A number of places are still to be determined in next season's CONCACAF Champions League, but when those moving parts all get settled, they'll know exactly where they're going.
Despite three Caribbean spots, one Canadian spot and one Nicaraguan spot still up for grabs, CONCACAF conducted the draw for the 2011-2012 tournament on Wednesday. MLS sides FC Dallas and Seattle will face Alianza FC (El Salvador) and San Francisco (Panama) in the preliminary stage, respectively, while Colorado and Los Angeles, who automatically qualified for the group stage, found out who else will and may eventually be in their groups.
The Canadian champion, which will be either Toronto FC or the Vancouver Whitecaps, will be paired with a Nicaraguan side, either Real Esteli or Walter Ferreti, in the preliminary round.
Here are all of the preliminary matchups and the group draw for the 2011-2012 CONCACAF Champions League:
2011-2012 CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
PRELIMINARY MATCHUPS (July 26-28 and August 2-4)
- Alianza FC (El Salvador) vs. FC Dallas (MLS)
- San Francisco (Panama) vs. Seattle (MLS)
- Toronto FC/Vancouver (Canada) vs. Real Esteli/Walter Ferreti (Nicaragua)
- Santos Laguna (Mexico) vs. Olimpia (Honduras)
- Motagua (Honduras) vs. Municipal (Guatemala)
- Metapan (El Salvador) vs. Caribbean Football Union champion
- Morelia/Pumas (Mexican Clausura runner-up) vs. Carribean Football Union runner-up
- Herediano (Costa Rica) vs. Caribbean Football Union third place
CCL GROUPS
GROUP A
- Los Angeles Galaxy
- Alajuelense (Costa Rica)
- Mexican Clausura runner-up/CFU runner-up
- Motagua/Municipal
GROUP B
- Colorado Rapids
- Real Espana (Honduras)
- Santos Laguna/Olimpia
- Metapan/CFU champion
GROUP C
- Tauro (Panama)
- Morelia/Pumas (Mexican Clausura winner)
- Alianza FC/FC Dallas
- Canadian champion/Nicaraguan champion
GROUP D
- Monterrey (Mexico)
- Communicaciones (Guatemala)
- San Francisco/Seattle
- Herediano/CFU third-place
———————-
What do you think about the preliminary matchups for Dallas and Seattle? Which group do you see being the toughest? Based on what we know of the draw, how do you see the MLS teams faring?
Share your thoughts below.
Red bulls or not, the great soccer writer Tim Vickery said that only Columbian players are ones he sees on TV saying that going to MLS would be a good option. Thats obviously due to the history of columbian players in MLS- something perhaps you should read up on. So I’m saying it helps MLS secure an even greater stream of future great Columbian players by including them into our international tournament in the same way that Mexicans are included in copa lib.
All I’m sayin is they dint have to face Mexican teams in knockout stages, because CONCACAF put them all in one side of the bracket voluntarily to give RSL and Columbus a chance to advance, it would have been another story if they did a fair draw and I hope the determine this years CCL knock
Out stages with a draw
The one advantage to having a 10-team playoff is that FC Dallas, Colorado, and Seattle, who should be in a safe position to make the playoffs but maybe are not competing for the supporters shield, can pay more attention to the CCL without worrying about MLS regular season.
When rooting for a team you want to win it all. The US Open Cup, Supporters Shield, MLS as they represent the best as far as local priorities go. RSL had the chance of winning what to me elevates an organization, the concacaf championship which would grant you the opportunity to play at the end of the year to win by far the most important tournament a club can win the Club World Cup(I can hear all the snobs bringing the european champioship). So i ask, if the idea is to play for all the marbles, does it not make sense to have the finals played cloer to the end of the year instead of April where the winner will likely be playing at their best?
and you are missing “their”….
you missed a great CCL tourney too:
Monterrey was the best in CCL from start to finish and deserved to win. Salt Lake deserved second.
The Open cup winner deserves a spot because they have proven they can win while playing two competitions at the same time instead of giving it to teams who can’t win playing in only one.
Sorry, but Red Bulls did not make the tournament. Perhaps they could arrange a couple friendlies with Colombian teams.
Dale, speaking about all Mexican semi-finals, didn’t Real beat Cruz Azul, one of the Mexican semi-finalists, and finished ahead of them in the group?
Too soon after the RSL disappointment for me to get even remotely excited about this but, come on you MLS!
Maybe you’re missing something “here.”
LA won’t do anything in CCL. Too old, not deep enough. They can handle an MLS schedule, but not MLS combined with CCL. Not the way Garber has allowed it to be scheduled.
Not having Landon won’t help either. He’ll be gone. He going to Europe.Probably Roma, who’ve set aside over $14M just to aquire him.
Since you brought that up they should be careful with MLS teams braking legs. There will be an all Mexican semi-finals unless CONCACAF makes them eliminate each other like they did to try and help RSL, it dint work though did it? Monterrey won even without 5 of their starters.
thats kind of a real good point Taylor Gut: the idea that older MLS teams or MLS coaches and managers who run deep into MLS’s past may not have the sort of respect for CCL that your newer teams such as RSL have. But of course, these two American coaches wouldnt have the sort of respect for international club play that those who have coached or played in Europe or S. America would have. Given MLS’s history with superliga and all these Mexican friendlies on US territory, some Amer. coaches probably see the command from MLS HQ to take CCL seriously as just another attempt “to try to convert the Mexican-american fan to MLS”. Yep, fire Arena.
