Hey everyone, The US Open Cup, the competition that traditionally starts us off (give-or-take a runaway Supporters' Shield winner) heads into the semifinal stage this evening. FC Dallas host the Philadelphia Union at 9:00 p.m. EDT, with the winner set to host the Final on Sep. 16 or 17 or Oct. 1. Their opponent will emerge from Seattle Sounders-Chicago Fire, tomorrow at 10:30 p.m. EDT. Overall, half the field for next season's CONCACAF Champions League will be set before New Year's. In somewhat-chronological order: - US Open Cup winner - Canadian MLS team with the best 2014 regular season record - Supporter's Shield winner - Opposite MLS conference winner (regular season) - MLS Cup winner - Liga MX Apertura finalists - Apertura winners from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama It should be noted that the 2015 Canadian Championship and future editions will be played in the summer, for which reason they will qualify teams into the following year's CCL (just like the Open Cup does now). Since there will be no such tournament between now and the cut-off date for 2015-16 CCL qualifying, the CSA settled on the best Canadian MLS team. Having said that, only the top Canadian team in the 2014 MLS regular season will qualify. If another one tops a conference or wins the MLS Cup Final, that spot will get passed down the regular-season table to a US club.
I can understand why Canada have decided to take the MLS regular season standings, but given that Toronto/Montreal and Vancouver play completely different schedules, I would have had the best Eastern team play the best West team early next year for their CCL spot. As it stands now, Toronto and Vancouver have equal points, but Toronto has played 1 game less. Come the end of the season, we could see Toronto in the playoffs, Vancouver not, but Vancouver in the CCL!
Ah...mods, could you please change the thread title to "2015-16 CCL Qualifiers"? Brain fart OTOH, considering how much stronger the West is than the East, I wouldn't be too heartbroken.
The first qualifier will emerge from the US Open Cup final between the Philadelphia Union (host) and the Seattle Sounders on Sept. 16.
Hypothetical Question: Consider the Extreme Scenario below, where: Vancouver win the West Toronto win the East & SS Montreal win the MLS Cup (Not entirely impossible, given that something similar did happen during NASL era in 1976, 79, 83-84: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Soccer_League_(1968–84) Since all 3 are not eligible for CCL thru MLS, the next best U.S. teams in SS Standings (maybe #4-7 if Canadian Teams occupy the Top-3) would qualify. In this case, which of these U.S. Teams will be in Pot A and Pot B?
POT A: USA1, USA2 POT B: USA3, USA4 USA1: US team with the best regular season record USA2: US team with the 2nd best regular season record USA3: US team with the 3rd best regular season record USA4: US Open Cup Winner* * Should the winner already occupy USA1, 2 or 3, they are replaced by the US team with the 4th best regular season record
And considering that they still have a shot at the other major domestic trophies in the US for this year... 2015-16 CCL Qualifiers 1. Seattle Sounders [USA1, USA2 or USA4]
, Lets go win this thing next year Seattle! In the mean time, i'll be pulling for an MLS team to come out this year.
Nope. In the case of double qualification, vacant spots are allocated the teams finishing higher in the supporters shield that havent already qualified.
Unfortunately, it screws the lower-league teams in the US: if one of them finishes runner-up in the US Open Cup, they have no chance of qualifying via a hand-me-down spot.
This evening, Chivas USA broke a seven-game losing streak by beating Real Salt Lake 1-0. In the process, they gave their "landlords" one last favor before going on hiatus: based on the explanation I outline here, they have guaranteed a Champions League berth for the LA Galaxy. We now await two more qualifiers from the MLS regular season: the Eastern Conference winner and the best Canadian team. 2015-16 CCL Qualifiers 1. Seattle Sounders [USA1, USA2 or USA4] 2. LA Galaxy [USA1, USA2, USA3 or USA4]
And with two matches left, Vancouver has 46 points (11 wins) to Toronto 40 (also 11 wins). If Toronto wins both, and Vancouver loses both, Toronto gets the league tie-breaker on more wins: http://pressbox.mlssoccer.com/content/competition-rules-and-regulations By the way, Toronto is chasing Columbus (46 points, 12 wins) for the final playoff spot. Again, C'bus would have to lose both for Toronto to get the tie-break on more wins. And one more quirk: it is possible for one of TOR or VAN to make the MLS playoffs, but the other to get the CCL bid.
I don't quite follow your logic (in the referenced post) of "Seattle take the Supporters' Shield and pass down their Open Cup spot to LA" I haven't scanned the 16 pages after that posting, but my I had no knowledge of spots being passed down in their own conference (if that is what you are referring to in points 2, 3, 4, and 5). But it does seem like there is no way that LA is out of the CCL, if you consider that any duplicate entries get passed down to LA by league-wide record, not conference-based record.
Well that's not what he's referring to, so there's your problem. ;-) In each outlined situation, the assumption is that if there are any other teams above LA in the standings, they're explicitly stated - so every time it says the Open Cup slot is passed down, it's assumed LA is the next-best team in the Supporter's Shield standings, so conference doesn't matter. Hence why in the final situation DC temporarily has the Open Cup slot before passing it to LA. (btw Point 2 refers to the fact that the two conference top seeds get CCL spots automatically, nothing's being passed down in that situation.)
Welcome Vancouver Whitecaps!! Thanks to Toronto failing to beat Montréal, they will finish the MLS regular season as best Canadian team. The Whitecaps have actually qualified for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup before, in 1992, under the name Vancouver 86ers (they became the Whitecaps in 2001). However, they withdrew from the competition before playing any matches. On a side note, I believe the only current MLS team not to qualify for CONCACAF Champions League/Cup is Philadelphia Union, who came oh so close a month ago.
Now I really hope Seattle get the Supporters' Shield (or MLS Cup). If that happens, 25% chance we have an all-Cascadia matchup in the group stage. Btw, unless CSA expedites the entry of D-III teams into the Canadian Championship, here's now next year's tournament will set up (NASL seeds still to be determined, MLS ones set, first team listed hosts second leg): PLAY-IN FC Edmonton vs. Ottawa Fury SEMIS Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Play-in winner Toronto FC vs. Impact de Montréal 2015-16 CCL Qualifiers 1. Seattle Sounders [USA1, USA2 or USA4] 2. LA Galaxy [USA1, USA2, USA3 or USA4] 3. Vancouver Whitecaps [CAN]
And major kudos to whoever wrote the now-standard "CCL 101" article for the Whitecaps - s/he clearly did the background reading.
Chicago Fire never played in CCL too. Here's what I did in wikipedia - MLS' clubs stats in CCL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLS_performance_in_Champions_League#Performance_by_team
Ah, I was sneaky and said CONCACAF Champions League/Cup They played CONCACAF Champions Cup in 1999, 2002 and 2004.
The next qualifier is in: DC United beat the Chicago Fire 2-1 at home to clinch first place in the MLS Eastern Conference at at least the "opposite conference winner" berth. 2015-16 CCL Qualifiers 1. Seattle Sounders [USA1, USA2 or USA4] 2. LA Galaxy [USA1, USA2 or USA4] 3. Vancouver Whitecaps [CAN] 4. DC United [USA1 or USA3]