CONCACAF Champions Cup & MLS

Yeah, it's time for this again. Forget April 7, this is the real beginning of the soccer season in America. DC United and Houston will lead the charge for MLS tomorrow, and for once it seems like our representatives are actually the two best teams in the league. Dallas and New England have both lost key players. Thankfully, the rule change giving the Supporters Shield winner the second spot instead of the MLS Cup loser means that we won't be subjected to seeing the Revs play two away games for the third time. Last year, for the first time ever, no MLS team advanced in the tournament. A pathetic showing, indeed. The Revs were never expected to advance due to their lack of a home game, although they only conceded a single goal at the end of the second match versus Alajuelense. The Galaxy, on the other hand, were up 2-0 on aggregate against Saprissa at half time of the second leg. As usual for American teams, they couldn't hold it and lost in extra time. It was bitterly disappointing, and what was very disturbing is that in both "home legs," neither MLS team scored a goal. This time around, the away legs are up first, so they'll have to score a few at home this time. All in all, you want the away legs first, so that's a good sign. What's also a good sign is that Alajuelense and Saprissa both failed to qualify, and Municipal of Guatemala as well. Their opponents this time should be easier to handle, and anything less than both teams advances should be considered a failure. Given all the publicity and money coming into the league, that's the least we should expect. I think we all consider MLS to be stronger than any CONCACAF league other than Mexico (and other than Argentina and Brazil, every league in CONMEBOL as well). Despite the lack of midseason form, we should still beat these teams. DC's opponent is Olimpia of Honduras. MLS has never lost to a Honduran team, not even a single game. This is definitely the easier match up of the two. Plus, it helps when you sign their best player before you play them. Emelio will be starting up front for DC against his former team. He replaces Alecko Eskandarian, while Ben Olsen will probably start on the right with Clyde Simms taking his spot in the middle. Very little change from the great team they had last year. Houston is also the same team, minus Adrian Serioux. Brian Ching will probably miss out due to injury, although he may come off the bench. I would expect a guy like Paul Dalglish to play well on the road in a hostile environment, so it's good that they have him. Puntarenas should not be underrated. They defeated Alajuelense 5-0 on aggregate on their way to winning the Central American championship. Alajuelense and Saprissa are like the Rangers and Celtic of Costa Rica, so they must be pretty good. It would be really cool to see an American team in the Club World Championship. That's the goal. Quartefinal Matchups/Dates 2/22-Pachuca vs Marquense 2/28-Marquense vs Pachuca 2/21-Puntarenas vs Houston 3/01-Houston vs Puntarenas 2/21-Olimpia vs DC United 3/01-DC United vs Olimpia 2/13-W. Connection 2:1 Guadalajara 2/28-Guadalajara vs W. Connection MLS in the CONCACAF Champions Cup (note: A few corrections were made from last year's similar post.) 1997 (final tournament held in Washington D.C.) Qualifier Los Angeles 4:1 Santos Laguna Quarterfinals D.C. United 1:0 United Petrotrin Los Angeles 2:0 Luis Angel Firpo Semifinals D.C. United 0:1 Los Angeles 3rd Place D.C. United 2:2 Guadalajara Final Los Angeles 3:5 Cruz Azul 1998 (final tournament held in Washington D.C.) Qualifier Colorado 1:0 Leon Leon 4:2 Colorado Quarterfinals D.C. United 8:0 Joe Public Semifinals D.C. United 2:0 Leon Final D.C. United 1:0 Toluca 1999 (final tournament held in Las Vegas) Qualifier Los Angeles 1:1 (3-4 pens) Necaxa Quarterfinals D.C. United 1:0 Olimpia Chicago 2:0 Joe Public Semifinals D.C. United 1:3 Necaxa Chicago 1:1 (4-5 pens) Alajuenense 3rd Place D.C. United 2:2 Chicago 2000 (final tournament held in Los Angeles, in January 2001) Quarterfinals D.C. United 2:1 Alajuenense Los Angeles 0:0 (5-3 pens) Real Espana Semifinals Los Angeles 1:1 (4-2 pens) D.C. United 3rd Place D.C. United 1:2 Pachuca Final Los Angeles 3:2 Olimpia 2001 - no tournament 2002 Round of 16 Olimpia 0:1 San Jose San Jose 3:1 Olimpia W. Connection 0:1 Kansas City Kansas City 2:0 W. Connection Comunicaciones 4:0 D.C. United D.C. United 2:1 Comunicaciones Municipal 0:1 Chicago Chicago 2:0 Municipal Quarterfinals Pachuca 3:0 San Jose San Jose 1:0 Pachuca Santos Laguna 2:1 Kansas City Kansas City 2:0 Santos Laguna Morelia 2:0 Chicago Chicago 2:1 Morelia Semifinals Morelia 6:1 Kansas City Kansas City 1:1 Morelia 2003 Round of 16 Arabe Unido 2:1 Columbus Columbus 3:0 Arabe Unido Alajuelense 4:0 New England Alajuelense 1:3 New England (home leg) Municipal 4:2 San Jose San Jose 2:1 Municipal Motagua 2:2 Los Angeles Los Angeles 1:0 Motagua Quarterfinals Morelia 6:0 Columbus Columbus 2:0 Morelia Los Angeles 1:4 Necaxa Necaxa 2:1 Los Angeles 2004 Quarterfinals Alajuelense 3:0 San Jose San Jose 1:0 Alajuelense San Juan Jabloteh 5:2 Chicago Chicago 4:0 San Juan Jabloteh Semifinals Saprissa 2:0 Chicago Chicago 2:1 Saprissa 2005 Quarterfinals Kansas City 0:0 Saprissa Saprissa 2:1 Kansas City (AET) D.C. United 2:1 Harbour View Harbour View 1:2 D.C. United Semifinals D.C. United 1:1 UNAM Pumas UNAM Pumas 5:0 D.C. United 2006 Quarterfinals New England 0:0 Alajuelense (home leg in Bermuda) Alajuelense 1:0 New England Los Angeles 0:0 Saprissa Saprissa 3:2 Los Angeles (AET) Alltime Records W L D Pts GF GA GD DC United 9 5 4 31 29 25 4 Chicago 6 3 2 20 18 14 4 Los Angeles 5 4 5 20 22 21 1 San Jose 5 3 0 15 10 12 -2 Kansas City 3 3 2 11 9 11 -2 Columbus 2 2 0 6 6 8 -2 New England 1 2 1 4 3 6 -3 Colorado 1 1 0 3 3 4 -1 Top Goalscorers Roy Lassiter 6 Edson Buddle 4 Eduardo Hurtado 4 Dema Kovalenko 4 Carey Talley 4 Landon Donovan 3 Ezra Hendrickson 3 Ben Olsen 3 Ante Razov 3 A.J. Wood 3