HexagonalBlog

W Connection into CONCACAF

The final match of the CFU club tournament concluded about four hours ago, and W Connection defeated San Juan Jabloteh 1-0 to advance to the CONCACAF Champions' Cup.  Andre Pacheco scored the winner for last year's runners-up in T&T's Pro League.  W Connection will host Guadalajara in the first leg of the CCC quarterfinals on 13 February.

CFU Semifinals complete

The Caribbean representative to the 2007 CONCACAF Champions' Cup will be from Trinidad & Tobago after San Juan Jabloteh and W Connection won their knockout semifinals in T&T's Ramjohn Stadium on Friday.   Jabloteh defeated Haiti's Baltimore Sportif 1-0 despite playing the second half with 10 men.  In the second match, W Connection won an intense match against Jamaica's Harbour View 3-2.  Despite fighting hard, the Jamaican side had an uphill climb over the 90 minutes. 

Jabloteh and W Connection play on Sunday to decide the CFU club champion and the entrant to the CCC.  Interesting note - Jabloteh is coached by Terry Fenwick, the former England full-back in the 1986 World Cup. 

A hypothetical question

I'm still writing my thoughts on the Beckham deal (and I better hurry because there could be some more breaking news this week), but in the meantime, I'd like to throw out a hypothetical:

How might have English football been different if Tim Howard had cleanly collected that free kick against Porto in the Champions League?  Also, how might have Tim Howard's career been different?  Or were the career paths of Mourinho and Howard inevitable? 

The Superliga unveiled

Today MLS and Mexican First Division officials held a joint news conference to unveil the Superliga, the long-awaited tournament between top (but for now, invited) teams in both leagues.  It's not a feeder tournament to the regional club tournaments, but there is the incentive of  a $1 million prize to the winner.  The Superliga will be played during the months of July and August in MLS stadia in the USA.  Here are the two groups:

Group A:  Guadalajara, FC Dallas, Los Angeles, Pachuca
Group B:  América, DC United, Houston, Morelia

So after the anticipation and speculation about this competition, the news strikes me as a bit of a letdown.   The tag about this being a "Champions' League" type tournament is a lot of hype; all of the matches will take place in the USA, and at worst MLS clubs will play at a neutral site.  One could say that Mexican clubs will almost certainly have a majority of the crowd on their side for some matches, but in the end the games are being played in conditions that favor the MLS sides.  The flip side of this is that by playing exclusively in the USA, MLS teams have a better chance of winning! 

As for the teams selected, the selections make sense from a marketing point of view.  All of the Mexican sides in the competition have substantial followings in the USA, and the MLS representatives are from cities with large Latino populations.  The LA Galaxy were always going to be part of the SuperLiga, but the arrival of David Beckham makes the selection even more obvious.  There is a nod to sporting considerations - both champions of the recent domestic competitions are in the tournament, as well as the champion of the Copa Sudamericana - and there's the stated desire to use league performance in the future. 

I think the biggest contribution of the SuperLiga is that it fires a shot across the bow of CONCACAF.   The $1 million payout to the champion is not only larger than the prize to the Champions' Cup winner, it also exceeds that of the Gold Cup.  And even though a single match has yet to be played, the marketing and promotion of the SuperLiga already exceeds that of the Champions' Cup.  If the SuperLiga takes off, expect CONCACAF to take notice and include SUM in those on-going discussions about a proposed CONCACAF Champions League (if they haven't done so already).  It would not be a big stretch to add some teams from Central America and the Caribbean, extend group play to home-and-away, and rename the Champions' Cup the CONCACAF SuperLiga. 

What a week

I was on conference travel all week, and decided not to bring my personal computer with me.  And of course a lot of stuff happened, to say the least.  I'll be back to talk about David Beckham's signing to the LA Galaxy and what it means for MLS and American soccer generally.  But for now, I need to get some sleep.