After watching the Sydney FC vs. LA Galaxy game I was very interested to hear that the 'big wigs' from the MLS, A-League & J-League are keen on some sort of competition between the champions of these three leagues. I can't find an official article on it so I wonder if anyone knows more? Also what do you think? I think it's a fantastic idea, and a great way to promote football in these countries, an instead of having exhibition matches it would actually be serious games (Nevertheless I will still claim A-League bragging rights after last night's game ). The best way to hold it would be the champions of each league Play Each other home and away. EG: (Based on last seasons champions) Melbourne vs. Houston Houston vs. Melbourne Urawa Red's vs. Melbourne Melbourne vs. Urawa Red's Urawa Red's vs. Houston Houston vs. Urawa Red's Have a basic 3 points win and 1 point draw system, with the top two Playing each other off home-away hence deciding the winner. It would be better if a fourth team was also added, maybe from Mexico or Korea??? (I'm not sure) EG: (Team X being the fourth team) Team X vs. Melbourne Uwara vs. Houston Melbourne vs. Uwara Team X vs. Houston Uwara vs. Team X Houston vs. Melbourne Melbourne vs. Team X Houston vs. Uwara Uwara vs. Melbourne Houston vs. Team X Team X vs. Uwara Melbourne vs. Houston Have the same points system with the top two playing off to decide a winner. The only problem with this is that there is 12 games and 6 match days it may be too much. Especially considering the dates of each league don’t coincide with each other: A-League from - Late September - Late February MLS from - Early March - Late November and J-League from - Early March - Early December (off top of my head forgive me if I'm wrong) However a 'Pacific Cup' is still a great concept and I would love for it to happen. One last question: do MLS champions play in some sort of 'Champions League' in the America's? Japanese and Australian teams Play in the 'Asian Champions League' which is very similar to the ECL.
CONCACAF Champions Cup determines the club champions. However, this is being phased out and replaced with a full fledged Champions League like all the other FIFA Confederations except CONMEBOL
Whoa thats cool! I'm just wondering, why they didn't include the K-League? Its literally a snot shot (like 1 hour by plane) away from Japan, not to mention their setup runs parallel to the MLS (14 clubs, season begins Mar/Apr, ends Nov., around 26+ matches) and that Hyundai, a Korean company, sponsors the A-League. If this takes off, perhaps they can join next year. I am liking this idea - for some of these players it probably sounds like paradise to be playing in Hawaii. The big picture though, is where this new championship counts the most. The respective leagues involved could use this as a springboard towards furthering their development and future progress, utilizing cross-training and cooperative agreements to share each league's strengths, while hopefully forgoing their individual weaknesses. It could be like a collective of sorts. To make an analogy, its like the Avengers - alone each of them could not defeat a particularly powerful or cunning enemy, but by joining together and combining their might, they prevail. I know its a dorky analogy, but its hard trying to think of a good one that would appeal to people of all age groups...and its pretty much all I can think of since I'm studying comic book art right now in one of my courses. MLS, J-League, or A-League vs. Premier League = lose MLS + J-League + A-League vs. Premier League =
Copa Libertadores has a Group Stage. Just because they didn't steal the name from UEFA doesn't mean it isn't tantamount to the other tournaments.
Have you guys ever flown to japan, much less australia? I made the 12 hour flight to japan this past spring and I'm still recovering from it. Granted they'd probably fly first class but thats a lot of jet lag for one tournament. I think the only way this would be feasible would be for one of the countries or a neutral venue to host all the matches. that would suck for the team's fans though. Not only do you not get to see some of these teams play in your house but very few would be able to attend the games unless they're hosted in your country. Thats probably why the club world cup gets so little attention is because it's played in japan every year which is tough for a lot of away fans to get to. At least this year urawa will be there so you know there will be huge local support at least for those games.
It is. And that's why the competition is going to be a short, one week type setup as opposed to a long drawn out one with group stages and such. Quick and easy.
I have flown to Japan serveral times it takes a day of R&R to get your body and mind into shape after the flight. These players are in the top shape of their lives and should have no problem handling it.
Wow these BIG WIGS are so keen to jump on and start FRIENDLY CUP COMPETITIONS THAT HAVE NO WEIGHT AS FAR AS FIFA GOES.... I wish your MISGUIDED BIG WIGS would put half that effort into getting their sorry asses in COPA LIBERTADORES a real FIFA sanctioned CONMEBOL EVENT
I have no real desire to see MLS teams in Libertadores right now. We don't have the depth or overall talent to compete right now and all that travel to South America in the group stage would take its toll on the players. Plus, it's played during our off-season when our players are not in game shape. I believe that competing in Libertadores and failing would be a bad move for MLS and their reputation right now. I'd much rather see us get fixed spots in Sudamericana right now, which would involve less travel, slightly weaker competition, and is at a much better time of year.
The most likely setup is to hold the matches in Hawaii with three teams, playing two games each. Look at the PDF file if you want to understand the tournament. Who gets listed first? SUM. This isn't going to be a real championship anymore than the "world series of football" was. The difficulty is whether Hawaii can generate enough attendance for the games. You're going to need a team that's a big draw, that doesn't have anything else to do and doesn't care about the regular season anyway.
This strange sounding tourny seems pretty established as a south american thing with a l'il Mexico thrown in. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copa_Libertadores_de_América http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CONMEBOL (Seriously, I had to look it up) Would MLS even be considered worthy by the current participants? I like the idea of Oz, Japan, Mls and Korea cup. The leagues and seasons seem to be more on par.
Their reputation in whose eyes? In any case, a reputation built on deliberately not playing against the best competition available is no reputation at all. The timing (MLS' offseason) is the only thing I'd worry about.
Nice reaction to the question of competing in Copa libertadores. The only timing we need to worry about is for an MLS team or two to make it to the advanced stages, and of having those advanced stages occur during the Euro offseason & Asian offseason too if thats possible. This would obviously mean an increased TV viewership- thats where the money is, thats how superclubs from the Americas (us included) will be built. Who else are we gonna play against of some repute? The Asian and Pacific leagues are at the same stage as us. The FMF is a moderately better then MLS, but doesnt have the global notoriety of the Argentinian and Brazilian clubs (River Plate, Boca, Santos, etc).
Yeah, say that to me later on when your waiting in line to go watch Ironman or any of the gazillion comic-related movies coming out .
When your practicing a sport, any sport, your coach(es) will all say the same thing: The only way to get better is to play a stronger opponent. I personally would love to see MLS teams competing in the Libertadores, but, again, see the risk of it falling into the off-season for league players here. The Copa Sudamericana, though seems like a better compromise.