By AARON CRANFORD
The group pairings were announced for the 2015-2016 CONCACAF Champions League Monday, and there is one group that stands out from the rest.
Cascadia rivals Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps were drawn into Group F on Monday along with Honduran powerhouse C.D. Olimpia, who topped its 2014-2015 CCL group ahead of the Portland Timbers.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Galaxy had a more favorable draw, being paired with Central FC and Comunicaciones FC. The former club is from Trinidad and Tobago and was founded in 2012, while the latter hails from Guatemala and recently won the 2014 Apertura and 2015 Clausura in Guatemala that ended this past May.
D.C. United was paired with Montego Bay United FC and C.D. Arabe Unido, and rounding out the MLS teams, Real Salt Lake will meet Santa Tecla and C.S.D Municipal in Group G.
Check out all of the 2014-2014 CCL group pairings below:
GROUP A
Santos Laguna
W Connection F.C.
Deportivo Saprissa
GROUP B
Tigres U.N.A.L
Isidro Metapan
C.S. Herediano
GROUP C
Queretaro
Verdes FC
San Francisco FC
GROUP D
Los Angeles Galaxy
Central FC
Comunicaciones FC
GROUP E
Club America
C.D. Walter Ferretti
C.D. Motagua
GROUP F
Seattle Sounders
Vancouver Whitecaps
C.D. Olimpia
GROUP G
Real Salt Lake
Santa Tecla
C.S.D Municipal
GROUP H
D.C. United
Montego Bay United FC
C.D. Arabe Unido
What do you think is the toughest and easiest group? Think most MLS teams will advance out of this stage of the tournament?
Share your thoughts below.
love it.. taking the Cascadia rivalry to a new level!
DC with a very similar group as last time.
OK, I am going to whine. Why do my teams always get in the group of death?
Go Sounders.
Am I being overly suspicious if I note that placing two MLS teams in the same group, and thus ensuring that one gets eliminated, was not necessary with eight groups?
Well Vancouver didn’t qualify through MLS though. Canadian champs.
True enough. Thanks.
It’s annoying how the Canadian Champ always gets a grouped with a US team and not a Mexican team even though they are in separate pots. Three years in a row now.
A and F; I think are the toughest. Santos and the purple monster are both tough with very good home advantages for group A. For group F:the Sounders are deep and just picked up a Brazilian international to add to that. The Whitecaps are going to take this seriously as it’s not old hat to them, like some teams here, and they are doing well this year. Olimpia are no pushovers themselves and will make it interesting.