This is great. Good luck to the MLS squads - especially San Jose (who need all the luck they can muster). My predicition: LA challenges for crown - may win it all. New England gets the good draw against W Conn & sees their potential second round Mexican foe Necaxa lose out to FAS. New England loses to LA in the semis. For my hypothetical draw I've got San Jose over Arabe Unido. Why? Never heard of AU before. Columbus breaks their sneid by ousting Comunicaciones. Both San Jose and Columbus fall in the second round to their Mexican counterparts. For the final, I'm picking Morelia. If this pans out, it would be a big improvement over last year.
The player losses in SJ will hurt. Even if SJ recovers over the course of the MLS season, they'll likely still be trying to figure out their line up and fit in new players when they play their first CC series on Mar. 12 and 26. If they get a favorable draw and survive the first round, the quarters are in early April and that may still be too early to have the team well adjusted. I'm really curious to see how the Revs do. They play a style that's unlike anything else in Concacaf. I also think the Galaxy have a very good chance to win this tourney, as well as the MLS Cup, US Open Cup, and SS. It'll really help their cause if Chacon signs, but they're strong enough to compete without him. It's also interesting that Mexico will field four very strong teams - America, Toluca, Morelia, and Necaxa. If they actually field some starters, it'll be fun to see how MLS teams handle the likes of Cardozo (King of the Americas) and Blanco (Headcase of the Americas). Btw, America pulled five of its players (incl. Blanco, Pardo, Patino) out of the El Tri prep camp this week to go to Laredo, Tx to play FAS of ES in a friendly last night. So maybe Mexican clubs are starting to understand that their fans in the US want to see the stars play.
My mock draw: A: Revs v. Motagua* B: Necaxa* v. FAS C: Crew* v. Arnett Gardens D: Monarchas* v. Arabe Unido E: Quakes v. Communicaciones* F: America v. Municipal* G: Galaxy* v. Alajuense H: Toluca* v. W Connection Round of 8: Motagua v. Necaxa* Crew v. Monarchas* Communicaciones v. Municipal* Galaxy* v. Toluca Semifinals: Necaxa v. Monarchas* Municipal v. Galaxy* Final: Monarchas* v. Galaxy
Jeremy, sorry if I misunderstand your brackets, but I think you have the two Guatemalan clubs in the same bracket. They're probably going to be on opposite halves ("depending upon when they are drawn," whatever that means):
I really hope FSW or one of the Mexican stations pick up some of these games. I think you could definitely generate some interest that way. It seems better organized than previous years. Maybe this tournament will develop into something after all.
Couldn't agree with you more on both points...but you have to remember we are still dealing with Concacaf so chances are bad that both points will actually turn out the way we hope..i can see no tv and dates changing left and right just as easily as i can see the picture you paint above
No, you're not misunderstanding. I saw that and realized that they might be drawn differently, however, Communicaciones was drawn 5th out of the pool of 8, and Municipal was drawn 6th. Basically, since neither of them was drawn into the first half of the bracket, they get to stew together in the second half anyways. Wheras, if they had both been drawn in the first half, then the second one would have been dumped back in the pot and they would have picked again. In reality, they most likely will not be both drawn into the bottom half of the bracket...there's a very slim chance of that happening (.750*.714*.667*.500=17.9% chance that only non-Guatemalan teams will be chosen in the first half of the bracket.) The chance of both guatemalan teams being picked 5-6 or 7-8, and being situated for a round of 8 matchup is even worse than that (.179*1(any team can be picked 5th)*.333(the matching team has to be picked 6th, depending on the circumstances)=~6%. And even in that circumstance, they would both have to defeat their supposedly stronger northern opponents to meet up, so I think things are pretty well covered for those teams not to meet in the 2nd round. Of course, the other possibility is that if CONCACAF picks four non-guatemalan teams straight, then they will place the fourth team picked into the fifth spot, and the next guatemalan team picked will go into the fourth spot. Or there could be some other even more esoteric method devised by some CONCACAF flunky. Fortunately for me, that method isn't clearly described, so I'll just assume that my way is legal
For me to take this tournament seriousy the officials cant br from Mexico in any of the US games. I think we all remember the KC vs I cant remember now (Tuloca?) where the official did not show up and they used a local one. That problem needs to be fixed.
