So what do y'all think of this? It'll give more MLS teams regional exposure and it could be beneficial to MLS in finding more talent. Other than that I think it benefits the central american and especially the caribbean teams more. Do you think MLS should move to the winter schedule? What about the single table format?

CONCACAF launches new club championship
New York, NY (Sports Network) - The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) announced the official launch of the new continental club championship, the CONCACAF Champions League, which will start in August 2008. The new club championship will replace the CONCACAF Champions' Cup, which will cease to exist after the '08 edition.
A record number of 24 teams from all sectors of the CONCACAF region will participate, with the preliminary round beginning in August of this year and the winner being crowned in late April '09.

The CONCACAF Champions League will feature four teams each from Mexico's First Division and USA's Major League Soccer; three Caribbean sides; two from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama; and one coming from Canada, Belize, and Nicaragua.

Eight clubs (two Mexican, two MLS, one each from Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador) will be seeded and progress directly to the first round, while the Caribbean slots have been increased to three teams for this event. The remaining 16 teams will be paired in eight home-and-away preliminary match-ups.

The preliminary round winners will join the other eight seeded teams in the group stage that consists of four groups of four. All the teams in each group will play each other in a round-robin system during six match dates from September to October.

The top two clubs from each group will advance to the knockout phase playing home-and-away elimination. The quarterfinals commence in February '09; semifinals begin in March; and the finals will take place in late April.

The CONCACAF Champions League winner will qualify as the CONCACAF's representative to the '09 edition of the FIFA Club World Cup.

I'm kind of excited for this, it will be a nice change but i think it will shake up some things and might cause problems with schedules. 4 MLS teams will be choosen to play each year and it will be interesting to see how they decide. I wonder if they'll just take the top 4 teams in the rankings from the year before like they have for the Concacaf cup.

Also, one team from Canada, does that mean that 5 MLS teams could go to the League if Toronto FC represents Canada?

I like the idea of having more teams able to win (24 in new league, 8 in old Championship Cup).

I can't see the MLS going to a Winter schedule. It'd be too hard with weather. How would Columbus, NY, Toronto, Chicago, Colorado, and New England play during the winter? I think if the new League runs from fall into spring it will be fine because you can spread the schedule out over time. Just look for more weekday games and less rest between games for the players.

The inaugural CONCACAF Champions League™ makes its long anticipated debut this week with eight Preliminary Round first legs.

With the second legs to follow next week, the victorious eight teams will join eight more pre-seeded teams in the Group Stage which will feature four groups of four teams – each playing each other both home and away over 7 weeks between September 15 and October 30.

Preliminary Round First Leg
26.08.08
Joe Public FC (TRI) 2–1 New England Revolution (USA)
Tauro FC (PAN) 2–0 Chivas USA (USA)
CD SC Cruz Azul (MEX) 6–0 Hankook Verdes (BLZ)

27.08.08
Montrèal Impact (CAN) 1–0 Real Estelí (NCA)
LD Alajuelense (CRC) 1–1 Puerto Rico Islanders (PUR)
AD Isidro Metapan (ELS) 2–2 CD Marathon (HON)

28.08.08
Harbour View FC (JAM) – Pumas UNAM (MEX) [Canceled due to Hurricane Gustav; only single match result next week (9/4) in Mexico City]
Deportivo Jalapa (GUA) 1–0 San Francisco FC (PAN)

Champions League Promo Video mid-page

Group Stage Begins September 15th

Preliminary Round Second Leg
02.09.08
New England Revolution (USA) 0-4 Joe Public FC (TRI) (Joe Public advance 6-1 agg.)
Chivas USA (USA) 1-1 Tauro FC (PAN) (Tauro advance 3-1 agg.)
Real Estelí (NCA) 0-0 Montrèal Impact (CAN) Montrèal advance 1-0 agg.)
03.09.08
Puerto Rico Islanders (PUR) 2-1 LD Alajuelense (CRC) (Puerto Rico advance 3-2 agg.)
Hankook Verdes (BLZ) 0-6 CD SC Cruz Azul (MEX) (Cruz Azul advance 12-0 agg.)
CD Marathon (HON) 2-1 AD Isidro Metapan (ELS) (Marathon advance 4-3 agg.)
04.09.08
Pumas UNAM (MEX) 3-0 Harbour View FC (JAM) (Pumas advance)
San Francisco FC (PAN) 5-0 Deportivo Jalapa (GUA) (San Francisco advance 5-1 agg.)

