13 days in the books and the results speak for themselves as Real Salt Lake clinches

by denz on Sep 28, 2010 8:32 PM MDT

Well it wasn't pretty, and once again RSL found itself having to battle from behind in Champions League action, but in the end it was a great goal by TFC's Peterson and a sublime free kick by Javier Morales that had the scoreboard showing 1-1 when the final whistle blew and that means that the Group A standing look like this:

Team	Games Played	Points	Win	Loss	Draw	GD
Cruz Azul	5	10	3	1	1	+8
Real Salt Lake	5	10	3	1	1	+4
Toronto FC	5	5	1	2	2	-3
Arabe Unido	5	3	1	4	0	-9

So both RSL and Cruz Azul have secured passage to the Quarterfinal round of the Champions League, which will get underway in February in 2011. This would mean that there is little purpose to the October 19th match between the two sides, but I think RSL has to take a long term approach and realize that when the draw for the quarterfinals takes place the 4 teams that finish first in their group will go into one pot and will face a team that finishes second from their group.

b.The Championship Stage shall consist of three rounds of games asfollows; a Quarterfinal Round, a Semifinal Round, and a Final Round.

c. A draw shall be conducted to determine the Quarterfinal pairings of theteams and the entire bracket for the Championship Stage and the orderof matches

d. The four teams ranked first in the Group Stage (the Group Winners) willbe drawn to play against one of the four teams ranked second in GroupStage (the Group Runners-up) in the Quarterfinal Round.

e. Teams which qualified from the same Group may not be drawn to playeach other in the Quarterfinal Round but may be drawn to play eachother in the Semifinal Round or Final Round should they advance.

CONCACAF Champions League Regulations

Right now the 3 teams in first place in the other groups are: Columbus Crew (USA), Monterrey (MEX), and Toluca (Mex). Given the MLS history of never winning a match in Mexico, you would think winning the group and facing a potential foe from the 2nd place teams would be preferred. The 3 teams in second place are: Santos (MEX), Saprissa (Costa Rica), and Olimpia (El Salvador). Now we can count of both teams likely bringing youth laden lineups for the final match of Group A play, but I think there is still a lot to play for.

In the end 13 days with a lot of travel and 5 matches ended with RSL getting 3 wins and 2 draws and securing a spot in the quarterfinals of the Champions League and still keeping themselves in a position to make a serious run at the Supporters' Shield. That run will start on Saturday as RSL head into their "Final 4" MLS matches, and I will spend more time on that later this week.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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Comments

CCL next round

So is the next round a home/away series on aggregate scoring? I thought the knockout round was one game, winner moves on. How does it work?

by grizz17 on Sep 28, 2010 11:23 PM MDT reply actions

CCL like real tournaments around the world

Is home and away for all the knockout stages, including the final. Something I like over the UEFA version with just one big match at a neutral site.

by denz on Sep 29, 2010 6:17 AM MDT up reply actions

Places

While earning the top spot in the group would be nice, it doesn’t seem that the talent drops very far from the teams finishing on top in their groups and the second place teams. It is also very difficult to predict how strong a team is playing when CCL won’t pick back up for a few months.

by Nussdorfer AC on Sep 29, 2010 8:48 AM MDT reply actions

True, but

Given the fact that MLS teams have had mild success in facing teams in central america vs. no success when facing teams in Mexico, I would take the fact that winning the group would probably have you facing a Central American team in the quarterfinals instead of the Mexican team as a huge advantage.

by denz on Sep 29, 2010 11:42 AM MDT up reply actions

RSL doesn't want to face Monterry or Toulca

I doubt RSL would match up with the Crew for the next round. And it’s quite possible that the Crew move to second place leaving Santos as a potential match-up. I don’t think either Monterry or Toulca are good match-ups for the next round.

Both Saprissa and Olimpia are flawed sides that I think RSL match up well against. It’s much better to win the group and go for a draw against one of the weaker Central American sides.

by Dizzo on Sep 29, 2010 2:15 PM MDT reply actions