------- The press conference will focus on commencement of the Qualification Round for the FIFA World Cup ™ South Africa 2010, details of the Champions’ Cup 2008 and a thorough outline of the 2008-09 CONCACAF Champions League, which begins in August. ------- i can't wait until people get to display their displeasure at how "un-thorough" the "outline of the 2008-09 CONCACAF Champions League" will be at this time.
don't think it's being streamed. in person (or perhaps on the phone) might be the only option: -------- WHERE: InterContinental West Miami 2505 NW 87th Avenue Phone: (305) 468-1400 -------- would be interested to hear from anyone who may have called that line and asked to be connected to the Concacaf press conference.
We've been waiting , what, five years for this so...HURRY UP AND SEND THE PRESS RELEASE CONCACAF! If the rumour of direct entry to the group stage and 32 teams is true about the only way I can see it working is to have eight groups of three in the first round with the winners going to the full group stage Q Group stage (24 teams)---Group stage (8 byes + 8 winners)---quarters---semis--final Eight byes = Mexico four, USA three, Costa Rica 1 How they find 24 teams to fill the draw out is beyond me... Five each from USA and Mexico One Canada Four Costa Rica Five Central American Four Caribbean ? ? ?
anyways, it's basically same $hit to me. Stretching it and dding a few more MLS & FMF teams and mediocred central American teams don't realy make much difference. I'm more looking forward to ticket to Libertadores
NEW YORK (Monday, 28 January 2008) - CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) announced today the official launch of the new continental club championship, the CONCACAF Champions League which will commence in August 2008. The CONCACAF Champions League will replace the Champions' Cup which will cease to exist after the 2008 edition. The CONCACAF Champions League will see a Confederation record number of 24 teams from all sectors of the CONCACAF region participating. The preliminary round begins in August 2008 with the first CONCACAF Champions League winner to be crowned in late April 2009. The CONCACAF Champions League will feature four teams from Mexico and USA; three Caribbean sides; two clubs each from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama; and one representative coming from Canada, Belize, and Nicaragua. Eight clubs (two Mexican, two USA, one each from Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador) will be seeded and progress directly to the first round of the CONCACAF Champions League, while the Caribbean slots have been increased to three teams for this event. The remaining 16 teams will be paired in eight home-and-away preliminary match-ups taking place from 26-28 August and 2-4 September. The preliminary round winners will join the other eight seeded teams in the group stage that consists of four groups of four. All the teams in each group will play each other in a round-robin system during six match dates (three home games, three away games) from 16 September - 30 October. The top two clubs from each group will advance to the knock out phase playing home-and-away elimination. The quarterfinals commence in February 2009; semifinals begin in March; and the Finals will take place in late April. The CONCACAF Champions League winner will qualify as the CONCACAF's representative to the 2009 edition of the FIFA Club World Cup. 2008-09 CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Calendar of Events 2008 End July: All qualification completed, draw for preliminary round 26-28 August: Preliminary Round, First-legs 2-4 September: Preliminary Round, Second-legs Early September: Group Stage Schedule Announced 16-18 September: Group Stage - Match Day 1 23-25 September: Group Stage - Match Day 2 30 September - 2 October: Group Stage - Match Day 3 7-9 October: Group Stage - Match Day 4 21-23 October: Group Stage - Match Day 5 28-30 October: Group Stage - Match Day 6 2009 24-26 February: Quarterfinals, First-legs 3-5 March: Quarterfinals, Second-legs 17-19 March: Semifinals, First-legs 7-9 April: Semifinals, Second-legs 21-23 April: Final, First-leg 28-30 April: Final, Second-leg December: FIFA Club World Cup
I'm really not so sure how this is going to work out for MLS teams. Most will cruise through the group stages against the crappy teams, but then 3 months off and playing the toughest games in the pre-season. Oh well, not too bad I suppose.
I am also a hater of 2-leg finals. Damn Latin American influence. On the plus side, at least MLS teams will still get most of their usual time off, although I'm sure the teams will start their pre-season training a few weeks earlier than normal.
So does this mean that TFC gets the Canada bid automatically, or do they have a Canadian elimination between TFC, Montreal, Vancouver, etc.?
Let's imagine that the Revs make it to the final to be played at a predetermined place... lets say Estadio Azteca. Now that would be exciting. How many Revs fans will make that game? Now, with home and away, the revs would have a chance to play infront of their fans and can create a home field advantage for the Revs! I think it is stupid for the MLS to have "predetermined" final instead of a home and away series.
thats up to the federations, seems USSF is going with the mls cup, supporter's shield, and the runners up get in the qualifying stages.
Revolution and Chivas USA start playing in August! DC and Houston are already in directly! Supporters shield = DC Supporters runner up = Chivas MLS Champ = Houston MLS runner up = Revolution
Press Release here: http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20080128&content_id=136757&vkey=pr_mls&fext=.jsp