There are less than two weeks until the start of the 2016 MLS regular season, but some clubs will be in action on Tuesday as the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals kick off.
D.C. United travels to Mexico to take on Querétaro at Estadio Corregidora, before the Seattle Sounders host Liga MX side Club America from CenturyLink Field.
D.C. United comes into the knockout stage after winning Group H, while the Sounders topped Group F by beating out Honduran club Olimpia and the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Here’s a closer look at Tuesday’s CCL action:
QUERÉTARO vs. D.C. UNITED (Tuesday, 8 p.m., FOX Sports 1)
After a disappointing end to the 2015 MLS season, D.C. United looks to kick off this year with progression to the semifinals against Querétaro.
Currently 13th on the Liga MX table, Querétaro comes into the match against D.C. United on the heels of a 2-2 tie in league play on Friday vs. Tigres UNAL.
Despite some turnover in the team and an injury to goalkeeper Bill Hamid, D.C. United boasts an experienced roster that can certainly challenge its Mexican opposition. D.C. United will be hoping to advance to the semifinals after falling, 6-4, on aggregate to Alajuelense in last year’s competition.
The two sides will meet for the second leg on March 1 at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C.
SEATTLE SOUNDERS vs. CLUB AMERICA (Tuesday, 10 p.m., FOX Sports 1)
After exiting the 2015 MLS playoffs in dramatic fashion, the Seattle Sounders have revamped an already talented lineup, as the team prepares for stiff competition in the Champions League quarterfinals.
With only one loss in its first seven matches, Club America will prove to be a difficult opponent for Sigi Schmid’s Sounders side. Mexico national team striker Oribe Peralta leads America with four goals thus far in Clausura matches this season, while Osvaldo Martinez has provided four assists.
America won the 2014-15 CCL title, defeating the Montreal Impact, 5-3, on aggregate.
Although star forward Obafemi Martins has since left Seattle for Chinese side Shanghai Greenland Shenhua, the addition of Homegrown player Jordan Morris will aid the Sounders’ chances of moving forward.
The Sounders will head to Estadio Azteca on March 2 to take on Club America for the second leg.
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What CCL matchup are you most excited for? Who do you think will win Tuesday’s games?
Share your thoughts below.
The article seems to be saying that Seattle is better with Morris than Martins. A real stretch if you ask me. Morris, if he plays, will be playing in his first professional game.
Go Sounders
Should be a blast tonight.
Interested to see how Morris looks, is Alvarado going to play for America, or is he back out of favor.?
Alvarado hasn’t made the 18 in weeks now. However he could play if America bring a B side as Mexican teams have done in the past.
So… again with my annual copy and paste rant: Way to put your teams in a thankless position: Go ahead guys- hit the ground running- start your preseason off w/ a Champions League Quarter Final. If they care about finally being competitive in this tourney, they best find away to fix this. MLS teams already face a firm enough challenge w/ Mexican teams- why make it even more daunting?
The alternative is to play the knock outs in the fall and have teams not play starters to save for playoffs or change to the Mexican schedule and have near empty stadiums in the northern cities because its too cold.
So what’s your solution? Recall that two of the last four weekends have featured snowstorms on the east coast, two Saturday’s ago, it was eight degrees in DC, zero in NY and ten below in Boston. And while those were records, they weren’t out of line with February weather around these parts. It’s not reasonable to expect to play soccer until March in DC, Philly, NY, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, (don’t forget Minneapolis soon) and really Kansas City or Denver. That’s ten teams who all decamp for warmer climes to train. Should they all play a few matches on the road to start the season? Maybe Super Bowl weekend. People will totally care then. There will always be a winter break in the US, to not have one is to rule out half the country. Even the NFL doesn’t play after the second week of January in cold climates. The tournament is fun, but really not structured well for teams in the US. If a NASL team made it, they’d be up a creek too. It’s not worth sacrificing much of a regular season simple for a continental championship that no one really cares about. Has any fan base ever put pressure on management for not advancing in ccl?
Could it be that no one in this country pays attention because there has been so feeble a challenge for the title by MLS/dominance by MX? That MLS has showed so little interest? There’s no perfect solution, but certainly ways to improve. Just from a marketing standpoint alone- Garbers proclamations of being a top league in the world ring quite hollow when you get crushed in your own region. Ideas? No perfect solution but, off the top of my head…. move the quarters a few weeks later. Start the MLS season a few weeks sooner. Schedule to play the first few weeks in Southern/warm climate cities.
Except Concacaf sets the date and they don’t have reason to benefit the American teams since the fans of those teams don’t show up for the CCL usually anyway. And its not like the Liga Mx teams trot out full rosters until the semis or finals either.
totally agree.
– Push CCL up by a couple of weeks: Mexican and Central American teams don’t start their playoffs until May the CCL QF’s, SF’s and F’s could all fit in the March-April time frame.
– Start MLS a few weeks earlier: MLS could easily continue to push their schedule earlier to around this time of year. More than half of the league will soon be in “acceptable February weather” areas.
This plus continued roster and player development investment and MLS would have a chance at this.. looking at these match-ups I would be surprised to see any of the MLS teams advancing.. but MLS is certainly getting closer.
I’ve been to La Corregidora. That’s a tough place to play. Dirt patches instead of parking lots, broken scoreboards, chain link fence in the stands to keep supporter groups apart. Gotta guess the locker rooms are pretty sketch too. And the fans cheer fouls! Rough.
Vamos United!