HexagonalBlog

MLS' competitiveness in CONCACAF Champions League

After Real Salt Lake's run to the CONCACAF Champions League final last season, and the first-ever wins by MLS  teams in Mexico this season, there was a lot of misplaced optimism about the chances of Major League Soccer teams to contend for the CCL.  That optimism was swiftly dispatched by Mexican clubs in the knockout stages.  Jeff Carlisle wrote a column on ESPN Soccernet inquiring if MLS clubs were doomed to second-tier status against Mexican sides in the competition.  I don't believe that they are, but it takes a special team with a combination of depth, maturity, and good fortune to be competitive in the competition.

Monterrey chases history, Santos chases confirmation

The final is coming up in about 40 minutes, so I better hurry...

So after a Champions League final last year between the top Mexican side and the most competitive MLS representative CONCACAF had ever seen, and a Champions League season in which Mexican sides lost home matches for the first time, the final reverts back to a familiar type.  The two finalists aren't unbeaten, like Monterrey was last season, but they have demonstrated that they are the best teams in the competition.  Los Angeles might have been able to challenge that, but they never woke up against Toronto FC in the HDC, so we'll never know.

Monterrey are chasing history over the next two weeks -- no team has won the Champions League in its current format in successive seasons, and no club has won CONCACAF's highest competition two years in a row since the all-conquering Pachuca sides in 2007 and 2008.  The attacking core remains intact between Humberto Suazo and Aldo de Nigris, as well as José Basanta in central defense and Ricardo Osorio at right back, but their midfield has changed significantly from the one that took the field in Utah last year.  The Rayados didn't have a good Apertura, but they are playing much more strongly in the current short tournament (4th place on 28 points).

Santos are seeking confirmation of their dominance in Mexico over the last 9 months.  They have been the dominant team in Mexico this season, and they finished runner-up to UANL in the Apertura final, but in CONCACAF they have never advanced this far before.  Montreal Impact fans will remember the epic comeback in injury time during the 2008-09 season, but that team fell to Atlante in the semifinal round.  Some of the midfield from that season are still in the lineup for Santos, such as Daniel Ludeña and Carlos Quintero.  But the impact player from this season has been Hérculez Gómez.  After scoring seven goals for Estudiantes Tecos in the first half of the season, he joined Santos in January and has since scored twelve goals over all competitions.  Even after playing just knockout round matches in the Champions League, he is now tied for top goalscorer.  If Santos goes on to win the Champions League, and if Gómez scores a goal over the two legs, he will be given strong consideration for best player in the competition.

The first leg starts in Monterrey, and the Rayados will seek the same kind of first-leg knockout that they earned in the previous rounds.  It won't happen tonight, but both matches will be closely fought.  In the end it will be the goalscorers who have the final say.

Caribbean asserts its numerical advantage in CONCACAF presidential race

CONCACAF announced a few days ago that Jeffrey Webb, a banker and current president of the Cayman Islands FA, will be the only candidate for the CONCACAF presidency.  The vote won't occur until CONCACAF's Extraordinary Congress in Budapest in late May, but given that Webb received endorsements from 25 of the 40 member associations, something significant would have to happen for him to lose support.  (This article from Honduras sports daily Diez says that Webb received 29 endorsements.)  Alfredo Hawit of Honduras is the acting CONCACAF president, but he knows math as well as any Central or North American in the confederation, and he has decided not to stand for election.

When the election process started, I said that the Caribbean nations will have a very strong say over who will become the next president, and in fact they have.  The Caribbean Football Union has 30 members, 75% of the total membership of CONCACAF.  If we only consider the English Caribbean members, there are 17.  So the English Caribbean members, by themselves, can decide who the next CONCACAF president will be, and the remaining Caribbean associations will go along.  (Who else are they going to follow, a Central American candidate who they don't relate to, or a North American who they'll never support?)  I've read a couple of articles expressing surprise that Webb will be the next president, but why should there be?  It is nothing more than the rule of the majority in CONCACAF.

The next executive office to be filled will be the general secretary.  Given the way that power has been shared in the confederation in the past, I would not be surprised if a North American takes that seat.

Giorgio Chinaglia, RIP

Giorgio Chinaglia, the former Swansea, Lazio, and New York Cosmos striker and current soccer radio talk host, died in Florida on Sunday at the age of 65.  The AP has a long obituary of him here.  Frank Glase of the Star-Ledger has a remembrance here.  The new Cosmos club -- of which Chinaglia was a highly visible supporter -- has also released a statement.

On these shores, Chinaglia was best remembered for his goal-scoring feats with the NASL Cosmos, scoring 262 goals during his 8-year NASL career, and later for partnering with Charlie Stillitano on The Football Show on SiriusXM radio.  Listening to The Football Show today was bittersweet as Stillitano and Neil Barnett were sharing their recollections of Giorgio, along with special guests such as Ray Hudson, Roberto di Matteo, Tommy Smyth and Fabio Capello, yet at the same time it was clear that they were hurting over the loss of their close friend and colleague.  Giorgio had some very strong opinions -- he was fiercely critical of Major League Soccer, for one -- and I certainly didn't agree with him often, but he loved the game from the perspective of someone who had spent almost all of his life around it.

May his family be comforted in the days and months to come.  RIP, and Arrivederci.