in San Salvador started Wednesday:

Alianza (ELS) 4-1 Jalapa (NIC)
FAS (ELS) 0-2 Arabe Unido (PAN)

Arabe Unido wins with two injury-time goals.

Top two will advance to the Champions Cup round of 16 next year.

 

Day 2:

Alianze 1-0 Arabe Unido
FAS 17-0 Jalapa

17 goals is a champions cup record.

 

theres a qualification round for this sorry excuse for a tournament??

 

Arabe Unido 19-0 Jalapa
FAS 2-1 Alianza

Arabe Unido and FAS advance on goal differential.

I know Nicaraguan teams are weak, but 36 goals in 2 games?

 

Hi Don!

 

So, to recap, our sixteen teams are based on the following:


Four teams from Mexico, selected by their federation on a defensible competitive basis.

Most likely: The winner (or runner up) of their clausura 2002 playoffs, and the three previous playoff winners (Santos, Pachuca and America). Or, the winner and runner-up of their 2001/2002 seasonal playoffs (Pachuca, Tigres, America, and Necaxa)


Four teams from the United States, selected by their federation on a defensible competitive basis.

Most likely: Four teams from the winners and runners-up of the MLS Cup, Supporters' Shield and US Open Cup for 2002 (Los Angeles, San Jose, Columbus, New England)


Two Teams from the Carribean.

Carribean qualifying has two groups of four teams, the top team in each group will qualify:

Group A:
Arnett Gardens FC (Jamaica)
Violette AC (Haiti)
VSADC (St. Jucia)
Club Franciscain (Martinique)

Group B:
W Connection FC (Trinidad & Tobago)
FICA (Haiti)

Remainder of Group B to be filled with teams playing off in two game series:
Winner of George Town FC (Cayman Islands) v. Harbour View FC (Jamaica)
Winner of US Robert (Martinique) v. St. Joseph (Dominica)


Six teams from Central America.

Teams from Belize have been suspended since they withdrew from their national federation.

Central American qualifying has three groups of four teams remaining, the top two teams in each group will qualify:

Group 1:
CD F.A.S. (champion El Salvador Liga Mayor 2001/2002)
Alianza FC (runner up El Salvador Liga Mayor 2001/2002)
FC Deportivo Jalapa (champion Nicaragua Campeonato Nacional 2001/2002)
Deportivo Arabe Unido (champion Panama ANAPROF 2001/2002)

Group 2:
Santos de Guapiles FC (runner up Costa Rica Primera Division 2001/2002)
CSD Municipal (champion Guatemala Primera Division 2001/2002)
CSD Comunicaciones (runner up Guatemala Primera Division 2001/2002)
FC San Marcos (semifinalist losing to the runner up of the Nicaragua Campeonato Nacional 2001/2002, the runner up is suspended for abandoning the 1999 champions cup).

Group 3:
LD Alajuelense (champion Costa Rica Primera Division 2001/2002)
CD Marathon (winner Honduras Torneo Apertura in Liga Nacional 2001/2002)
CD Motagua (winner Honduras Torneo Clausura in Liga Nacional 2001/2002)
Fauro FC (runner up Panama ANAPROF 2000/2001 in lieu of CD Plaza Amador, runner up 2001/2002, which is suspended, and Panama Viejo FC ANAPROF champion 2000/2001, which disbanded this year)

 

US Clubs in 2003 CCC

From today's USSF Release:

http://www.ussoccer.com/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=23438&itype=

The U.S Open Cup final between the Los Angeles Galaxy and the host Columbus Crew will be played this Thursday at Crew Stadium, marking a last-ditch in 2002 for the Crew to not only claim their first domestic championship, but also a place in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

...

In addition to the automatic berth for the winner of Thursday’s 2002 U.S. Open Cup final, three other Champions Cup positions will go to the winner of the 2002 MLS Cup, the 2002 MLS Cup runner-up and the winner of the 2002 Supporters’ Shield in MLS. With the Open Cup finalist Los Angeles Galaxy already earning a spot as both the champions of MLS Cup and the Supporters’ Shield, the San Jose Earthquakes will take their place as one of the four U.S. representatives in the tournament as the team with the second most points in the MLS regular season.

Should Los Angeles also qualify for the tournament via a third route as 2002 U.S. Open Cup champions, the fourth U.S. position will fall to the Dallas Burn (who had the third highest point total in MLS). The upstart New England Revolution qualified with their late run to the 2002 MLS Cup final, where they fell to L.A. 1-0 in sudden death overtime on Sunday.

So, the four US clubs will be:
LA Galaxy
San Jose Earthquakes
New England Revolution
Columbus (If they win the USOC) OR Dallas (If LA wins the USOC)

 

"Should Los Angeles also qualify for the tournament via a third route as 2002 U.S. Open Cup champions, the fourth U.S. position will fall to the Dallas Burn (who had the third highest point total in MLS)."

it should be given to the runner up of the u.s open cup, columbus. If for somecase both of the us open cup finalist already had spots in the ccc then it should go to the mls club with the second most points in the regular season. (dallas)

 

Municipal beat San Marcos 4-0 in the first match, Comunicaciones up 3-0 in the second half against Santos.

 

UNCAF Rankings

Here is my very unscientific ranking of the top 16 clubs in UNCAF.

Feel free to rip it apart, since I haven't seen a club game from Central America in about six months. Input from others is more than welcome.

1. Alajuelense - CRC
2. Herediano - CRC
3. Plantense - HON
4. Municipal - GUA
5. Real Espana - HON
6. Comunicaciones - GUA
7. Cartagines - CRC
8. CD Saprissa - CRC
9. Motagua - HON
10. Olimpia - HON
11. Coban Imperial - GUA
12. Marathon - HON
13. Santa Barbara - CRC
14. Arabe Unido - PAN
15. CD Fas - ELS
16. Municipal Limeno - ELS

Based on seeing games (in person and on TV) involving clubs from UNCAF in the past, here is how I rate each country at the club level.

1. Costa Rica
2. Honduras
3. Guatemala
4. El Salvador
5. Panama
6. Belize
7. Nicaragua

Again, input from others is wanted and expected.

 

[R] USOC over...

Since CBus won the USOC, the four teams representing the USA are

LA Galaxy
San Jose Earthquakes
New England Revolution
Columbus Crew

 

How nice of them to set the rules so far in advance... dorks.

Obviously, none of this applies next year until all the non-MLS teams are eliminated from the USOC. If the Rhinos win again (like in 99), they'll be frozen out of continental tournaments, of course.

 

right.

in general though, one would hope the ussf is going to keep this practice in place:

1. mls cup winner
2. mls cup runner-up
3. supporters shield
4. usoc winner

i don't think giving a-league teams more opp's to get into ccc is very attractive to anyone...except a-league fans. if rhinos won the usoc, could they even afford to travel to el salv, guat, jamaica?

esp if concacaf decides to move away from the single home-n-away series and moves towards the preferable 4 team in 4 groups format....meaning every team has to travel a mimimum of 3x in the first round.