CONCACAF held its draw for the Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday and the draw will pit defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew against Mexican League power Toluca.
Columbus was eliminated from the MLS playoffs by Real Salt Lake in the first round, but will kick off 2010 in March with a home-and-home quarterfinal series against Toluca. The first leg is set for March 9-11 in Columbus, with the second leg being played on March 16-19 in Mexico.
Here are the quarterfinal pairing:
Comunicaciones (Guatemala) vs. Pachuca
Columbus Crew vs. Toluca
Marathon (Honduras) vs. Pumas
Arabe Unido (Panama) vs. Cruz Azul
What do you think of these match-ups? Think Columbus can regroup from its playoff disappointment to kick off 2009 with a victory against the Mexican champions? Yearning for the day when there are four MLS teams in the quarterfinals?
Share your thoughts below.
umm, we will have some preseason games down in Florida… just like we do every year… Bradenton, anyone?
I hope they do. The MLS needs teams (despite the difficulty of the schedule) to take these international tournaments seriously to grow the leagues stature. Good luck Columbus.
thats a good idea. we could hold games in places that are clamoring for MLS soccer such as St Louis or maybe Miami would be decent places to have a pre-season tourney in pretty good weather.
but, we may need to establish ourselves as CCL contenders by progressing deep into the tourney with more than 1 team each year to make it happen
MLS needs to adjust it’s season to start before CONCACAF quarterfinals. Or at least get some pre-season games, maybe in the warmer climates. The Crew need to be in game form to play these matches to have even a slim chance of advancing. Even if they get new players, how are they going to integrate with the team in time to give a decent showing against Toluca ?
they are not playing each other because they all finished first.
Arabe will get drubbed just like the overmatched Crew got worked over in Columbus
Marthon de Corazon!!!
Come on you Crew!
Also pretty cool that other teams will be in mid-season form while the Crew won’t even have one season game under their belt.
Just sayin…
Toluca has been the best team Mexico for quite some. The Crew doesn’t have a chance.
My thought is that it’s a crying shame that there’s not at least one more MLS team in the competition. I really hope Garber & Co. do something about making allowances for teams in multiple competitions. It’s just not fair to have some teams play 10 matches more than some of their MLS opponents.
This is going to be a very difficult issue to address fairly.
Is it in the rules that Mexican teams can’t play each other in the quarters,,?
How exactly will you be able to sell Rogers when he’s out of contract?
no chance for Columbus against Toluca, they are the best team in Mexico right now, pretty sure they will get smoked
I had said it before…if there was going to be one MLS team that was going to advance further in this tournament, it was going to be Columbus. As long as they put their chances away at home I could see Columbus reaching the semis.
According to FIFA the game will start at 12:30PM ET Time
What time does Algeria-Egypt start tomorrow? I’ve looked all over but can’t find it.
Hey Ives, is a team coming to Detroit? I saw on yahoo that the silverdome was purchased with plans on turning it into a soccer stadium.
Hopefully with the new CBA the Crew along with the rest of MLS will have a larger roster and highier minimum salary (Garber this means you). MLS teams will have a better opportunity to have a good showing in the CL as well as the Open Cup. However no matter the size or pay scale the desire to win is ultimately up the individual team (FO, staff, and players).
…..just happy to not have to play Cruz Azul again right away….
Honestly, with that draw, it wouldn’t surprise me if all 4 semi-finalists were the Mexican teams. That said, I’d love it if The Crew could sneak thru.
Let’s go Arabe Unido. FYI, the teams are allowed to sign new players for this next round..
Robert is a douche! GBS will be back. We might sell Rogers and Marshall
nope… 2 and out
I say that because GBS would be possibly gone as well as Robbie Rogers…and heck possible Chad Marshall
how does this work?
Are any players that join/leave the Crew before then allowed to play or is it still the same team that has played throughout this tourney?
(SBI-Whoever is on the team in March will be on the squad, though I’m pretty sure anybody they add who played in an earlier part of the Champions League with another club will be cap-tied.)
Pumas are actually the defending Mexican champions as they won Clausura 2009. Toluca won the Apertura 2008.