Group Stage Begins September 15th

OK, I'm updating all the relevant soccer threads...



Dynamo-Atlante to open CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals
12/23/2008 - NEW YORK – The Houston Dynamo will host Atlante on Tuesday, February 24, to open the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals, with the Montreal Impact-Santos Laguna and CD SC Cruz Azul-Pumas UNAM matches following a day later. The Puerto Rico Islanders will host CD Marathon on Thursday, February 26, to complete the first leg.

Atlante will host the return match with Houston a week later on Tuesday, March 3, with Marathon and Pumas staging their home legs against Puerto Rico and Cruz Azul on Wednesday, March 4. Santos will close out the quarterfinals at home against Montreal on Thursday, March 5.

The winners will advance to the semifinals, with the first leg scheduled for March 17-19 and the second leg set for 7-9 April. The two-leg finals will be staged April 21-23 and April 28-30.

There can be no doubt that MLS will soon be awarding a franchise to Montreal. A huge crowd of over 50,000 is expected for tonight's CONCACAF quarter final match-up between the Impact and Mexico's Club Santos Laguna at Montreal's Olympic Stadium. It is a no-brainer that Montreal should be the next city to get an MLS team.

The return match for the two teams will down in Mexico with an eventual champion being decided in late April. That team will represent CONCACAF in Abu Dhabi in the FIFA Club World Cup in December.

In the meantime the schedule is already out for the Canadian leg for next season.
Vancouver at Toronto - May 6
Montreal at Toronto - May 13
Vancouver at Montreal - May 20
Montreal at Vancouver - May 27
Toronto at Vancouver - June 2
Toronto at Montreal - June 17th.

MLS won't soon award a franchise to Montréal because the Saputo's don't agree with the ridiculously high expansion fee that the MLS has in place. They've pulled out of the running for a team.

While I think Montréal would benefit greatly from playing in the MLS - due to some odd rules in place by the MLS, they aren't missing much from being in the USL.

Hey, if Montreal and Houston both win in the quarterfinals (cross fingers), we will meet in the semis. Montreal looked really good last night. That Roberto Brown is a bit of a hothead - I liked watching him. I thought he was going to combust and take a Santos player with him (most likely the guy with the face mask). I got a laugh how the abbreviation for the Santos Laguna team was SLAG on the TV score in the corner.

By the way, this Saturday morning (2/28/09), the Impact will be in Houston for a friendly. It's at 10:30 AM and for the first time in a long time I have two events to attend on Friday night. I will desperately try and make it and if so will post some pictures up of the game. I think it's a good idea to play in anticipation of a possible meeting in the semis. It's good for both sides.

How is Houston looking this season without Dwayne De Rosario?

Well, I've only seen one game in the preseason, Dynamo v. Atlante (MEX). Considering the awesome attack that DeRo always gave us the middle, that role has certainly been diminished. Because DeRo is double-teamed a lot, the Dynamo also developed a wing attack and has been great on set pieces (DeRo also played a big role here). In the Atlante match, we relied heavily on the wing attack and our sole goal came from a corner kick. From what I've seen and read, Stuart Holden will be looking to fill the role. This is his time to step up. For the past two seasons he has been the "go to guy" on the bench. He has been a constant in the US U-23s national team and scored for the US in the Beijing Olympics against Japan. He is very good on the ball and likes to attack. He favors the right flank but can play anywhere in the midfield. He plays well with Ricardo Clark who is the Dynamo rock defending midfielder and also can feed the ball to Brian Ching. It is really up to Stuart. And he really has someone to play for this season. His father passed away at the age of 56 not even 2 weeks ago. He fought off pancreatic cancer for 6 years. In the Atlante match, 4 days after his father's funeral, Stuart headed a ball but it hit the crossbar. My seats are right behind that goal and the look on his face was heartbreaking. You could tell he wanted to score one for his dad. Stuart is a very popular player. Everyone likes to think of him as their brother or son. He will be given a lot of leeway, especially by the fans.

