The Executive Committee of Valencia de Léogâne have leaked that the CFU chose their club to "host" the final round of this tournament, to be played at the Stade Sylvio Cator.
Food for thought, ahead of this tournament opening on Friday: Think back to the first three years of the CONCACAF Champions League (2008-2010), when Caribbean teams knocked out every non-Mexican opponent they faced. Then consider: Harbour View is the only team from that era to qualify for this year's CFU tournament...and W Connection is the only other team still in existence.
Neither did I until now... but it seems San Juan Jabloteh are back in the T&T Pro League, but they do seem to be struggling.
It says bad things about Trinidad's hopes of doing well this year that their tournament reps are currently 6th and 7th in the league.
AS Mirebalais' games will likely be covered on Total Mix Radio. And Futbolboricua may cover the group in Bayamón.
...but the CFU hasn't announced it yet because it's waiting for a resolution in the dispute between five Haitian clubs (including Valencia) and the Haitian Football Federation. I'm not fully informed of the details, but the five clubs are protesting the FHF's creation of a new 16-team professional first division (with help from FIFA and CONCACAF); and according to the letter from CFU General Secretary Damien Hughes, if Valencia and the FHF fail to make peace, the CFU will yank Valencia from its tournament for lacking approval from its national federation.
And a 51,269.44 USD fine! To put the figure in perspective: the entry fee for this tournament is 1,000 USD. I wonder if they actually plan on collecting it from Notch or demanding it if and when Notch apply for a future CFU tournament.
$51,269.44 is a pretty weird amount haha Does anyone know how much would it have cost SV Notch to actually play in the tournament?
group 1 Bayamon - Bodden 5-0 Centro Dominguito - Sainte-Rose 0-0 group 2 Waterhouse - Inter Moengotapoe 4-0 Caledonia - AS Mirebalais 3-0 group 3 Alpha United - Defence Force 2-0
Day 2 (Scorelines to be confirmed, but the outcomes are correct according to the tables at cfufootball.org): GROUP 1 USR Sainte-Rose 1-0 Bodden Town Bayamon FC 0-0 Centro Dominguito All but Bodden eliminated going into the last match day. GROUP 2 Inter Moengotapoe 2-2 Caledonia AIA AS Mirebalais 1-2 Waterhouse Caledonia and Waterhouse play each other on Tuesday, winner will meet Group 1 winner in semis. GROUP 3 Habour View 0-1 Alpha United Clean sweep for Alpha. Now face Valencia (subject to confirmation) for a place in CCL.
All confirmed...and fyp. It should be pointed out that a tie in the Caledonia-Waterhouse game favors the Jamaicans...and if they move on, we're guaranteed a Caribbean debutant in the CCL. As for Group 1: unless otherwise stated (World Cup qualifying, Gold Cup), all CONCACAF competitions use the head-to-head (H2H) tiebreaker. Keeping that in mind: If there is a winner between Bayamón and Unité Saint Rosienne, that team moves on. If they tie, and Centro Dominguito fails to beat Bodden Town, Bayamón move on (tied on points and H2H with Unité Saint Rosienne, ahead on overall GD). If Centro Dominguito win, and Bayamón and Unité Saint Rosienne tie 0-0, then all three will be even on points, GD and goals scored. In that case, it all boils down to by how much Centro Dominguito win: 4 goals or less --> Bayamón advance 6 goals or more --> Centro Dominguito advance 5 goals, while scoring 6 or more (e.g. 6-1, 7-2) --> Centro Dominguito advance on overall goals scored 5-0 --> drawing of lots If Centro Dominguito win, and Bayamón and Unité Saint Rosienne tie with goals (e.g. 1-1, 2-2), then Centro Dominguito would be eliminated in the three-way H2H on goals scored. Then, Bayamón would top Unité Saint Rosienne on overall goals scored, so the hosts would move on.
So I was lamenting the fact that the CCL is off this week until I found out that this tourney is goin down, and that we got some dope fixtures comin on tonight. So I threw the razor away and now I'm hyped af for tonight's tilts. It's interesting that this year's edition will actually have a Final, unlike last year where they stopped after everyone was qualified. So there was no CFU champ last year. But now things are back to normal and there will be a trophy handed out again. The Valencia bye is ridiculous. It makes 0 sense. If they did that because 13 clubs applied, then they coulda had a play-in match. Bush league stuff. Uy.
No resolution in sight. I'd give it until April 1 before the CFU runs out of patience and officially announces an alternate venue for the final round .
If Valencia does not get permission from the FHF to take part, do you think that CFU not replace Valencia and just allow all group winners progress to CCL without having the final stages?
They might enter best runner-up instead of Valencia and give best group winner a chance to host the final tourney.
Technically that is 3 forfait games in a row. The FHF should be sanctioning the clubs in question according to the rules. Yet it seems that they'll give them one more chance before giving them the ultimate punishment.
If I'm reading results correctly, Puerto Rico BFC and USR Sainte-Rose tied 1-1, and PRBFC is going to the CFU semifinals with Waterhouse, Alpha United, and (pending the resolution of what's going on in Haiti) Valencia. Semifinals, as it stands: Waterhouse v. Puerto Rico Bayamon Valencia v. Alpha United