Hi everyone, Monday's draw produced the following bracket for the upcoming edition of the CONCACAF Champions League, set to take place as a pure knockout tournament for the first time since the spring of 2008. Chivas de Guadalajara (MEX) vs. Cibao FC (DOM) Seattle Sounders (USA) vs. Santa Tecla (SLV) New York Red Bulls (USA) vs. Olimpia (HON) Xolos de Tijuana (MEX) vs. Motagua (HON) --- Tigres UANL (MEX) vs. CS Herediano (CRC) Toronto FC (CAN) vs. Colorado Rapids (USA) FC Dallas (USA) vs. Tauro (PAN) Club América (MEX) vs. Deportivo Saprissa (CRC) It's worth noting that throughout the tournament, the away-goals rule is in effect; if a series is still tied, it will go straight to penalties without extra time. Also, the winners of the bolded Round of 16 series will host the second legs of their respective quarterfinals. For the semifinals and the Final, hosting the second leg will be determined by performance in the previous rounds. Finally, we now have the full schedule for the Round of 16 (hosts first, times U.S. Eastern): First Leg Tuesday, February 20: CS Herediano (CRC) vs. Tigres UANL (MEX), 8:00 p.m. Colorado Rapids (USA) vs. Toronto FC (CAN), 10:00 p.m. Wednesday, February 21: Deportivo Saprissa (CRC) vs. Club América (MEX), 8:00 p.m. Tauro (PAN) vs. FC Dallas (USA), 8:00 p.m. Motagua (HON) vs. Xolos de Tijuana (MEX), 10:00 p.m. Thursday, February 22: Cibao FC (DOM) vs. Chivas de Guadalajara (MEX), 8:00 p.m. Olimpia (HON) vs. New York Red Bulls (USA), 10:00 p.m. Santa Tecla (SLV) vs. Seattle Sounders (USA), 10:00 p.m. Second Leg Tuesday, February 27: Toronto FC (CAN) vs. Colorado Rapids (USA), 8:00 p.m. Tigres UANL (MEX) vs. CS Herediano (CRC), 8:00 p.m. Xolos de Tijuana (MEX) vs. Motagua (HON), 10:00 p.m. Wednesday, February 28: FC Dallas (USA) vs. Tauro (PAN), 8:00 p.m. Chivas de Guadalajara (MEX) vs. Cibao FC (DOM), 8:00 p.m. Club América (MEX) vs. Deportivo Saprissa (CRC), 10:00 p.m. Thursday, March 1: New York Red Bulls (USA) vs. Olimpia (HON), 8:00 p.m. Seattle Sounders (USA) vs. Santa Tecla (SLV), 10:00 p.m.
Where will Cibao play its home game? I see Wikipedia lists Estadio Cibao, but looking through images I don't see floodlights there and it is rather modest venue for #1 continental competiiton. But there is also Estadio Cibao that is used for baseball and it's big one so it might be there.
América fans showed up in droves in Seattle when they played last year...you think Chivas fans will match it?
The Honduran home legs have been set. One in Texas and the other in Costa Rica. http://www.uslsoccer.com/news_article/show/881114?referrer_id=2333971 https://www.onceametro.com/2018/1/2...concacaf-champions-league-match-in-costa-rica
On Tuesday February 20, UDN will show Herediano vs. Tigres live. Then they will show Monterrey vs. Dorados de Sinaloa in Copa MX. Colorado vs. Toronto will be delayed at 1:00 A.M. On February 21, Saprissa vs. America and Motagua vs. Tijuana will be live. Tauro vs. FC Dallas will be played at the same time as Saprissa vs. America and will be delayed on Galavision at 12:00 A.M. On February 22, Cibao vs. Chivas and Olimpia vs. New York will be live. Santa Tecla vs. Seattle will be played at the same time as Olimpia vs. New York and will be delayed on Galavision at 12:00 A.M. As a Red Bulls fan, I'm happy that the Red Bulls are the only one of five MLS clubs that will be live, although since it's at 10:00 P.M. I will DVR it and watch it the next day.
16 teams enter the #SCCL this week, here is how they stack up in their opening round series —> https://t.co/DRcP7jfpsr— Big D Soccer (@BigDSoccer) February 20, 2018
Good stuff as always - since I moved away from my blog here a few years back, it's difficult to find holistic coverage of the tournament rather than league-specific views. A couple of nit-picks: 1) Tijuana's nickname are los Xolos - Cholos are completely different. I mean, they probably do have some cholos among their fanbase, but not all of them are about that life 2) "The chances of this being one of the most hotly contested series this round, took a big hit when Motagua’s home stadium failed to meet CONCACAF requirements." That didn't happen; rather, Motagua asked CONCACAF for permission to play their home game elsewhere due to force majeure, given the political instability in their country after Juan Orlando Hernández won a tightly-contested election or stole it, depending on who you ask.
Thanks. I honestly forgot that it's spelled Xolos. As for Motagua, I don't really have any excuse there. I should have known about the Honduras situation. I was actually reading about how Motagua ended up playing at HEB Park, right after it got posted.
I hope you don't mind, but I have posted your nit-picks under the comments section in that article. You are of course given credit for those corrections.
No problem at all For anyone looking for the Colorado-TFC game and can't access Univisión Deportes' app, Verizon's go90 in the US has a publicly-available stream: https://www.go90.com/videos/7aAKbmsfrhW
Thanks for the link! The crowd may be sparse - but it's far more than I expected for 13F. Congrats, Rapids fans!!
Who made that? Is it from a TSN channel? Does Verizon stream games that aren't on TV? If so, how does Verizon make money from it? Will go90 stream every CCL game? The game you linked to can be watched at any time without giving the score. It would be great if I could watch the Red Bulls on Friday morning in English online rather than in Spanish on DVR.
go90 had last night's CCL games as well. What a godsend, I'm sick of the disgusting pop ups from the other streaming sites. And I guess CONCACAF streaming the CCL was a 1 time deal. Hopefully go90 keeps it up
If Tigres continue to rest Gignac and other players and play half ass like they are Real Madrid, AC Milan or the Ferrari.... I see Giovinco scoring a brace!! @bballshawn
So this new format has already paid dividends in the stands: Cibao got a sellout and national media coverage, Santa Tecla ran out of tickets, and Colorado had people actually show up in that weather.
Shocked how awful CONCACAF's youtube channel is. Disgrace. For start, you have to scroll down to find SCCL that is under uploads section rather than under its own. 2017 Gold Cup looks more important than ongoing "elite" club competition. Each highlights video lasts the same, no matter there was one or six goals scored. Some have commentators, some don't. There are million videos instead of only match highlights, all mixed. What the fu*k is rocket league goal? Rocket league moment? Really had tough time finding all highlights. Come on, for Gods sake, come on! P.S. At least something positive - there's no that retarded music playing in the background. I am also shocked how worse than previous year MLS looks every year. Just keep on expanding, MLS board, just keep on! Dilute the talent to make it proper-30-markets-American-pro-sports-league! MLS FTW!