The road to the 2004 CONCACAF Champions Cup begins next month when two of the three Central American qualifying round-robins kick off. In all, 13 club teams were divided into three groups in a draw held today at the Union Centroamericana de Fútbol (UNCAF) Secretariat in Ciudad de Guatemala; presided over by CONCACAF Deputy General Secretary Oscar Thamar-Torres. QUADRANGULAR 1 (Nicaragua, 22-26 October) Real Estelí FC (NCA) Diriangén FC (NCA) Deportivo Saprissa (CRC) CD F.A.S. (SLV) QUADRANGULAR 2 (Guatemala, 29 October – 2 November) CSD Comunicaciones (GUA) CSD Municipal (GUA) Deportivo Árabe Unido (PAN) San Salvador FC (SLV) QUADRANGULAR 3 (Honduras, 5-9 November) CD Olimpia (HON) CD Marathón (HON) San Francisco FC (PAN) Winner of LD Alajuelense (CRC)-Boca (BLZ) UNCAF FINAL ROUND QUADRANGULAR (TBD, 17-21 December) First – Quadrangular 1 First – Quadrangular 2 First – Quadrangular 3 Best Second – All Quadrangulars http://concacaf.com/view_article.asp?id=2123
Alajualense has the best performance of any non-Mexican club in last year's tourney, won both halves of the CR league last year, and they have to play-in? I realize it's only against a Belize club, but still...
According to the release, only the top three teams will qualify for the full Champions Cup...are they cutting back to eight teams again?
According to some Central American articles I found, they are indeed cutting the final tournament back to eight teams--3 from CA, 2 from Mexico, 2 from the US, and 1 from the Caribbean. Hopefully they will keep the home/away series. I'm not sure who Boca from Belize is...they don't compete in the top Belizean leagues, but there was some dispute that led to the Belize league pulling out of the Belizean FA, so they might be the best team left that's a member of the FA. The games against Alajuelense could be ugly.
It would be nice of CONCACAF to announce that they were cutting the tourney down to 8 teams. Boca vs Alajuelense: I'm sure it won't be any worse then Deportivo Arabe Unido’s 19:0 victory against FC Deportivo Jalapa last year.
CONCACAF announces re-format for 2004 Champions Cup CONCACAF announced that the Champions Cup as been re-formatted to an eight-team tournament for 2004. The CONCACAF Champions Cup will continue to be a straight knockout event, as it has been in the last two years, with teams playing over a home-and-away system that begins on 17 March 2004. The 2004 breakdown will feature two clubs each from Mexico and the USA, one team will qualify from the Caribbean Football Union and three clubs will advance from Union Centroamericana de Fútbol (UNCAF) Championship later this year. For more information on the UNCAF Championship. 2004 CONCACAF Champions Cup Schedule Quarterfinal Series First leg – 17 March Second leg – 24 March Semifinal Series First leg – 14 April Second leg – 21 April Final Series First leg – 4 May Second leg – 11 May http://concacaf.com/view_article.asp?id=2128
Could anybody tell me, at what stage do they start televising the tournament. Also, what channels will be showing them. Thanks
Telemundo has been showing the games on a tape delayed basis. They started with the first round not sure if they will continue this with next years tournament.
US Teams? With only 2 spots in the tourney, obviously the MLS Cup champ will make it. I wonder if the USSF will award berths to the Supporter's Shield winner, or the US Open Cup champ? Thoughts?
Re: US Teams? In the past, it was the MLS Cup Winner and the Runner-up that made it. Considering that the Supporter's Shield Winner was considered the "#2 seed" the past two years, it might end up being that.
Not too fond about the reduction, but I guess I can understand the reasons behind it. 2 less Mexican teams that need to be 'forced' to participate, as well as an earlier end to the competition (before summer)... At least they kept the home and away format.
