First off: for the record, this is in no way an attempt to "steal thunder" from the threads for the current tournament - in fact, I'd expect this one to show up sporadically until it becomes more consistently useful. But... http://www.concacafchampions.com/page/CL/201011/0,,12856,00.html Since CONCACAF itself confirms (implicitly) that the changes to the format of the tournament will take place after this version, and since I know you guys will be a lot faster than our dear federation - sorry, hold up a minute, let me grab a tissue for that water I just spit out - at updating everyone else with the latest qualifier, here's a space for recognizing the next team in. The first berth will be decided tonight in about 2 hours (or more depending on if the game reaches extra time): USA4: US Open Cup Winner - DC United or Seattle Sounders FC
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League Perhaps, but usually that honor goes to whoever loses the MLS Cup Final (New England in 2007, New York in '08).
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League And there you have it, the first qualifier for the 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League: USA4: Seattle Sounders FC I'm guessing the next one would be USA2 (the Supporter's Shield winner), and then does any Apertura season in Mexico or Central America finish before the MLS Cup Final?
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League September 2, 2009. Seattle Sounders qualify for the Preliminary Round. (1 of 24) Congrats to Seattle. The CCL is a fun experience where you play teams you've never played before, thus learning about new leagues and expanding your football horizons. Qwest should be rocking next summer for the CCL.
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League No. Actually, the Seattle Sounders are the 1st club worldwide to qualify for continental competition. The last continental qualificants (AFC or CAF) for the 2011 CWC will qualify at the end of next year.
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League Seattle v. D.C. was a great game marred by the red card D.C. goalie Josh Wicks received for stepping on Freddy Montero of Seattle after he scored the first goal. It was definitely intentional on Wicks' part.
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League Since you're a Crew fan, I just have to ask: Given your team's schedule of CCL games for this month (@ Saprissa, vs. Cruz Azul, vs. Saprissa) and the fact that just about all your MLS games from here on in are going to be tough, do you think that Columbus will put in a fight for the Supporter's Shield or just do enough to get to the playoffs?
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League That's a great question. I've heard in interviews with the coaching staff and players that it is a priority to advance through to the quarterfinals of the CCL. The games this past week kind of showed that with the lineups that the Crew put out. They want to be the first MLS team to go to the CWC very badly and i think they'll do just enough to make the MLS playoffs, because i do believe the Crew and Houston are the 2 best teams in MLS, no matter home or away.
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League another guaranteed soldout for the CCL.. good for seattle. congrats.
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League You're on a roll. By the way, to the MLSers, what's the supporters shield?
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League The MLS Supporters Shield goes to the team that has the most points during the regular season. Columbus won it last year, as well as the MLS Cup. This year Houston has a one point advantage over Columbus right now.
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League Cool, so it's basically the round robin champ before the playoffs. Good to know.
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League Seattle's qualification confirmed by CONCACAF: http://www.concacaf.com/view_article.aspx?id=4913
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League The schedule isn't exactly balanced though. This year with 15 clubs and 30 games you play two teams three times and twelve teams two times. When there were 12 clubs in two conferences of 6, you played each club in your conference four times and each club in the other conference two times for a total of 32 games. With Philadelphia becoming the 16th MLS club next year we'll see if MLS goes to a double round-robin schedule.
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League And they have - although it will probably disappear as soon as it showed up, what with MLS planning on expanding to 20 teams in the near future. And for the next qualifier: in the last few weeks, Columbus has taken no less than 7 points from 3 games against their closest rivals for the Supporter's Shield (Houston, Chicago and LA), so at this point it looks as if we're just waiting for results to confirm that Columbus will be back to the group stages next year (no official confirmation yet, though).
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League And there you have it! Since the last challenger to the Supporter's Shield fell tonight (Chivas USA, after losing 1-0 at Chicago), we have the next qualifier for the 2010-11 tournament: USA2: Columbus Crew (Supporter's Shield Winner) EDIT: ...beaten by a matter of seconds...
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League One thing that should be noted here, though, is that since the USA 1 and 3 spots are given based on appearing in the MLS Cup Final, nothing stops Columbus or Seattle from taking a higher qualifying slot and passing down their second one. In which case (to avoid confusion): the succession is based on the regular season table - that is, the best MLS team from the season that doesn't already have a spot gets the hand-me-down one. Even if Columbus manages to achieve the same thing they did last year - win both automatic spots by taking home the Supporter's Shield and the MLS Cup, they would pass their USA2 spot to whoever is the next best team not in. So, for instance, if Chivas USA were to finish in second, they could get knocked out of the first round in the playoffs, have nothing to show for their season, and then as a gift from Columbus wind up right in the group stages, like Houston did for this tournament.
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League Good point. So if I understand things correctly, right now we have: USA 1 or 2: Columbus Crew USA 1, 3, or 4: Seattle Sounders
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League If the Crew win MLS Cup, USA2 would pass down to the Galaxy - who edged Houston at the end of the season. (They finished level points-wise, but LA edged it since they have a better win-loss record this season against the Dynamo. Had the tiebreak been on goal difference, Houston would have finished higher.) The Dynamo will have to make it all the way to the final if they want back in the CCL next year...
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League Looking forward to seeing Seattle in the CCL, since being in the CWC is one of their main aspirations.
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League Since I forgot to put an [R] in the title, I'll warn any MLSers here: SPOILERS AHEAD . . . Ok, now that you've had a chance to dodge if desired... Since both of the teams that came into the playoffs with CCL tickets in their pockets (Columbus Crew and Seattle Sounders) are out, we now know that there will be no hand-me-down situation this year. So this much is confirmed: USA 1: eventual MLS Cup winner USA 2: Columbus Crew USA 3: eventual MLS Cup runner-up USA 4: Seattle Sounders FC
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League Thanks for changing the title! And there'll be an official update later tonight, but just to let everyone know: while more important WC Qualifiers will be taking place over the weekend, here in the US we will find out who are the next two qualifiers to the Champions League tonight (as participants in the MLS Cup Final) and tomorrow night - although we'll have to wait for the 22nd to see which of them goes straight to the group stages. Tonight: LA Galaxy vs. Houston Dynamo Tomorrow: Chicago Fire vs. Real Salt Lake
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League Those 2 Conference finals will be just played over one game, right? Not a home-and-away series?
Re: 2010-2011 Concacaf Champions League Correct, one-offs from here on out. The 2 leg first round is done to give each playoff team a home game.