Champions' Cup Draw Complete :: Chicago draws San Juan Jabloteh (TRI)

Fanaddict · Jan 12, 2004

fire to learn concacaf opponent wednesday + other news

http://www.chicago-fire.com/pressbox/pressrelease/releasetext.asp?prID=1382

HalaMadrid · Jan 12, 2004

CONCACAF announced last Friday that the draw for the final phase of the 2004 CONCACAF Champions Cup will be held at the offices of the CONCACAF General Secretariat in New York City this Wednesday, Jan. 14 at 11:00 a.m. CT. The draw will be presided over by CONCACAF President Jack Warner and General Secretary Chuck Blazer. The eight teams in the draw will be paired to play two-leg, straight knockout, home-and-away series, beginning with the first leg of the quarterfinals on March 17 and culminating with the second leg of the championship round on May 11. The home-and-away quarterfinal round of the tournament has been preliminarily scheduled for Wednesday, Mar. 17 and Wednesday, Mar. 24. All but one of the eight slots in the tournament have been claimed, with the Fire and San Jose Earthquakes representing MLS thanks to their respective regular season and MLS Cup championships last season. CF Pachuca and CF Monterrey earned the two spots from the Mexican top division, while CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh of Trinidad & Tobago earned the Caribbean Region’s berth. Costa Rica’s Deportivo Saprissa and LD Alajuelense have cemented two of UNCAF’s (Unión Centroamerica de Fútbol) three spots, with the third being awarded by CONCACAF in due time after Guatemala’s CSD Communicaciones was banned from the competition after a suspension was levied on the country’s national federation by both CONCACAF and FIFA. The winner of this year’s Champions Cup will qualify, along with the 2003 Champion CD Toluca FC (MEX), as the CONCACAF representatives to the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship, which will be played in the CONCACAF Region.

The Fire is no stranger to the CONCACAF Champions Cup, as the “Men in Red” appeared in the region’s premier club championship in both 1999 and 2002. The Fire defeated CSD Municipal of Guatemala 3-0 on aggregate in the Round of 16 in 2002 before falling to its now sister club Monarcas Morelia in the quarterfinals by a 3-2 aggregate margin. In 1999, the “Men in Red” disposed of Joe Public (TRI) 2-0 in the single-game quarterfinal round before bowing out to LD Alajuelense on penalty kicks 5-4 after a 1-1 draw in their semifinal contest. Chicago finished that tournament - played entirely in Las Vegas, NV - with a 2-2 draw with D.C. United in the consolation match.
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GPK · Jan 14, 2004

Fire draw CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh (TRI). Away for the first leg...

http://www.concacaf.com/competitions/match.asp

HalaMadrid · Jan 14, 2004

ROAD TRIP!

Seriously, I'm gonna dig up whatever info I can.

Bracket looks like this:

A
CF Pachuca (MEX)
v
Deportivo Saprissa (CRC)

B
Chicago Fire (USA)
v
CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh (TRI)

C
CF Monterrey (MEX)
v
CD F.A.S. (SLV)

D
San Jose Earthquakes (USA)
v
LD Alajuelense (CRC)

We got a pretty agreeable draw, I think.

SparkeyG · Jan 14, 2004

Travelocity is stating $610 round trip tickets from Chicago to Port of Spain, Tri.

Road Trip?
*ducks*

CMeszt · Jan 14, 2004

only 8 teams this year? When the hell is CONCACAF gonna give us a real tournament?

HalaMadrid · Jan 14, 2004

Originally posted by dirtskier
only 8 teams this year? When the hell is CONCACAF gonna give us a real tournament?
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I'm not one to defend CONCACAF, but I'm pretty sure there are only 8 teams so they could hold a tournament at all.

You could add 2 more Mexican and US teams, and maybe a Central American and a Canadian club but beyond that there's not a whole lot, for one, and two, they may not have the financial wherewithal to participate.

Plus there's the whole scheduling issue with the big clubs...

JeffGMc · Jan 14, 2004

Originally posted by dirtskier
only 8 teams this year? When the hell is CONCACAF gonna give us a real tournament?
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Possibly when MLS has less than 80% of it's teams making the playoffs?

Fanaddict · Jan 14, 2004

We will play 3/24 at home I wonder if they will schedule that for naperville or SF?

HalaMadrid · Jan 14, 2004

Originally posted by Fanaddict
We will play 3/24 at home I wonder if they will schedule that for naperville or SF?
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Why does it have to be one of those two?

