Columbus is the best bet. They're good, and Tigres isn't quite as good as they have been. There's a decent shot at an all-Liga MX semifinal though.
The five bye teams and the top three non-bye teams were seeded based on the CONCACAF rankings and placed in the bracket to set up 1 v. 8, 2 v. 7, etc. if all of them reach the quarterfinals. Columbus and Miami are the 2 and 3 seeds, so that format put them on the same side to set up chalk 1 v. 4, 2 v. 3 semifinals. The next eight teams were in Pot 1 (6 MLS and 2 MX) and were randomly drawn across the rest of the bracket and the draw put four of those MLS teams on the same half as Columbus and Miami. All of the Pot 1 MLS teams won, so that's where we are now. EDIT: I got this wrong on the top 8 seeds. They were placed in fixed spots in the bracket but I'm not sure what the system was. 1 v. 8, 2 v. 7 doesn't match how they were placed. The Pot 1 draw was random, though.
Anyhoo we have 3 MLS v Liga MX clashes in R16. Philly v Pachuca Herediano v Robinhood Chivas v América New England v Adajuelense Houston v Columbus Orlando v Tigres Cincinnati v Monterrey Nashville v Miami
The new Concacaf Club Rankings are out.At the very top, CF Monterrey. Meaning FC Cincinnati is hosting the top club in the region next week. An all-timer at TQL Stadium looming. #AllForCincy pic.twitter.com/TOlRHXVcwP— Carter Chapley (@CarterChapley) March 1, 2024
Thursday results: 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup Home team first, times are ET Updated tv coverage. Tubi is an ad-supported streaming channel of Fox programming. ViX is the streaming service of TUDN. Round One Week 4 Tuesday, February 27 (L2) Orlando City (USA) 3-1 Cavalry FC (CAN) Orlando advances on aggregate, 6-1 (L2) Philadelphia Union (USA) 3-3 (aet) Saprissa (CRC) Philadelphia advances on aggregate, 6-5 (L2) Houston Dynamo (USA) 1-0 St. Louis CITY (USA) Houston advances on away goals, 1-0 Wednesday, February 28 (L2) FC Cincinnati (USA) 4-0 Cavalier (JAM) Cincinnati advances on aggregate, 6-0 (L2) Nashville SC (USA) 4-0 Moca FC (DOM) Nashville advances on aggregate, 7-0 Thursday, February 29 (L2) New England Revolution (USA) 3-0 Independiente (PAN) 7:00 pm FS2/ViX New England advances on aggregate, 4-0 Away goals are in effect as the first tie-breaker. If series are level after 2 games, extra time will be played and then penalty kicks. The Round of 16 starts March 5.
Quarterfinal predictions: Pachuca v Herediano Club America v New England Columbus v Tigres Monterrey v Miami I could see New England losing on aggregate, but they are technically favored according to the rankings (I know I know); besides that it seems pretty straightforward...right?
Pachuca V Herediano America V Revs (won't be surprised if NE loses though) Crew V Orlando Cincy V Nashville (FTW - I like seeing things burn)
Orlando lost to Tigres on away goals last time.I think they could easily win. Ditto Cincy vs Monterrey. NE & Pachuca are not shoe-ins either. And as a Crew fan, I'd note we always struggle mightily in Texas.
Not quite true. The Revs already have 3 DPs, and they already used their buyout on the phantom GK (Vaclik, who signed in August and never played a minute). So getting rid of Vrioni would require someone agreeing to take him. Yes, Porter keeps saying he wants to give Vrioni a shot, but really, what else is he going to say publicly?
@onefineesq I know you've watched CCL for a long time, don't try to convince yourself otherwise this is Concacaf after all
The only thing that's by design here is that the top-ranked seeded team and the top-ranked non-seeded team are on the left side of the bracket; until MLS and other teams have consistent success at this level, we can expect those berths to regularly fall to Liga MX sides. But this is a far cry from 2010-11: we all saw the live draw.
We Revs fans are not taking Alajuelense lightly.at all. We played them several years back with our "home" leg being played in Alajeulense's stadium. But we wore our blue jerseys! In the second leg one of our guys got a straight red for a foul that was a border-line yellow. Daniel Hernandez looked at the ref side-eyed and he got an immediate red for dissent. This was maybe 15 minutes into the game. I'm also worried about playing the first leg at home. Last time we were in this tournament we beat Pumas, 3-0 at home. Can't ask for a better result, right? But we still lost! Revs fans realize that we are all unwilling passengers on a runaway train to doom and annihilation. Brief spasms of joy, like 5 MLS Cup finals, are only there to point out the total hopelessness of all human endeavor.
MLS knockout round advancement record by home result since 2008-09 Loss: 1-11 Draw: 3-17 Win by 1: 7-10 Win by 2+: 29-2 By away result Loss by 3+: 0-15 Loss by 2: 4-9 Loss by 1: 8-10 Draw: 13-5 Win: 15-1 By opponent country Mexico: 14-37 Costa Rica: 11-1 Honduras: 5-2 Panama: 3-2 CFU: 3-1 Guatemala: 2-1 El Salvador: 2-0 Canada (CPL): 1-0 Nicaragua: 1-0 Overall: 42-44
That one time an MLS team lost at home and still won the series was LAFC against Alajuelense last year, right?
Early 2024 Concacaf Play Shows MLS Has Caught (Most Of) Liga MX: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianqui...s-has-caught-most-of-liga-mx/?sh=7798be0a2017 Well, this is a bit premature. How about some actual games? And what about Leon as recently as last year? The writer first highlights the fairness of the home and away format and then still draws conclusions from the Leagues Cup. He also confuses Herediano with Alajuelense. I do agree that MLS has narrowed the gap but this putting the cart before the horse.
The argument is correct, although the supporting evidence was poorly chosen in that article. The CCL era ended with five straight years of MEX4 futility at the hands of MLS opposition: four eliminations, followed by Tigres squeaking past Orlando on away goals. That is, Liga MX as a whole still goes into the Champions Cup expecting to win the title; but their elite are the only teams that remain head-and-shoulders above MLS sides.
That was a legendary CONCACAFing. The Revs lost the first leg 4-0, then miraculously took a 3-0 lead in their fake home leg before the ref awards a penalty and a straight red for a Shalrie Joseph handball, then tosses Hernandez for dissent. At least they got a trip to Bermuda out of the rematch a few years later.
I don’t necessarily disagree with your last sentence, but the headline says “Early 2024 Concacaf play shows…” - I ask what play? It’s been one single round. Most of the interesting matchups are just about to happen.