This reduction may be because of that L_O_N_G WCQ schedule Concacaf adopted. With "fixture congestion" being the Fifa buzzword, maybe they said, "Can't cut the WCQ schedule, maybe we can cut the club schedule." It was fun tracking the MLS regular season standings, and the US Open Cup, to see who would get those two berths to the 16-team Concacaf cup. Another rant: C'mon, Concacaf. Pick a format and stick with it. We had the single-elimination tournament format (once played on a dreadful field in Las Vegas). We had the Giants Cup (the most pathetic concoction ever dreamt by a sports federation.) Then we had the 16-team knock-out format. (Finally, a format we could live with.) But then we heard rumors of making it a "champions league" format instead. Now its down to eight. And, oh, yeah...this may or may not the qualifier to the World Club Championship that may or may not be played at some future or not-so-future date.
Copa UNCAF 2003 Las autoridades deportivas de la región definieron este martes las sedes oficiales y el calendario para disputar del 22 de octubre y 9 de noviembre el Torneo Campeones y Subcampeones de la Unión Centroamericana de Fútbol (UNCAF). Los encuentros se disputarán en las ciudades de Guatemala y San Pedro Sula (Honduras), mientras que el otro cuadrangular se jugará en tres ciudades de Nicaragua (Diriamba, Managua y Estelí), informó el dirigente de UNCAF, el trinitario Oscar Thamar. el primer cuadrangular se jugará en Nicaragua y estará integrado por los locales Diriangen y Estelí, Saprissa (Costa Rica) y el Fas (El Salvador). El segundo cuadrangular será en Guatemala y jugarán los locales Municipal y Comunicaciones, Arabe Unido (Panamá) y San Salvador (El Salvador), mientras que en el tercer minitorneo de San Pedro Sulá participarán los clubes hondureños Marathón y Olimpia, Alajuela (Costa Rica) y San Francisco (Panamá). champions and runner ups will dispute the title from october 22, divided into 2 grps
Central Zone qualifying for 2004 Champions Cup begins on Wednesday in Nicaragua The road to the 2004 CONCACAF Champions Cup begins on Wednesday (22 October) when the first of the three Central American qualifying round-robins kick off in Nicaragua. QUADRANGULAR 1 (Nicaragua) 22.10.2003: Diriangén FC (NCA) vs. CD F.A.S. (SLV); Ciudad de Diriamba – 15:00 22.10.2003: Real Estelí FC (NCA) vs. Deportivo Saprissa (CRC); Ciudad Estelí – 15:00 24.10.2003: Deportivo Saprissa (CRC) vs. CD F.A.S. (SLV); Managua – 18:00 24.10.2003: Diriangén FC (NCA) vs. Real Estelí FC (NCA); Managua – 20:00 26.10.2003: Diriangén FC (NCA) vs. Deportivo Saprissa (CRC); Ciudad de Diriamba – 15:00 26.10.2003: Real Estelí FC (NCA) vs. CD F.A.S. (SLV); Ciudad Estelí – 15:00 QUADRANGULAR 2 (Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala) 29.10.2003: CSD Comunicaciones (GUA) vs. San Salvador FC (SLV); 18:00 29.10.2003: CSD Municipal (GUA) vs. Deportivo Árabe Unido (PAN); 20:00 31.10.2003: San Salvador FC (SLV) vs. Deportivo Árabe Unido (PAN); 18:00 31.10.2003: CSD Municipal (GUA) vs. CSD Comunicaciones (GUA); 20:00 02.11.2003: CSD Municipal (GUA) vs. San Salvador FC (SLV); 10:00 02.11.2003: CSD Comunicaciones (GUA) vs. Deportivo Árabe Unido (PAN); 12:00 QUADRANGULAR 3 (San Pedro Sula, Honduras) 05.11.2003: CD Marathón (HON) vs. San Francisco FC (PAN); 18:00 05.11.2003: CD Olimpia (HON) vs. Boca (BLZ) or LD Alajuelense (CRC); 20:00 07.11.2003: San Francisco FC (PAN) vs. Boca (BLZ) or LD Alajuelense (CRC); 18:00 07.11.2003: CD Marathón (HON) vs. CD Olimpia (HON); 20:00 09.11.2003: CD Olimpia (HON) vs. San Francisco FC (PAN); 15:00 09.11.2003: CD Marathón (HON) vs. Boca (BLZ) or LD Alajuelense (CRC); 17:00 UNCAF FINAL ROUND QUADRANGULAR (TBD, 17-21 December 2003) First – Quadrangular 1 First – Quadrangular 2 First – Quadrangular 3 Best Second – All Quadrangulars http://concacaf.com/view_article.asp?id=2200