And those are the slated dates, but I bet we'll see each team fiddle with them a bit to best suit their schedules. It may do us or CLFSJ Jabloteh best to play the games earlier or slightly off the prescribed dates.

FlashMan · Jan 14, 2004

Originally posted by dirtskier
only 8 teams this year? When the hell is CONCACAF gonna give us a real tournament?
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Considering that last year one of the MLS teams played BOTH of their games on the road, forfeiting one of their home games and essentially sinking any hopes of winning, and that NONE of these games are ever televised on American television, even Spanish-speaking, this tournament's relative unimportance (despite how much I personally follow it), can hardly solely be blamed on CONCACAF (as much as I despise them).

sidspaceman · Jan 14, 2004

Not true last year Telemundo showed the games involving the Mexican teams on a tape dealy basis.

HalaMadrid · Jan 14, 2004

Information on CLF San Juan Jabloteh:

- SOCAwarriors
- WFO
- CL Financial

CL Financial
San Juan Jabloteh

Colors : Yellow shirts, Black shorts
Home Stadium : Hasley Crawford Stadium (26,000)

Ex-MLS Players : DF Ansil Elcock (Columbus), DF Keyeno Thomas (Colorado), MF Travis Mulraine (DC United)

HalaMadrid · Jan 14, 2004

jjayg · Jan 14, 2004

Yellow and black. Gee, it will feel like giving the annual crew beat down!

HalaMadrid · Jan 14, 2004

Originally posted by jjayg
Yellow and black. Gee, it will feel like giving the annual crew beat down!
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Ansil Elcock helps too.

jjayg · Jan 14, 2004

Originally posted by HalaMadrid
Ansil Elcock helps too.
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Awesome!

Fanaddict · Jan 14, 2004

Originally posted by HalaMadrid
Why does it have to be one of those two?

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Where else would the Fire play the home leg, besides naperville or SF?

HalaMadrid · Jan 14, 2004

Originally posted by Fanaddict
Where else would the Fire play the home leg, besides naperville or SF?
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Considering the drawing power of the opponent, just about anywhere.

Heck they may even just play the home leg in Florida, or maybe Milwaukee. For a game this size even Schwaben Center would work.

HalaMadrid · Jan 14, 2004

http://www.concacaf.com/view_article.asp?id=2391

The field is set after the conclusion of the 2004 CONCACAF Champions Cup draw held at the offices of the CONCACAF General Secretariat in New York City today. The draw was presided over by CONCACAF President Jack Warner and General Secretary Chuck Blazer.

The eight teams have been paired to play two-leg, straight knockout, home-and-away series, from 17 March – 11 May 2004. The respective series venues and kickoff times will be announced in due course.

CF Pachuca of Mexico, who captured the Champions Cup in 2002 and winner of the Torneo Apertura of the Liga Mexicana 2003, will take on two-time Champions Cup winner (1993, 1995) Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica in Quarterfinal Series 1.

The winner of that series will face the winner of the match-up (Quarterfinal Series 2) between the USA’s 2003 Major League Soccer (MLS) Regular Season winner Chicago Fire and last year’s Caribbean Football Union Champion CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh of Trinidad & Tobago, who is making their first-ever appearance at the CONCACAF event.

Quarterfinal Series 3 has CF Monterrey of Mexico, who claimed the Torneo Clausura of the Liga Mexicana 2003, will meet El Salvador’s CD F.A.S., who last won the Champions Cup in 1979.

The remaining match-up (Quarterfinal Series 4) features the USA’s 2003 MLS Cup winner San Jose Earthquakes taking on LD Alajuelense of Costa Rica, who hasn’t the Champions Cup since 1986.

The CONCACAF Champions Cup is the longest running international competition in the region and has been the premier club competition in the Confederation since its inception in 1962.
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JeffGMc · Jan 14, 2004

The crowd in those photos is larger than the one at Giants Stadium.

Fanaddict · Jan 14, 2004

This game is more than just an exhibition so I would hope they will play in the chicago metro area. I understand it won't draw a huge crowd and the expense of renting SF might be too much but the game should be played in the chicago area not florida.

Mikey mouse · Jan 14, 2004

I would think they probably would play it somewhere near Chicago but might I suggest Charleston? That would put the Fire in Chucktown and would allow for the play of the rumored US Championship Tournament here.

Good pitch, nice city, great pub...

Mikey

Fanaddict · Jan 14, 2004

Fire will play 3/24 at soldier field.

http://www.chicago-fire.com/pressbox/pressrelease/releasetext.asp?prID=1385

HalaMadrid · Jan 14, 2004

Wow.

Ok then.