Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League Well, they're a good team and are a member of the highest level league in the region, but I think giving them a bye to the semis is a bit much.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League CONCACAF never ceases to amaze me. Instead of showing the minnow leagues from countries like Haiti, Suriname, Puerto Rico, etcetera, some support they automatically put PR Islanders in the semifinals. They should make it a fair playing field for everyone but I suppose that's asking too much of our confederation.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League It's not just C'CAF, Boca and River get automatic berths to the knockout rounds of Sudamericana regardless of how they did in the league.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League I know, I've criticized CONMEBOL plenty of times for their favoritism towards Boca and River among many other things.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League Was it Concacaf or the Carib Union that chose to put Puerto Rico in the semifinals? I can see why the CFU would want to have PRI make it into the next CCL too. If Concacaf ever takes a look at how many spots they award to each confederation, the Caribbean will need as many good results as they can get when arguing with other countries. You have to think that PRI making it out of the group stage went a long way towards justifying their 3 current slots.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League By the way, the draw has been announced: http://www.concacaf.com/view_article.aspx?id=4594
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League I'd have to disagree. Yes, PRI has done well this year, but the other two CFU teams lost heavily. If anything, after looking at the overall results. You'd have to say that after this edition of the CCL, the CFU would be more inclinded to lose a spot moreso than any other league. Although personally, i think the three spots they have at the moment is perfect for there federation and for the CCL.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League I'd have to disagree. Joe Public got two wins over US teams and one win over a Mexican team. Sure, they lost their other 5 games, but 3-5 isn't exactly the worst record ever. The US probably underperformed the most. Guatemala, El Salvador, and Costa Rica weren't so hot either. At least the US and Caribbean got teams into the quarterfinals. Did anyone ever do a points-per-game calculation for each confederation in the CCL? I'm sure the top two would be Mexico and Canada, with the US bringing up the rear.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League Yeah, fair enough, Joe Public did well in Preliminary Round, but we aren't talking about one specific spot, for one specific country. CFU qualifiers are different to any other, as they don't get automatic qualification. If Trinidad did, then they wouldn't be in danger of losing anything. But they don't, and as a result, CFU's three spots have to be measured up together. Now everyone knows PRI has done well to make it to the Quarterfinals. But if you look at how CFU went as a whole, then I don't know how you could not agree that they played horribly. Yes, JP did well in the Preliminaries. But look at them in the Group Stage. They won once, while scoring three and conceding fifteen. Now look at Harbour View. Fair enough they were unlucky not to have the game over two legs, but still, they lost there only game 3-0. So again, trying to not get carried away with how well PRI has done, you can't honestly say that overall the CFU represntatives did very well. There's no probabaly about it, USA teams were easily was the worst of all the contenders (accept for Belize ofcourse). Yes i agree Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica didn't do to well either, but atleast they were competative. Guatemala were the worst of these three, but apart from Jalapa's second round preliminary game, they did ok. And yes, the US and CFU both got teams into the Quarterfinals, but seeing as they had more spots than any of the above mentioned leagues, then it would be expected wouldn't it. I mean, 1 from 4 doing relativley well from the US is not that great of a statistic, and neither is 1 form 3 for the CFU. The only leagues/federations/countries IMO, that could say they have done well in this tournament so far would have to be Mexico, Canada and Honduras. Apart from that, everyone else has got nothing to be pleased about.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League Really happy I bought season tickets to the Red Bulls this year; excited to see international soccer at the classiest MLS facility.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League I'm pumped as well. I am so excited for international club competition that RBNY will be apart of.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League How much chance is there of seeing CCL action at Red Bull Arena this year? The preliminary round is in late July/early August. The new stadium surely won't be done by then. Even the early group stage games will be in August. I guess you might get a couple of group stages games at RBA if it opens by September.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League Well honestly everyone is excited and the supporters believe middle of the 2009 season. But some are staying cautions and say September-October opening. They already have the pre-cast concrete sections down for the lower level from the east side all the way to the north.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League The stadium doesn't look any further along than Rio Tinto did at this time last year. I can't imagine that it'd be ready in time for the CCL this summer. I'd say October/late September at the earliest, though 2010 is the most realistic opening.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League Difference is this is the northeast, we don't have the work stopages they do in Utah. Watch this space.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League One should keep in mind that by this time last year, Rio Tinto had more months of actual construction than RBA currently has. The rate at which the stadium has been going up is nothing short of impressive, for me.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League If you check out the Red Bull Boards, we just found out that Red Bull Arena will now open for the 2010 season. That means field turf for the final time for the whole 2009 season.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League Field turf. Meh! RBNY stadium is not going to have natural grass?
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League The new Red Bull Arena will have grass but it won't open until 2010. In 2009 the Red Bulls will continue to play at Giant's Stadium which has Field Turf.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League Thanks for clearing that up for me. It is only fitting that such a beautiful stadium have natural grass as the playing surface.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League Are you sure? I thought after the Voyageur Cup was awarded there was still one Central American team that had yet to be decided. I want to say from El Salvador, but I could be wrong. It was definitely from a nation with two entries, I think it was waiting for a Clausura (or however it is spelled) champion. Now that I think about it, it may have even been the 2nd Panamanian team.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League The Canadian rep wasn't determined until July 22, 2008. The Impact were the final team that qualified for the 08-09 CCL. CONCACAF Website newstory Real Esteli of Nicaragua was the 23rd team to qualify on July 7, 2008: CONCACAF website news The Panamanian teams were determined in May. CONCACAF website story The final Panamanian game was on May 31, 2008.
Re: 2009-2010 Concacaf Champions League MLS has released their 2009 schedule. Houston's schedule in September is weirdly light. Only two games in what has been a busy month in the past. This should help them by avoiding fixture congestion during that period while they are playing CCL group stage.