CD F.A.S., Deportivo Saprissa open Quadrangular 1 Central Zone qualifying with victor The road to the 2004 CONCACAF Champions Cup began on Wednesday in Nicaragua as CD F.A.S. of El Salvador and Costa Rica’s Deportivo Saprissa opened the Quadranglar 1 Central American qualifying. Two goals from William Reyes led CD F.A.S. to a 2:1 victory over Diriangén FC (NCA) at the Estadio Cacique Diriangén in Ciudad de Diriamba. Reyes scored in the 22nd and 59th minutes, while Luis Martínez had the only tally for the host with 17 minutes remaining in the match. In another encounter at the Estadio Independencia of Ciudad Estelí, Deportivo Saprissa topped Real Estelí FC (NCA) 1:0 on a second-half goal scored by Álvaro Saborío. UNCAF Quadrangular 1 22.10.2003: Ciudad de Diriamba, NICARAGUA; Estadio Cacique Diriangén DIRIANGÉN FC (NCA) – CD F.A.S. (SLV) 1:2 (0:1) Luis MARTÍNEZ 73’ – William REYES 22’, 59’ Diriangén: Denis Camacho – Hoogly Corrales, Luis Martínez, Silvo Avilés (29: Xavier Obando), Xavier Solórzano, Emilio Palacio, Allan Chávez, Norman González, Arturo Barragán, Armando Reyes (70: José Morales), Frankyn López (65: Lester Gonzalez). Booked: J. Morales 81’ TD: Mauricio CRUZ F.A.S.: William Osorio – Marvin González, Victor Velásquez, José Tobar, Cristian Alvarez (76: Ernesto Gochez), Alejandro de la Cruz, William Reyes (81: Emerson Umaña), Alfredo Pacheco, Gilberto Murgas, Victor Mafla (56: Jaime Gómez), Luis Castro. Booked: J. Tobar 80’ TD: Alberto CASTILLO R: Armando ARCHUNDIA (MEX) 22.10.2003: Ciudad Estelí, NICARAGUA; Estadio Independencia REAL ESTELÍ FC (NCA) – DEPORTIVO SAPRISSA (CRC) 0:1 Álvaro SABORÍO 72’ Real Estelí: Sergio Chamorro – Jaime Ruiz, Carlos Alonso, David Solórzano, Samuel Olivas, Dennis Salgado, Sergio Rodríguez, Dolmo Flores (64: Mario Morales), Francisco López, Thelvin Álvarez, David Martínez (80: Felix Zeledón). Booked: D. Salgado 8’, S. Olivas 67’, C. Alonso 87’ TD: Otoniel OLIVAS Deportivo Saprissa: Kevin Stewart – Jervis Drummond, Víctor Cordero, Gabriel Badilla, Juan Bautista Esquivel, Tray Bennett, Douglas Sequeira (55: Wilson Muñoz), Wálter Centeno, José Francisco Alfaro (77: Rándall Azofeifa), Gerald Drummond (84: Kénneth Vargas), Álvaro Saborío. Booked: D. Sequeira 56’, J. Alfaro 60’, Á. Saborío 73’ TD: Hernán MEDFORD R: Otto MEJÍA (GUA) http://concacaf.com/view_article.asp?id=2211
as soon as saprissa was taken over by Vergara's Money. they had a colombian coach, JL Pinto, and under the 'plan austeridad' and the team only for Ticos, they went after medford. So far so good.....
Deportivo Saprissa defeats CD F.A.S., Diriangén FC ties Real Estelí FC in Quadrangula The Union Centroamericana de Fútbol (UNCAF) Quadrangular 1 Central American qualifying for the 2004 CONCACAF Champions Cup continued on Friday at the Estadio Denis Martínez in Managua, Nicaragua with Costa Rica’s Deportivo Saprissa defeating CD F.A.S. of El Salvador 2:1 and Diriangén FC (NCA) playing Real Estelí FC (NCA) to a 1:1 tie. http://concacaf.com/view_article.asp?id=2212