CONCACAF Champions League Action Kicks off Tuesday

The preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions League kicks off Tuesday with the first legs of matchups between 16 teams fighting to advance to the group stage of this year’s tournament.  The first leg matchups will play out on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week, with the return second leg contests scheduled for August 2-4.  The aggregate winner of each the eight matchups will advance to the group stage.

MLS sides FC Dallas, Toronto FC and the Seattle Sounders will vie to advance from the preliminary round, along with NASL side the Puerto Rico Islanders.  FC Dallas makes its first CONCACAF CL appearance in club history by virtue of its advance to the MLS Finals in 2010.  Toronto FC makes its third appearance in the competition by virtue of winning the Nutrilite Canadian Championship competition this spring that included the Montreal Impact, Vancouver Whitecaps and FC Edmonton, while the Sounders advanced to the group stage last season and enter the contest after another US Open Cup title.  The Islanders make their fourth consecutive trip to the tournament and have been the tournament’s most successful Caribbean-based team.  The Islanders captured their second consecutive Caribbean Football Union championship in May to again gain entry to the tournament.

The first of the eight preliminary round matches kicks off tonight as the Seattle Sounders meet club San Francisco FC in Panama City and will be televised beginning at 8:00 pm EDT on FSC and Galavision.  The Sounders, led by veteran goalkeeper Kasey Keller, are having a strong season, currently in 3rd place in the MLS Western, but only four points behind the MLS-leading LA Galaxy. 

Coach Sigi Schmid is aware of the quality that the Panamanian national team demonstrated in the Gold Cup, and he’s aware of San Francisco’s midfielder Eybir Bonaga, a box-to-box threat who featured on the Gold Cup team.  Expect both sides to come out tentative as the Sounders will try to hold off San Francisco’s attack and steal an all-important away goal.  Although far from home, the Sounders will have fan support from green-clad ECS supporters who made the trip. San Francisco are undefeated after the first two weeks of the Apertura season in Panama, and feature the last year’s league-leading scorer, Johan de Avila. This is San Francisco’s fourth trip to the CONCACAF CL, so the Sounders will have their work cut out for them.

Later on Tuesday evening, Costa Rican club Herediano hosts Alpha United from Guyana.  The Guyanese side makes their first appearance in the tournament, while Herediano makes its second.

On Wednesday, Toronto FC will host Nicaraguan club Real Esteli.  The Canadian side are on a skid, sitting at the cellar of the MLS Eastern Conference and losing their last four matches.   But they have recently added reinforcements, including long-time German international Torsten Frings and Danny Koevermans, the Dutch striker who scored over 130 goals in the Netherlands for such clubs as AZ Alkmaar, PSV Eindhoven and Sparta Rotterdam. Toronto FC coach Aron Winter will be looking for a repeat of Toronto’s BMO Field upset
performance against Cruz Azul in last year’s CL against Real Esteli, the Nicaraguan Clausura champion who were eliminated in their only other CL appearance by the Montreal Impact.  The game will be televised on FSC at 7:00 pm EDT.

Also on Wednesday night at 8:00 pm EDT, Galavision will televise the matchup between the Puerto Rico Islanders and hosts Salvadoran squad Isidro Metapan. Both clubs are CONCACAF CL veterans, although last season Metapan was eliminated by Seattle in the preliminary round while the Islanders eliminated the LA Galaxy but fell just short of advancing from a tough Group in the next round. Coach Colin Clarke’s Islanders are currently second in the NASL behind runaway leaders Carolina, and boast the league’s 2nd leading scorer, diminutive Dominican Jonathan Fana, along with a solid defense and considerable depth, while Metapan have won four Salvadoran domestic titles in the last seven years.

Also on Wednesday evening, Mexican side Santos Laguna host legendary Honduran side CD Olimpia in what should be an intriguing matchup. Both sides have CL experience, and Santos Laguna is off to a flying start in the FMF season by dropping Pachuca 4-1 Saturday. Five members of Honduras’ Gold Cup squad this summer are Olimpia players, and the squad has won 23 Honduran titles. The contest will be televised Wednesday at 10:00 pm EDT on Galavision.

Thursday CL maidens FC Dallas and EL Salvador’s Alianza FC take their first steps in the region’s biggest club tournament.  FC Dallas are currently in 2nd place in the MLS Western Conference, and are developing into a consistent MLS power under the direction of former SMU coach Schellas Hyndman. Dallas’ balanced attack is led this season by Brek Shea, who’s scored nine goals, while veteran Kevin Hartman has played every minute in goal, with a GAA of 0.95. Alianza won last season’s Salvadoran Clausura championship, and were the first team from El Salvador to win a CONCACAF championship, winning the Champions Cup in 1967. The match will be televised on FSC at 10:00 pm EDT.

Earlier on Thursday, four-time champion Haitian side Tempete FC travel to Mexico to face off against Monarcas Morelia. The Haitian club will have their work cut out for them on the road against a Morelia side that surprised in last year’s Clausura and started off the new season with a 2-1 win Saturday over Tijuana. Central American heavyweights Motagua from Honduras and Municipal from Guatemala face off in Tegucigalpa to finish off the first legs of the preliminary rounds.

Following next week’s second leg matchups, eight teams will join the CONCACAF CL Group with already qualified teams such as Pumas UNAM, the LA Galaxy, the Colorado Rapids and reigning champions Monterrey.