God wouldn't that be brilliant! Unfortunately, I am expecting to be sitting in front of the Earthquakes matchtracker on March 12th. Last year they played both matches otside of the Bay Area so I wasn't able to see one live until the second match of the second round.
Just what I was thinking. It would be fabulous to somehow see a few of these games on TV = FSW or PPV even. I mean, If SUM was created with anything in mind - it is a tournament like this. MLS and international clubs playing in a legit tournament right here in the US. This thing has to be on TV somewhere.
That was a Merconorte Cup match. In the Champions Cup last year, the center ref was from a "neutral" country with the rest of the crew from the home country, I think. I advocated a long time ago putting these games on TV somewhere. I would even support bumping a usual Soccer Saturday match for a semifinal or something like that.
Concacaf officiating That's also a dubious practice, but it's unlikely to change. So... Open Memo to All MLS Players and Coaches in the Concacaf CC It's not up to the officials in these games or tournaments to adjust to you. It's up to you to adjust to the officials. It doesn't matter if you're right and they're wrong. All the righteous indignation in the world is irrelevant. You have to adapt to the way that they sanction physical play and dissent, or insist on rigid formalism on FKs, throw-in's, corners, etc. You have to deal with whatever you think is bias. This is good for you. You will be better prepared when you go to the Azteca or Central America for WC qualifiers. Those of you with the Galaxy and Crew are fortunate. You have the benefit of players on your team who grew up in Central America. Talk to them about what to expect from the officials and the game environment. Ask them about gamesmanship. This ain't MLS or the College Cup, so pay attention. Those of you with SJ and the Revs currently have no one on your teams who grew up in Central America, but at least you have players with nat'l team experience in WC quals in Concacaf. Ask them about the officiating so you'll have an idea of what to expect. This applies especially to those of you in NE - SJ at least had a taste last year. And McCarthy, Pierce, and Franchino - you in particular better really listen up to how the officials will handle physical play and dissent. Adjust accordingly. Don't think Bruce is going to toss you on the field at the Azteca, take you for a drive to Mazatenango, or let you stroll into the Caverna del Monstro if you get ejected whenever you have Concacaf officials in club play. There's no excuse for showing up unprepared for the officiating that you know you will encounter. Good luck.
I read in one of these reports that the Guatemalan teams WILL be placed in separate halves of the bracket. When one Guatemalan team is "drafted" for one bracket, the other will automatically go to the other bracket. Similar to how they handle the World Cup draw, keeping teams from the same region separate.
San Jose will not make it that far unless they get an easy draw. See my San Jose comments. Kick and chase only works in certain latitudes. I believe Chacon will sign, and I otherwise agree that LA has the best chance out of all the MLS teams to win these tourneys.
I'm sure that they'll do the draw much like the WC draw is done. If a Muni or Comm both drawn in the top half, the second one would be placed in the bottom half of the draw. If neither are drawn in the first 4, a spot in the top half would be held open until one is drawn.
Re: Concacaf officiating I agree 100 percent, just wanted to clarify which not so honest competition it was in. But this isn't new to these guys and, in the column I wrote on the Cup a while back, I said that broadcasting an away game would be an awesome idea to try and put pressure on that kind of crap.
Re: Re: Champions Cup Draw on February 3rd I would be happy if SUM could get it on a Spansih only channel here like Telemundo. That might be a good way to test the waters - as SUM would more likely get its money back from a spanish channel over ESPN.
Shine the light... You're right. Some exposure can only help. I caught the tail end of an interview on Fox Sports Noticias about the terrible officiating in the recently completed South American U-20 qualifying tourney. The officiating at this tourney has been universally condemned. I didn't catch who was being interviewed (presumably a local organizer or Conmebol official), but the Fox reporter asked him why the officiating was so appalling this year. The official replied that it's always been really terrible, but the tourney's just never been covered this extensively on tv so people didn't really understand. People may have heard about how bad it was in the past, but it's jarring to actually see it. There's been a huge outcry in the South American press about the officiating. It'll be interesting to see if anything actually happens.
Lets hope that added exposure to these tournaments creates a demand for higher quality officiating. I might have been too harsh in my earlier post. I have seen my share of MLS/A-league games that were poorly officiated. But as exposure and quality of play have gone up, so have the expectations of playes and officials. Lets hope it keeps improving.