The final was a week ago. Guess what? Qualifying for 2003 will begin less than a month later. From the CONCACAF weekly newsletter "Signals": CENTRAL ZONE QUALIFYING SCHEDULES SET FOR 2003 CHAMPIONS CUP The road to the 2003 CONCACAF Champions Cup gets underway next month when the first of three qualifying round-robins kicks off qualifying in the Central American Zone. In all, 12 teams will be divided into three groups of four, each group playing a quadrangular. The top two in each group will advance to the Champions Cup proper, with the first round (round-of-16) beginning in early 2003. The first of the quadrangulars will be held 9-13 October in El Salvador, the second in Guatemala from 23-27 October, and the third in Honduras from 30 October – 3 November. Clubs from six of the seven member countries of the Union Centroamericana de Fútbol will take part. Clubs from Belize have been suspended following their withdrawal from the Football Federation of Belize.
I'll believe it when I see it. Not to be negative, but they nor the US Soccer Federation couldn't organize a two-car funeral procession.
True enough. But CONCACAF makes the USSF look like models of efficiency in comparison. When one of these games makes TV here in the US, I will get down on my knees, raise my hands in the air and rejoice.
If Concacaf can organize the games ahead of time (rather than at the last moment), I think some of these games might end up on FSW. At least we can hope!
This is exactly the kind of event I would expect to see SUM get involved with. They need to get the rights to all games from CONCACAF and get cracking.
I wonder how early in 2003 would be too early if either NE or Chicago manages to qualify. Unless, of course, they plan to use San Jose and LA, because they won the MLS Cup and Open Cup respectively last year. I don't think that CONCACAF will have its act together unless the actual MLS Champions are playing in the Champions Cup.
Cold weather games would be an obvious and probably signficant home field advantage for several MLS clubs in this tournament, but I think it would be better for other Concacaf countries' players to not get accustomed to playing in those conditions. The US will have the cold weather home field advantage in WC quals only so long as players from other Concacaf countries feel uncomfortable - and perhaps even intimidated - playing in those conditions. I saw reports that Mexico was so worried about playing in Columbus on Feb 28 that they brought in a sports psych to help prepare mentally and took special vitamins. The USSF also apparently sent the Mexicans orange-colored balls under the premise that they would have to be used in case of snow. The US won the psych warfare aspects of La Guerra Fria before El Tri even arrived in Ohio. That's a great psych advantage for the US that we should try to preserve. I appreciate that fans want their clubs to have every advantage, but the greater US soccer good should prevail in this case.
San Jose played in this year's Champions Cup? If they did, I didn't know that, and I apologize for my mistake. I guess if they did play that would mean that MLS has three spots, since KC and Chicago were also involved. I think next year, if there are three MLS spots, they should be: 1. LA for winning the supporter's shield 2. Columbus for being the best non-LA side in the Open Cup 3. The best non-LA, non-Columbus side in the playoffs
they had 4 spots they had 4 spots last year http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/tourneys/conchamp.htm
Of course. Now how many of them played in the champions cup while they were still "champions"? Good job by KC for staying in it this year, but they haven't played like champions since that ugly day in October of 2000....
Re: they had 4 spots You are correct, but both the MFL and MLS were supposed to lose two slots to the new Canadian League, which was supposed to be up and running by now, but isn't. I think you'll see the top 4 MLS teams take part or the top 3 plus the MLS Cup Winner. Last's year Cup was convoluted because CONCACAF took the opportunity to fulfill various promises made, such as entering DC United and a Mexican side as Giants Cup finalists. They were originally promised slots in a CONCACAF Clubs Cup, which has been scrapped in favor of the expanded Champions Cup. On another, slightly different note, this tournament actually provides a decent snapshot of where MLS is relative to other CONCACAF leagues. We're still behind the MFL, as MFL teams won most, if not all, of the head-to-heads with MLS sides. MLS far ahead of the other leauges as only DC United got knocked out in the first round. Even that was under VERY dubious circumstances, with DC getting 3 red cards in their match in Guatemala. Sachin
If you are an employee of the Revs, or Fire, then your responsibilities begin and end with what is best for the Revs or Fire. Bob Bradley should be fired...yes, fired...if he considers any factor in scheduling other than what will help the Fire win. Sorry to pick on you, but a while back I just got tired of people confusing MLS with the USMNT. I decided that, so long as I have the energy, I'm going to point out this error every time i see it.
superdave, no problem - a good argument should always be welcomed and discussed - and I see your concern and think you make a great point. But I'm not confusing MLS with the UNMNT. Quite to the contrary - I think that the people in the US who have the final say in these matters have a stake in the success of both MLS and the USMNT. And they may decide that the interests of the USMNT should take a higher priority in this case than the interests of particular MLS clubs. Certainly if anyone at, say, the Revs or Fire tried to sacrifice their organization's immediate and clearly-defined best interests for the longer-term, arguably vaguer, asserted interests of the USSF, then you're right that those people would likely be confused about their club-level job responsibilities. But those club-specific people aren't the likely key decision-makers. The twist is that the key MLS decision-makers - and I mean AEG/SUM more so than club-specific people like Bradley or Nicol - also have strong interests in the long-term success of the USMNT. The people who have the power to decide when MLS clubs will seek to schedule matches have an interest in both levels - MLS clubs and the USMNT. In this instance, those interests may conflict. For the reasons stated above, I think that in this case, such a conflict of interests should be resolved in favor of the USMNT. That's not a confusion of MLS with the USMNT - rather, it's just a somewhat sanguine acceptance that conflicts of interests will inevitably arise from time to time in our US soccer universe.
The problem with such an undertaking is that it would require CONCACAF to actually be orginized. CONCACAF: the orginazation that specializes in disorginization.
I'm not too familar with the Champions Cup. I know what it is, but not much else. Can someone please explain to me how a 12 team group gets cut to 6 and then go to the "round of 16". Where does the other 10 teams come from? How are the first 12 selected: records, past championships, name out of a hat? What is a Champions League. Is that like the UEFA Cup and how is that structered?
God, as a Wizards fan, I don't even know that I would want KC in next years CCC if it's group play. I saw what happened to them this year with trying to play in that, the MLS, and USOC. We were playing 3 games/week for two months straight, it was awful, and that's why we lost big in a lot of games, cause we were so worn out. We've had time these past 3 weeks to rest, and I've seen them turn it on in the playoffs, making LA look foolish. It would have been nearly impossible to add in 3 - 6 more games to KC's schedule this year. It didn't specify whether the CCC finals would be groups play or single elimination like this year. I saw how much respect MLS teams have gotten in the past for winning it rolleyes:, I hope you sense the sarcasm), so I could really care less about it. Between MLS, USOC, and CCC, CCC is priority #3 for me, but that's just my opinion. Maybe if the World Club Championships re-emerge sometime, I'll raise it's importance, but for the time being, I'd prefer other MLS teams try to win it for the league, not mine.