Hi everyone, Concacaf has finally announced tangible dates for our next continental club championship: The road to the final 🏆 #SCCL2021 pic.twitter.com/pzCm1a7nVS— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) January 22, 2021 #CCL aiming for an April kickoff Concacaf announces after a February draw. pic.twitter.com/BvOwFCnS1x— Jon Arnold (@ArnoldcommaJon) January 22, 2021 I'll look into the Regulations once they are published, but the only tangible change in terms of the format is that the Final will be a one-off, hosted by the team with the better record from previous rounds. In addition, presuming that Concacaf uses the same five-year Club Index as always, the pots for the draw are already set: Pot 1 CF Monterrey (MEX) Club América (MEX) Cruz Azul (MEX) Columbus Crew (USA) Philadelphia Union (USA) Atlanta United (USA) Portland Timbers (USA) Toronto FC or Forge (CAN) Pot 2 Club León (MEX) Atlético Pantoja (DOM) Deportivo Saprissa (CRC) LD Alajuelense (CRC) Arcahaie FC (HAI) Olimpia (HON) Marathón (HON) Real Estelí (NCA) Finally, the winner will participate in the 2021 Club World Cup in December, ostensibly the last to be held with the 7-team format.
Prior results for the team in that Mexican qualifying position. There is a CONCACAF Club Index that is used for seeding. MEX4 dropped from 6th to 10th after the 2019 tournament but did move up to 9th after last year's tournament.
Correct, namely: 2018 - Tijuana settling for 4 points against Motagua before getting straight blanked by the Red Bulls 2019 - Toluca getting blanked by Sporting KC 2020 - León themselves getting dropped by LAFC And if León don't knock out an MLS team in April, MEX4 will most likely stay in Pot 2
Man, am I behind the curve here The draw: Cruz Azul (MEX) vs. Arcahaie FC (HAI) Toronto FC or Forge (CAN) vs. Club León (MEX) CF Monterrey (MEX) vs. Atlético Pantoja (DOM) Columbus Crew (USA) vs. Real Estelí (NCA) Philadelphia Union (USA) vs. Deportivo Saprissa (CRC) Atlanta United (USA) vs. LD Alajuelense (CRC) Club América (MEX) vs. Olimpia (HON) Portland Timbers (USA) vs. Marathón (HON) And the schedule! April can't come soon enough 🔥 #SCCL2021 pic.twitter.com/xqwPth5Aps— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) February 18, 2021 Worth noting that Concacaf have now apparently embraced the 6 p.m. time slot, which means that only two games will be played simultaneously in this round (give-or-take COVID-19-related postponements). Also, Atlanta will again play outside of their home stadium, Estelí will host their leg in Managua, and Arcahaie will again play their home match in the Dominican Republic.
My predictions for who will qualify to the QF: Cruz Azul TFC Monterrey Columbus Saprissa Atlanta Club America Portland
Since this thread exists, I'll go ahead and post the update here instead of resurrecting the qualifiers thread: Long-time Canadian football journalist Duane Rollins is reporting that the Voyageurs' Cup Final will take place on March 20 at BMO Field... ahead of TFC moving to Central Florida to start the season. We're heading south ☀️⚽️— Toronto FC (@TorontoFC) March 5, 2021
Canada Soccer announces 2020 Canadian Championship Final is postponed#CanChamp 🍁🏆 https://t.co/B3ofp43ta3 pic.twitter.com/PNvXWS3acl— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) March 11, 2021 Following the update from @CanadaSoccerEN, @TorontoFC is confirmed to face Club León in the Round of 16 of #SCCL21! Welcome back! 🔴 pic.twitter.com/CkGsegivs0— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) March 11, 2021
I remember back when the only CCL game that made it on FS1 (way back when) was a wet noodle of a game between Houston and W Connection... this year's coverage has been an absolute sea change, and the games have largely lived up to the hype.
so it could be that all five MLS teams look like they can advance...wow! https://www.livescore.com/en/football/concacaf/champions-league/
So, about that... With the last quarterfinal underway, we already know what the order will be for the semifinals in August (based on previous record, home team first): First leg CF Monterrey (MEX) vs. Cruz Azul (MEX) América/Portland vs. Philadelphia Union (USA) Second leg Cruz Azul (MEX) vs. CF Monterrey (MEX) Philadelphia Union (USA) vs. América/Portland
Refs are shit and always against LigaMX teams. Club América vs Portland Timbers should have ended in a 4-0 aggregate (not 4-2). 2 nonexistent penalties in favor of the Timbers.
I have watched all the matches and the Monterrey/CC match in Mexico should have been 4-0 in Monterrey if it wasn’t for the crossbar. The CC playing at home had the ref in their side. 86:19 of the match, the CC player brings down the ball with arm but the ref lets CC continue as they were right in front of the goal and the play resulted in a CC second goal. Monterrey player(s) asking for a handball but ref ignores. In the TFC match, Osorio commits a clear handball but it’s not counted as a penalty. There was another clear penalty in favor of Cruz Azul and the aggregate should have been 5-1. Then the next day in the America vs Timbers, a clear non-existent penalty given to Timbers at min 94:05. No penalty should have been given to Timbers in the Azteca match. The Timbers player wasn’t even touched in the replay and they didn’t even check VAR. Just wow. It doesn’t even end/start here. In last years edition, Vela dives and stretches his leg out to touch the Cruz Azul GK and is awarded a penalty. In last year’s final against Tigres, LAFC scored a clear offside goal but it’s awarded to LAFC. Yes, TFC goal against Leon should have counted. At times I wonder if Mexican teams win on these wide aggregates (11-2 Monterrey vs SKC) because that is the only way they can win. I watch these Liga MX matches and often at times it looks like LigaMX puts half an effort in CCL matches because there is really nothing to gain.
A bit of card-stacking on your part to highlight this, but not Bradley Wright-Philips' goal getting chalked off for a tight offside call (although I believe the VAR got it right) and no card shown for Darlington Nagbe getting stomped on the ankle. The replay showed that the ball ricocheted off his knee into his arm, so at best that's an "unnatural position" PK. But VAR did alert the center ref to review it... ...and you're factually incorrect here, as VAR did tell the center ref to check it, hence him going to the monitor. You want to say that the ref made the wrong call? Fair enough (I'd say the same for América's penalty as well), but VAR did its job. Again, the card-stacking on your part: Vela shouldn't have been given a penalty, fair enough. I don't remember any question of offside on LAFC's goal against Tigres, I'd have to go back and look... but the assertion that refs are out for Liga MX doesn't jive at all with Atuesta's red card in the semifinal. Honestly, while there may be something to Caleb Porter's complaint that the sudden VAR approval was bound to have communication issues between referees working with VAR crews for the first time, what was Concacaf supposed to do? I'm not in the halls of power to read into how that expedited FIFA approval occurred (although I have a strong sense that the remaining clubs being from leagues that already had VAR had something to do with it), but it was either rush it out, or stick with no VAR until the semis as originally planned, and then getting hammered by the press if anyone found out that they could've had VAR in the quarterfinals and decided not to. Ultimately, too many fans of both leagues (Liga MX and MLS) just whine for the sake of it. And the press (e.g. Herculez Gomez, Taylor Twellman) and certain people in the game (chief among them Santiago Solari) only make it worse. I'm glad Cruz Azul had a more mature approach against Toronto: a bad call happened? Screw it, we'll win the game anyways.
I have to wonder why I even bother watching this tournament. Let's be honest, it's mostly a tournament to decide which Liga MX team will win.