Sigi Schmid and Bruce Arena are too MLS 1.0 to take this seriously…It’s a shame USA’s 2 best teams are not represented here…
by attacking you mean fighting, right?
I want another crack at them. We held our own last year, and if we’re healthy we can take them down.
Let’s not look past the preliminary though.
Santos. Pumas, Morelia, and Monterrey are the best attacking teams in Mexico. It should be fun watching them play.
probably Messi. Galaxy are about bring in the best.
There should be two Colombian teams there. Yeah I know columbia is in s. America. But with all the colombians in MLS, extending two invites to them would be a natural fit. Hey, Mexico isnt in conmebol either. What do we get from colombia: the continuation of a stream of quality players. I say pay for two invites from Colombia straight into the group stage. Can you imagine the kind of crowd there would be if NY were in it with a team from colombia. Red bull arena would be rocking.
Not one MLS team will make it out of the group stage
Euro****
Thet better get David F. back or they stand no real chance
The only 2 MLS teams built for this tourney aren’t in it…RSL and RBNY… Seattle might have a chance if they can get some reinforcements, but Sigi never takes this competition seriously and neither does Bruce A. for LA. Colorado’s midfield will be outclasssed.
If Arena wants either one, he better improve the team depth because they are very thin.
No it should be season related not playoffs
oh, i meant to say that 1300 would be the ANNOUNCED crowd for that Tauro v Dallas game. I’m with you john. The actual number will be about 50 PAYING fans.
alianza FC???? are they any good? could they beat FC Dallas?? i certainly hope FCD gets through becuz it would set up a home date vs the Mexican Clasura Champions (Pumas-Monarcas) which would be a great draw for FCD considering all the mexicans in Dallas
good point… i will be rooting for pumas for sure…. there are tons of mexicans in texas that only support mexican teams…. if you bring the clasura champions to pizza hut park i guarantee a sellout
wtf real salt lake got beaten by 7th place monterrey that were missing 4 starters inthe final. what made those teams head of there groups or am i missing something hear?
are those teams head of there groups?
They do-ish
1) MLS Cup winner
2) Supporter Shield winner
3) 2nd place (MLS Cup runner-up)
4) Open Cup Winner
I agree with you that #3 should be table related and not playoff related BUT look at it this way . . .
Last year Real Salt Lake was that 2nd place team in the table . . . but they were beat out by #3 Dallas in the playoffs who wound up securing that CCL play-in spot by beating the Supporters Shield winner the following week.
I say Dallas earned that spot over RSL fair and square.
screw making your premier club… apparently screw grammar check for me too.
The MLS concacaf slots should go:
1) MLS Cup winner
2) supporters shield
3) 2nd place
4) 3rd place
do the draw
Regardless of match-ups, Seattle is best set-up to succeed in the CCL. On a different note, I wonder who LA would bring in to replace Donovan if he is sold to Roma…
Have you clicked the link? Did they the draw at one of their kid’s schools before a parent teacher conference and take the picture with a cell phone camera? Gotta love CONCACAF, screw making the your premier club tournament look semi-legit with some computer graphics.
Kudos to SBI for correctly showing Olimpia as being a team from Honduras. Even the graphic at that CONCACAF link has them as a Mexican team.
Care to wager?
I predict the attendance in Dallas will be under 50 for a game against a team like Tauro.
Group A looks like it has the potential to have packed houses all the way around, if Pumas and Municipal qualify. Pumas are the 3rd most popular team in Mexico, and Municipal would have alot of fans due to the high number of Guatemalans in LA. As for the Costa rican team, dont know if they have alot of supporters comparable to Saprissa. However, I guess I should hope for Pumas in the same group with Dallas since they really need the crowds (for or against). You know there will be 1300 people for the Tauro game. Which brings up another issue: having a draw for group stage. I think concacaf should strategically place teams in groups according to turnout and rivalries.
Group A by far.
While the Galaxy will try to not get embarrassed again in this competition, something tells me that The Bruce wants an MLS Cup more. If the GC causes LA some problems in the standings BA will divert all of his resources to MLS and let the youngin’s do more of the CCL stuff. I hope I am wrong, but I just get this feeling like this LA team will be changing soon and they want an MLS title more than anything else.
Both group A and D are going to be hard fought…./Its time for the MLS to shove Costa Rica out of the way
It will be fun to see the Galaxy in this tournament. The Gals in club world cup would be awesome and I’m not even an LA fan.
you gotta qualify
Group A is the Group of Death per se. Seatle if they beat the team from panama – which they will- is in a tough group. Dallas has the easiest group I think. The Rapids group, who knows?
Time will tell
So the Caribbean Football Union gets in the tourney but NYRB doesn’t? BOO!
That’s assuming they get past San Francisco.
Man, I hope it doesn’t rain.
Sounders paired with Monterrey again…