HexagonalBlog

Matchday 3 of Group Stage as it happened [Tuesday]

Cue the music, it's time for Matchday Three of the CONCACAF Champions League!

Today's matches:

(Grp A) Saprissa 2-1 Marathón
(Grp B) UNAM 4-4 Houston

Matchday 2 of Group Stage as it happened [Wednesday]

Time for tonight's Matchday 2 action in the CONCACAF Champions League

Marathón 2-0 DC United
UNAM 3-0 LA Firpo
Joe Public 1-3 Olimpia
Montreal Impact 0-0 Atlante

Updates to the blogroll

I haven't updated the blogroll in a long time, which is bad because a number of sites link here and I haven't linked back.  I know they probably think I've been blowing them off, but it wasn't my intent.  Other links have gone dormant, and there are some sites that piqued my interest but was too lazy to add.  Bad, bad, bad.

Well, I'm going to add a few right now and add some more in the coming days.  So welcome, MLS Debris, Soccer Source, and CONCACAF Club Rankings.

And I want to add Axel Torres' site.  Axel is an analyst at Radio MARCA in Spain and he is far and away the best football analyst on that radio station, especially on international football. 

More sites to be added in the coming days, or weeks.

Matchday 2 of Group Stage as it happened [Tuesday]

The second matchday of the Group Stage is underway, so let's go!

Cruz Azul 4-0 Saprissa
San Francisco 0-0 Houston Dynamo
Puerto Rico Islanders 3-1 Santos Laguna

The second and third ten of CONCACAF

By request from one of my readers, here are the teams ranked from 11-30 on the CONCACAF club coefficient list.  Like I said, the cut-and-paste job was a pain, and the font sizes are out of whack.  But there it is.  (UPDATE:  I fixed the problem with the font size.  Much better!)

Houston Dynamo	USA	24.000
Puntarenas FC	Costa Rica	23.771
Pérez Zeledón	Costa Rica	21.771
Herediano	Costa Rica	21.771
Chicago Fire	USA	20.000
San Jose Earthquakes	USA	18.000
Kansas City Wizards	USA	17.000
LA Galaxy	USA	17.000
New England Revolution	USA	17.000
Harbour View FC	Jamaica	8.563
W Connection FC	Trinidad & Tobago	8.563
San Juan Jabloteh	Trinidad & Tobago	8.563
CSD Municipal	Guatemala	8.271
Portmore United	Jamaica	7.563
Arnett Gardens	Jamaica	7.563
Waterhouse	Jamaica	7.563
Tivoli Gardens FC	Jamaica	7.563
CD Olimpia	Honduras	7.125
CD Motagua	Honduras	7.125
Joe Public	Trinidad & Tobago	6.563

Developing CONCACAF coefficients, Part 2

Two weeks ago I wrote a post on my attempts to develop a formula for calculating club and domestic league coefficients in CONCACAF.  The primary application of this formula is the allocation of slots in future editions of the CONCACAF Champions League by ranking the clubs and their respective leagues.  It is possible to look at the coefficient formula as a club ranking, but that is NOT the original intention.

In the process of developing this formula I now have a nice database of competition data.  It took a while to teach myself some basic database programming so that I could calculate the statistics I needed, but now that I have them I can move forward.

CONCACAF at the UEFA Champions League, Matchday 1

The first matchday of the group stage is complete, so here's a summary of the CONCACAF players in the UEFA Champions League:

Rafa Márquez scored the opening goal (a header from a corner kick) in Barcelona's 3-1 victory over Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday.  He played all 90 minutes.

Carlos Vela played the last six minutes of Arsenal's 1-1 draw at Dinamo Kiev.  I don't know if he participated in the counter that led to William Gallas' equalizer.

PSV succumbed to a 3-1 away loss to Atlético Madrid (coached by former Mexico coach Javier Aguirre and inspired by a brilliant Sergio Aguero).  Carlos Salcido started and played all 90 minutes, while Francisco Rodríguez entered the match in the 74th minute.

Villarreal drew 0-0 to Manchester United (aka America's Team) at Old Trafford.  Guille Franco played 77 minutes for the Yellow Submarine and came closest to scoring when his shot hit the post on the hour mark.  Jozy Altidore didn't travel with the team because he was not listed on the squad list before the competition started.

Canadian goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld wasn't present for the biggest result of the week as CFR Cluj defeated Roma 2-1 away.   He wasn't placed on the substitutes list for this game.

Matchday 1 of Group Stage as it happened [Wednesday]

Okay, time for Wednesday's matches in the CONCACAF Champions League:

Marathón 2-0 Cruz Azul
Santos Laguna 3-2 Municipal
Montreal Impact 2-0 Joe Public

CONCACAF Players in the 2008-09 UEFA Champions League

Just in time for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League, here's a list of the CONCACAF players who will be participating in the world's premier continental competition:

Player	Club	Country
Guillermo Franco	Villarreal	Mexico
Rafael Márquez	Barcelona	Mexico
Francisco Rodríguez	PSV Eindhoven	Mexico
Carlos Salcido	PSV Eindhoven	Mexico
Carlos Vela	Arsenal	Mexico
Lars Hirschfeld	CFR Cluj	Canada

I do know that Jozy Altidore also plays for Villarreal, but he was not listed on the roster that the club sent to UEFA, so he cannot play in the group stages.

I looked at all the rosters of the 32 teams in the group stage, so to the best of my knowledge it's a complete list.  If I missed anyone, please let me know.

Matchday 1 of Group Stage as it happened [Tuesday]

2008-09 CONCACAF Champions League -- Match Day 1

San Francisco FC 1-1 UNAM
DC United 0-2 Saprissa
Puerto Rico Islanders 2-1 Tauro

What a long day at work...I just returned home in time to see the final five minutes of DC United - Saprissa.  It's going to be like this, unless I manage to get home early, which of course means that I get to work early.

Anyway, the Champions League starts for real -- the CONCACAF version at least.  Three matches are scheduled for tonight, and two have already finished.  DCU continued MLS' poor record in the Champions League by losing at home to Saprissa, while Puerto Rico Islanders continued the USL's fine form in the competition through their home victory against Panama's Tauro. 

2029:  I'm not able to liveblog the remaining match tonight, but you can find updates at UNAM's official site.

2100:  Well that's it.  San Francisco of Panama just drew with UNAM.  If you go by the rules for away results, this is a good result for UNAM, but I think it's a good result for San Francisco, too.