Not bad for a team barely three years old. And respect to Don Bosco for taking the hosts all the way to penalties. Oh well, third place or bust it is...
W Connection finished the sweep for local sides by defeating Montego Bay 1-0, leaving the Jamaicans nothing but a scrap with Don Bosco for the last Champions League berth out of the Caribbean. 2015-16 CCL Qualifiers 1. Seattle Sounders [USA2] 2. LA Galaxy [USA1] 3. Vancouver Whitecaps [CAN] 4. DC United [USA3] 5. San Francisco [PAN1 or PAN2] 6. Real Salt Lake [USA4] 7. Tigres UANL [MEX3] 8. Club América [MEX1] 9. Comunicaciones [GUA1] 10. Motagua [HON1 or HON2] 11. Deportivo Saprissa [CRC1 or CRC2] 12. Isidro Metapán [SLV1] 13. Olimpia [HON1 or HON2] 14. Municipal [GUA2] 15. Santa Tecla [SLV2] 16. Walter Ferretti [NCA] 17. Verdes FC [BLZ] 18. Central FC (TRI) [CFU] 19. W Connection (TRI) [CFU]
Herediano overcame Alajuelense on penalties to seal their return to the CCL; the manudos are on the outside looking in, although they will have to unofficially be on stand-by in case the FFB Stadium gets another last-minute rejection. Meanwhile, in Panama: the Clausura final will be Árabe Unido vs. the relegated CAI. Unless the latter pulls off an upset for the ages and leaves us with a Panamanian second-division team in the CCL, Árabe Unido will return as a top seed...opening up the possibility of a reunion party with Real Salt Lake. 2015-16 CCL Qualifiers 1. Seattle Sounders [USA2] 2. LA Galaxy [USA1] 3. Vancouver Whitecaps [CAN] 4. DC United [USA3] 5. San Francisco [PAN1 or PAN2] 6. Real Salt Lake [USA4] 7. Tigres UANL [MEX3] 8. Club América [MEX1] 9. Comunicaciones [GUA1] 10. Motagua [HON1 or HON2] 11. Deportivo Saprissa [CRC1] 12. Isidro Metapán [SLV1] 13. Olimpia [HON1 or HON2] 14. Municipal [GUA2] 15. Santa Tecla [SLV2] 16. Walter Ferretti [NCA] 17. Verdes FC [BLZ] 18. Central FC (TRI) [CFU] 19. W Connection (TRI) [CFU] 20. Herediano [CRC2]
Panama does it right by not prohibiting a relegated team from participating in the playoffs, unlike Mexico, who bars relegated teams from playing in playoffs they qualified for. They need to change that.
The favorites for the next CCL - ahem, Mexico's lineup for the next CCL is complete. First, Santos Laguna (one of the true mainstays in this tournament) will be back after crushing Chivas 3-0 at the Omnilife. Let me just point out that Chivas are the only grande in Mexico to have never qualified for the Champions League on their own merits. And as of a few seconds ago, we are guaranteed (barring retirement this summer) that the Scotiabank Champions League will include the presence of the biggest global superstar to ply his trade in our part of the world since Beckham, as Querétaro made it to the Mexican Clausura final with Ronaldinho in tow (really, Vucetich deserves the lion's share of the credit). Also, surprise, surprise: Olimpia will take Honduras's top seed after overcoming archival Motagua with a 0-0 draw to uphold a 2-1 advantage from the first leg. The only things left to figure out ahead of the draw are the last qualifier in Panama (final on Wednesday) and the last top seed (the winner of the Mexican Clausura). 2015-16 CCL Qualifiers 1. Seattle Sounders [USA2] 2. LA Galaxy [USA1] 3. Vancouver Whitecaps [CAN] 4. DC United [USA3] 5. San Francisco [PAN1 or PAN2] 6. Real Salt Lake [USA4] 7. Tigres UANL [MEX3] 8. Club América [MEX1] 9. Comunicaciones [GUA1] 10. Motagua [HON2] 11. Deportivo Saprissa [CRC1] 12. Isidro Metapán [SLV1] 13. Olimpia [HON1] 14. Municipal [GUA2] 15. Santa Tecla [SLV2] 16. Walter Ferretti [NCA] 17. Verdes FC [BLZ] 18. Central FC (TRI) [CFU] 19. W Connection (TRI) [CFU] 20. Herediano [CRC2] 21. Montego Bay United (JAM) [CFU] 22. Santos Laguna [MEX2 or MEX4] 23. Querétaro FC [MEX2 or MEX4]
