Jan 30 2008
CONCACAF Champions League Round-Up
I did a write-up for FanHouse today on the new CONCACAF Champions League, which will replace the uncared-for Champions Cup this fall. You can read it here. Here are some other cogent takes on the new competition:
- Pitch Invasion
- 100 Percent Soccer
- Blue-Blooded Journo
- WVHooligan
- The Offside
- My Soccer Blog
- Yet Another Soccer Blog
I’ll just repeat something here that was somewhat buried in my FanHouse piece: I want to see the U.S. Open Cup winner qualify for this tournament. I realize the chances of this are ludicrously slim, but to me, the winner of a domestic title is more of a champion than the loser of a league playoff final. (Yes, yes, I know, the New England Revolution was both these things in 2007. My point is that they should qualify for the final that they won, not the one they lost.)
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As a fan of a USL team (Seattle Sounders) that made it to the semis, I love the idea of the US Open Cup winner being guaranteed a slot. Give the boys something to play for, and a chance at some TV and ad revenues!
Agreed. If the Cup is worth something, the MLS teams might not mail it in so much.
Of course, if the Shield winners and runners-up didn’t get free passes to all the extra competitions, maybe we wouldn’t see the mail-in jobs that DC United has pulled in the MLS Cup playoffs the last two years.
Oh yeah… and what the hell happens on the off chance that Toronto ends up in the MLS Cup finals or finishes 1st or 2nd in the regular season? (Stop snickering. It could happen.) Does MLS get five teams?
Jeff: That’s actually a pretty good question. Toronto isn’t going to suck forever. I can think of an NFL expansion team that was one game from the Super Bowl in its second year of existence — two teams, actually.
From what I’m reading here, the Canadian qualifier will initially be a Tri-Cities competition with Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. For the next couple of years, that might actually be a pretty entertaining little competition, but once Toronto builds its roster, it could get in every year, regardless of its MLS finish. I have no idea what they’ll do if TFC wins the Supporters Shield or MLS Cup.
In Toronto’s case, the qualification spot would surely have to fall down to the MLS runners up or the Supporters Shield runners up. US Soccer must ultimately ‘own’ those qualification spots, so they’d have to go to American teams.
Of course, there’s a good chance there will be five MLS teams in there anyway often, as Toronto will likely qualify regularly domestically.
Tom: All the more reason to give a qualifying spot to the U.S. Open Cup winner. It guarantees fewer shenanigans if Toronto wins hardware in MLS.
This isn’t like the FA Cup, which the Big Four have owned for the last decade or so. In this case, giving a Champions League spot to a domestic cup winner might actually mean something to a lot of clubs.
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The idea of the Open Cup winner getting a spot is perfect. It would bring more money into USL teams that perform well, and would be a good way for USSF to get some good publicity and recognition. Win-win. Now, if we can only win that cup….maybe? anyone?