the fact that you call them half championships is silly for lack of a better term . and incase you didn`t know FMF Championships > CCL Championships And I don`t just name Toluca the best of the decade for the titles they have won, but by the football they have played. In the early part of the decade Toluca played the most attractive and dominating football of the decade, hell in the past 2 decades in all of Concacaf.
How are they not seeded? Two of their teams get into the group stage automatically, and the other two are in pot A for the prelim draw. Also, it's pretty hard to seed teams when the main goal is to make sure teams from the same country don't get drawn against each other. (Although I still don't undertsand how CONCACAF didn't make sure to prevent the two T&T teams from getting in the same group)
Not that it changes anything CCL-related, but the Canadian Championship finished tonight with a 0-0 draw between Toronto's and Vancouver's B-teams. For the latter, this means that a) Vancouver should feel aggrieved, since they finished the tournament undefeated b) Vancouver has no reason to complain, since they failed to win a single game in four You choose how to view it.
That's determined by who finishes first in the Group Stage. If all four Mexican clubs reach the Group Stage and win their groups, none of them will play each other in the Quarterfinals. If exactly three of them win their groups, their will be one all-Mexican Quarterfinal like in 2008-2009 because the Mexican club that finishes second cannot play the first place club from their group and the rest of the first place clubs are Mexican. If exactly two of them win their groups it gets interesting because there could be one Mexican club in each quarterfinal, one Quarterfinal with both clubs from Mexico, or two Quarterfinals with both clubs from Mexico and two Quarterfinals with neither club from Mexico. The draw would be important in that case. This assumes CONCACAF would not automatically separate the Mexican clubs.
http://www.concacaf.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12813~2087787,00.html has the schedule for the first two Group Stage matchdays.
http://www.concacaf.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12813~2089628,00.html is titled "Saprissa looks for lost treasure." http://www.concacaf.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12813~2091135,00.html is titled "Cruz Azul hopes third time is charm."
If Mexico gets rid of the liguillas, and crowns the team with the most points in the championship, then we could see the return of Copa Mexico. The winner of the cup could get a spot in the concacaf champions league. It would also be an opportunity for mid table teams to compete. I'm pretty sure Puebla would value the concacaf champions league more than Pachuca. They'll probably send the best they got in every game. Furthermore, it would be a good way of allocating a deserved fifth spot in the competition.
not the top countries, but the mid-table ones that never get to compete outside of Mexico, will. If the 5th spot is tailored for them, they will see this tournament like their very own liberatadores.
Don Garber's office has acknowledged the Galaxy's CCL conflict with the upcoming All Star Game: http://www.foxsportswest.com/07/13/...l-Sta/landing.html?blockID=270849&feedID=3707 I have the feeling that Garber told Arena to tell his All-Stars to take it easy during their match with the Islanders. Garber also probably mentioned to him the fact that the Islanders are prone to bunker on the road, so Donovan and Buddle won't have to run around a lot anyway. This is a golden opportunity for the Islanders to take advantage of the Galaxy All-Stars' relaxed approach. If Colin Clarke were smart, he'd realize that the Galaxy All-Stars are going to be trying to not expend too much energy so they can at least play some minutes vs Manchester United the next day. Clarke can take this opportunity to run at the Galaxy full speed. Even the slightest hesitation by Donovan or Buddle, who might hesitate at playing 100% because of the next day's ASG, can result in an Islander goal. It will be interesting to see what will transpire.
IMO, when the 2 conflict, "all-star" and CCL, the CCL is much more important. But when the leauge pays the bills, then what are you going to do?
wth is Marathon doing...they have no business being in this years CCL... Olimpia and Motagua on the other hand have a strong squad, but for Motagua it depends whether they can keep players like Emelio Izaguirre and Georgie El Avatar Welcome. and if Ronald Martinez can recover from El Dengue.
http://www.concacaf.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12813~2092233,00.html is titled "'Sophomore slump' staggers Sounders." If CONCACAF wanted to profile the 24 clubs one a day before the Champions League starts they should have started sooner.
http://www.concacaf.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12813~2100707,00.html is titled "Mexican sides enter CCL as favorites again." http://www.concacafchampions.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12856~2094277,00.html is titled "Galaxy surge toward Champions League." http://www.concacafchampions.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12856~2096440,00.html is titled "Salt Lake hoping to close respect gap." http://www.concacafchampions.com/page/CL/NewsDetail/0,,12856~2098396,00.html is titled "Islanders want to build on 'Giant Killer' rep."
Here's an interesting clip from Spicy Football that reveals that the CCL trophy (I like to call it "The Dracula" because of its collar) was designed by the same people who design the Academy Awards: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79HG-lAagIw"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79HG-lAagIw[/ame]