DeRo and Clark were the center midfielders that the whole team revolved around. DeRo will be greatly missed. Our bench is still very deep, we just need another striker. And the Dynamo is up for another 40+ match season. In 2008, we played 50 matches that included the Pan-Pacifics, Champions Cup, SuperLiga, US Open, and the Champions League. Luckily, the League has reduced the number of tournaments teams can qualify for, so the Dynamo will play in the US Open 09 and the Champions League 09-10.

Holden Images
Dynamo #22 / USMNT #7

Stuart Scores!
On the Move!
Dynamo Dancing
'07 Cup Celebration
USMNT Lineup
USMNT Celebration
Beijing Calling
Beijing Olympic Glory
Model Player
Hottie McHott



UPDATE 3/4/09
Unfortunately, the Dynamo have been knocked out of the Champions League tournament by Atlante of Mexico. The final aggregate score was 4-1. The absence of Bobby Boswell and Eddie Robinson in the central defender roles was blantantly clear as the opposition's midfield and strikers easily made their way in front of the Dynamo goal throughout the match. Stuart Holden had a very good match and looked more comfortable as an attacking midfielder than when he came up the flanks. Ricardo Clark was very good and heartbreakingly-close near goals from Holden and Brian Ching. A Kei Kamara goal was disallowed due to a foul in the penalty box.

Good luck to L'Impact and PR Islanders as they represent the USL today and tomorrow.

I meant to post this last week - but the Impact imploded. After winning 2-0 in Montreal - they trailed Santos Laguna - the Mexican team they were playing - by a score of 3-2 at the end of 90 minutes. That - had it been the final score - would have meant victory for Montreal based on aggregate score. But in the 4 minutes of injury time added Santos Laguna not only scored once (which would have forced either overtime or penalties - I'm not sure which) - but they incredibly scored twice - to eliminate Montreal by a 5-4 aggregate score.

What a painful way to lose!

Miracle in Montreal!
Toronto FC INCREDIBLY won the Nutrilite Canadian Championships last night in Montreal to advance to the next round in this years CONCACAF Champions League. Vancouver seemed a lock to advance as the only way Toronto FC would move on would be if they were to win in Montreal by 4 goals.

TFC have only ever scored 4 goals in one game ONCE in their history - so even though Montreal Impact had a number of injuries and nothing to play for, the likelihood of Toronto winning by 4 was very remote. Then when Montreal scored the first goal of the game in the 25th minute on a penalty kick I'm sure everybody myself included thought - that's it - no chance now. And the Vancouver Whitecaps team members in the crowd clearly had a comfortable look on their faces.

But then the improbable happened. Two goals by DeRossario - one on a beautiful bicycle kick before half and TFC had a 2-1 lead. The 1500 or so TFC fans in attendance really started to go wild when TFC scored a goal in the first five minutes of the second half. Again it was DeRo! His third of the game. Then with about 20 minutes left Guevara scored a brilliant goal on a free kick to make it 4-1! The TFC fans in attendance were going wild!And TFC rewarded their loyal traveling fans by scoring again - Chad Barrett this time with about 10 minutes to go to give them the needed 4 goal advantage. Then incredibly Guevara added a SIXTH goal in injury time and TFC had claimed the first trophy in the teams history with a totally unbelievable 6-1 win at Saputo Stadium in Montreal.

Well done boys!
Not sure how long this link will be active but it has highlights of the game.
http://torontofc.neulion.com/tfc/console.j...id=2&id=809