Boy the way Hermoso played Darwin made the Impact pay Mex-ican teams had it made Those were the days All Mexi semis 4 4-team groups and a prelim stage Mr., we can use a man like Chuletita again Didn't need to protect the MML In group stage they went thru hell Tele-futu-ra was swell Those were the days... There was way more interest back then, CCL threads had more posts across this board, the games were on free TV, I even received an advertisement for it in the mail which I didn't request lol. Plus these classics: RSL@Cementers Impact@Torreon Islanders@Cementers going to pens The flood game in Ramon Loubriel Pumas@FCD Gaudette's antics in Toronto Atlante vs SL fight And of course, Pachuca winning the title at the death.
My guess is CCL topics had more posts and the games were on free TV because of the MLS-Liga MX Group Stage games. If you took out MLS-Liga MX Group Stage games and looked at how much discussion there was here per Group Stage game, I'd be interested in seeing the difference between the 4 groups of 4 and 8 groups of 3. My computer thinks things you typed like "RSL@Cementers" are e-mail addresses because of the @.
IMO, the greater interest here also had to do with the novelty of the expanded tournament and MLS fans desperately waiting for that first competitive victory by an MLS team in Mexico. I much prefer the here and now, though: if the CCL isn't as much of an attention-grabber here in BigSoccer, it's way more popular in the press and among the teams involved than back in '08. Before I forget: the Panamanian final is actually scheduled for this Saturday at 8:00 p.m. EDT.
The mexican domination is the reason yanks don´t post as much. And why they are jealous like Dan Loney. Reminds me of how the English think NT football sucks because their nt sucks. And plus you got your anti-americanistas who are also jelly....
In fairness paul, you were the one making half the threads in the CCL forum back in the day.....Like your top 10 goals of the 08-09 season which was a cool thread. So its at least 40% your fault that people are posting less than when the CL era started you have to keep making cool threads. like a top ten goals thread for the 15-16 season
Contrary to what was reported on MARCA this week, the full list of qualifiers just got completed: Árabe Unido pulled off a comeback in the last 10 minutes to defeat CAI 2-1 and make sure that everyone's second favorite team didn't miss out on CCL action. 2015-16 CCL Qualifiers 1. Seattle Sounders [USA2] 2. LA Galaxy [USA1] 3. Vancouver Whitecaps [CAN] 4. DC United [USA3] 5. San Francisco [PAN2] 6. Real Salt Lake [USA4] 7. Tigres UANL [MEX3] 8. Club América [MEX1] 9. Comunicaciones [GUA1] 10. Motagua [HON2] 11. Deportivo Saprissa [CRC1] 12. Isidro Metapán [SLV1] 13. Olimpia [HON1] 14. Municipal [GUA2] 15. Santa Tecla [SLV2] 16. Walter Ferretti [NCA] 17. Verdes FC [BLZ] 18. Central FC (TRI) [CFU] 19. W Connection (TRI) [CFU] 20. Herediano [CRC2] 21. Montego Bay United (JAM) [CFU] 22. Santos Laguna [MEX2 or MEX4] 23. Querétaro FC [MEX2 or MEX4] 24. Árabe Unido [PAN1]
So, 7 debutants (Verdes included, I don't count preliminaries) this season. Draw to be held tomorrow. I follow North American football, but I've never heard of Santa Tecla (awesome name for a football club).