Top Stories

CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinals set

Though they had already booked their place in the quarterfinals before Thursday, the Los Angeles Galaxy’s 3-2 victory against Isidro Metapan helped them secure the No. 4 seed in the quarterfinals as the match-ups for the knockout round were set after Thursday night’s results.

The Galaxy will face No. 5 seed Herediano in the quarterfinals. Herediano beat out Real Salt Lake for their place in the quarters.

Three MLS teams will take part in the knockout rounds. The Seattle Sounders secured the No. 3 seed and will take on No. 6 UANL Tigres. The Houston Dynamo wound up with the No. 7 seed and will face Herculez Gomez and No. 2 seed Santos Laguna.

The only quarterfinal series that won’t include an MLS team features defending Champions League champion and No. 1 seed Monterrey taking on No. 8 Xelaju. The Guatemalan underdogs are the surprise of the quarterfinals after knocking off Chivas Guadalajara to book their place.

The quarterfinals begin on March 5, 2013.

What do you think of these match-ups? Which MLS team do you see making a run at the title?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Are people underestimating LA?

    “On Paper” this is a very good squad with a solid mix of international quality veterans, US-based talent and youngsters.

    I keep hearing about Laguna and Chivas, but Arena has positioned his squad to try and win this thing.

    Sure the preseason situation is not optimal, but man, LA will be tough to beat come semi final round.

    (not to take anything from Herediano).

    LA and Arena “know” that squad and their capability.

    Tie in CR. Win in LA

    Reply
    • Amen.

      I actually would like to see the Group stage in the offseason, then the knockout in the summer, then the winner would be ready for the Club World Cup in the fall/early winter.

      Right now it stretches waaaay tooooo looooong. MLS teams qualified for this in 2011. Club World Cup at the end of 2013 ?

      Reply
  2. I can’t wait to see how the MLS will schedule the three teams in games two days or one day before the quarterfinal. Lovely how they support their own clubs in international play.

    Reply
  3. Houston actually has a decent history of playing good teams well at home in CONCACAF, even getting wins. The issue has usually been when we go to their place and Pachuca or Saprissa stomps us and advances on goals.

    I’m also going to be interested if the team gets reformulated over the winter. Does Ching retire? Do we run some of the vets through re-entry? Because my basic concerns with playoffs and beyond with this unit is the team just seems a little undercooked, slow. There are some really good pieces, including Boniek that they just signed, but Ching takes up a lot of money for bench play, and there are a few too many Carr- or Kandji-types around. And the defense, depending who we use, is either slow or incompetent besides Taylor. So I think Kinnear has some work to do, and a further complication for CCL is that he usually does his best heavy lifting in the summer. A lot of the spring pickups are forgettable.

    That being said, it’s nice to be back in the knockout stages where we belong.

    Reply
    • I agree that the CCL needs to be reformatted to take place during one calendar year or season. Splitting it up into two MLS (and LgMX) seasons, I think, hurts the overall competition, as indeed, teams are sometimes restructured.

      Reply
      • The way that CCL is handled favors the FMF teams. They have a split apertura clausura season, and CCL is scheduled basically while they are in season for both chunks. Also, by virtue of the split season and the way teams qualify from FMF, Mexico can enter its spring champion right into the fall tournament.

        In contrast, MLS is nearing postseason for the key games at the end of the group stage, and is in preseason when the knockout rounds begin. Also, since we have a calendar year schedule, andqualifying tournaments (USOC) within that year that might be played months before the final, you have a lag between when you make CCL and when you play CCL, which has often caught MLS out. Some iffy team makes the MLS Cup final somehow, or wins USOC — like DC in recent years — and then is a total dog by the time a half year later when CCL starts. The salary caps and roster turnover only exacerbate it.

        Mind you, even FMF teams can have turnover in a transfer window and not be the same team as the one that earned the spot, but the further the qualifying is from the CCL, the more time you have to change.

        I don’t think we need to change our season, but maybe we could work something out where MLS got a slot determined by standing at mid-season, or the group stage started earlier, or the knockouts later, where it was more even. But then what we surely would run into is the FMF teams dominate the tourney, and probably are some of its better draws, and thus the dominant league can dictate its terms. The only answer to that is winning the tournament from them, which will be hard to do on caps with teams designed to play in MLS. Whenever Houston gets in, they only seem to be able to handle a home leg with their style. We could champion a particular team for CCL through allocations and such, but then you’re distorting the parity of the league for the purposes of another competition.

  4. I just hope Dom Kinnear takes the Houston-Santos games seriously. There’s no excuse during preseason not to use the starting lineup, and if Santos is focused on the Clausura, there’s a real chance Houston could advance.

    If TFC can get a result of any sort, the Dynamo squeezing out an aggregate victory is not outside the realm of possibility.

    Reply
    • If Santos has a following anything like Monterrey does in Houston the Dynamo will be playing two road games in this round. I was at the the Dynamo/Monterrey friendly at Robertson stadium in 2011 and the stadium was navy blue and not orange, the crowd was chanting “VAMOS RAYADOS” and after each of the three Dynamo goals the crowd became more and more restless and agitated.

      Reply
      • wishful thinking, i was there too, the crowd was 50% dynamo (not evrone wears orange), 10 % neutral and 40% monterrey. it seemed you guys had more but only because you were congregated in 2 areas, whereas dynamo fas where al over spread out …

  5. I just hope Dom Kinnear takes the Houston-Santos games seriously. There’s no excuse during preseason not to use the starting lineup, and if Santos is focused on the Clausura, there’s a real chance Houston could advance.

    If TFC can get a result of any sort, the Dynamo squeezing out an aggregate victory is not outside the realm of possibility.

    Reply
    • Like I said below, the issue is usually the road game. If you want me to elaborate my thought, the basic problem is that a controlled, bunker approach sitting on a lead is a dangerous way to try and emerge from a two-legger with a high quality opponent. What works for him against a team like Philly in the playoffs, or keeps it close against LA (but hasn’t been enough to beat them in several years in the playoffs), is just not good strategy for a team like Pachuca or Saprissa or perhaps Santos. You have to be able to score right back.

      For example, 5-2 Pachuca away, 3-0 Atlante away, 3-0 Saprissa. Each of those games we went into with a home victory or tie.

      Reply
  6. I just hate the fact that the QF’s are in March of the following season. It hurts the MLS clubs a lot due to the fact that they are in pre-season training and probably have gone through a lot of roster turnover in the off-season.

    Reply
    • yeah that has been the complaint for many years now, nothing new. i liked the idea of someone below … finish up the CCL playoffs in Nov-Dec … all teams are in form with their respective competitions also wrapping up for the year…..

      Reply
  7. Ives loves that Magee-Jimenez “Just Married” photo.

    Subbing in Sarvas was an invaluable decision by Arena. Things were looking disorganized and pretty ugly around the 60 minute mark for LA. Sarvas was key to settling things down. And McBean, whadda beast!

    Reply
  8. Awesome! I love that the Goats are out, but can someone explain why? They have a greater goal differential than Xelaju. Whats the first tie breaker?

    Reply
  9. Tied for third place in the scoring stats was the LA Galaxy’s 17 year old Jack McBean wirh 3 goals!! The Galaxy played three of the four group matches entirely with the reserve squad who incidentally won the MLS Reserve Western division.

    Reply
    • good going and good point, we did too, on both counts…. mainly reserves for all 4 games and we won the central mls reserve …. certainly LA got the “easier” task of the MLS teams. i will be rooting fo you all…

      Reply

Leave a Comment