2023 CONCACAF Champions League

[MM3/MM2/MM]

either taking the opposition lightly or not taking the competition seriously, like Austin losing 3-0 after leaving 5 starters at home.

Edited March 8, 2023 by MM3/MM2/MM

[Kent]

2 hours ago, narduch said:

Hopefully they are allowed into the US next week and not kept out by their racist immigration policies.

The commenter was alluding to that as well. What is the policy that could keep them out? I recently realized via Novak Djokovic that the USA is still not allowing non-COVID-vaccinated foreigners out. Is that what could stop them or is there another thing on top of that?

[red card]

The best ball control seen in the match.

 

[narduch]

49 minutes ago, Kent said:

The commenter was alluding to that as well. What is the policy that could keep them out? I recently realized via Novak Djokovic that the USA is still not allowing non-COVID-vaccinated foreigners out. Is that what could stop them or is there another thing on top of that?

All I know is Cavaly of Haiti were not given visas last year and were eliminated because of that.

A year prior that Cuba were not allowed in for the Gold Cup

Edited March 8, 2023 by narduch

[Kent]

15 minutes ago, narduch said:

All I know is Cavaly of Haiti were not given visas last year and were eliminated because if that.

A year prior that Cuba were not allowed in for the Gold Cup

If I remember right I think that was COVID lockdown stuff which I would hope is done with by now. But like I mentioned, apparently they are still blocking people that aren't vaccinated which seems pretty absurd to me.

[cornerkick]

i read this tournament still uses the away goals rule in the knockouts...i wonder why they don't change?

[Kent]

47 minutes ago, cornerkick said:

i read this tournament still uses the away goals rule in the knockouts...i wonder why they don't change?

To be honest I don't know why UEFA DID change. I wonder if there have been any before and after statistics done on the change yet? I presume the idea was to get more offence, prevent the home team from sitting back? I wonder if it has worked.

The one thing I really like about the away goals rule is that it's the only way in soccer you can go from losing to winning with just one goal. You can have a team fighting to stay alive in a competition late in the 2nd leg, then they score at the death and the team that had a foot in the next round all of a sudden is out of the competition.

[cornerkick]

11 minutes ago, Kent said:

To be honest I don't know why UEFA DID change. I wonder if there have been any before and after statistics done on the change yet? I presume the idea was to get more offence, prevent the home team from sitting back? I wonder if it has worked.

The one thing I really like about the away goals rule is that it's the only way in soccer you can go from losing to winning with just one goal. You can have a team fighting to stay alive in a competition late in the 2nd leg, then they score at the death and the team that had a foot in the next round all of a sudden is out of the competition.

yeah, i think they wanted to encourage more scoring, plus having an away goals rule is harsh if a home team allows a goal in extra time.  hard to say if enough games have been played to see any trends from the rule change.   it feels like scoring has been on the rise in UCL knockout games over the years even prior to the change

[Kingston]

9 hours ago, Kent said:

If I remember right I think that was COVID lockdown stuff which I would hope is done with by now. But like I mentioned, apparently they are still blocking people that aren't vaccinated which seems pretty absurd to me.

Anecdotally from local border crossings, they are sporadically enforcing covid restrictions.  I know of one family that was refused entry because they aren't vaccinated.  They tried again the next day and were waved through without even being asked about their vaccine status.

[Kingston]

11 hours ago, MM3/MM2/MM said:

either taking the opposition lightly or not taking the competition seriously, like Austin losing 3-0 after leaving 5 starters at home.

Although there is a notable spread in attitude, there are a number of US teams that don't really care about the CCL.  Not sure where Austin fits on that spectrum.

It is also not unusual for a favoured team to start a B lineup in the first match with the idea of winning it at home.  We saw the same thing in the Canadian Championship when MLS teams faced USL teams in two-game matchups.  Sometimes, however, it comes back to bite the stronger team.  So it could have just been a calculated risk that went bad for them.

[narduch]

Going to be interesting to see how serious teams take Leagues Cup if they do not even take CCL seriously.

[Kingston]

8 minutes ago, narduch said:

Going to be interesting to see how serious teams take Leagues Cup if they do not even take CCL seriously.

I wonder about that a bit, too.  For some of the US teams, playing the Mexican teams is a huge deal.  For others, and for the Canadian teams, there's less interest.  It's fun when we (Canadian teams) play the Mexican teams in the CCL because the CCL is important to us and the Mexicans are the current metre stick for that tournament.  But extra games just because the opponents are Mexican?  Meh.

[Kent]

So after 1 day of games, Violette from Haiti has scored 3 goals, and the other 5 teams all scored 0. Not many people would have predicted that.

As for the potential for the Haitian team to have players blocked from entering the USA, I feel like if that happens they should play in a neutral site. If roles were reversed, and say Cuba had a team in this and they didn't allow American's to enter the country, there is no way CONCACAF would just hand the win to the Cuban team. I really hope it goes off without a hitch and they can just play the game properly.

[narduch]

1 minute ago, Kent said:

So after 1 day of games, Violette from Haiti has scored 3 goals, and the other 5 teams all scored 0. Not many people would have predicted that.

As for the potential for the Haitian team to have players blocked from entering the USA, I feel like if that happens they should play in a neutral site. If roles were reversed, and say Cuba had a team in this and they didn't allow American's to enter the country, there is no way CONCACAF would just hand the win to the Cuban team. I really hope it goes off without a hitch and they can just play the game properly.

The hilarious thing is that a forfeit is usually 3-0

[Watchmen]

6 hours ago, narduch said:

Going to be interesting to see how serious teams take Leagues Cup if they do not even take CCL seriously.

 

6 hours ago, Kingston said:

I wonder about that a bit, too.  For some of the US teams, playing the Mexican teams is a huge deal.  For others, and for the Canadian teams, there's less interest.  It's fun when we (Canadian teams) play the Mexican teams in the CCL because the CCL is important to us and the Mexicans are the current metre stick for that tournament.  But extra games just because the opponents are Mexican?  Meh.

I'm really interested in seeing how seriously teams take it as well, though I can see a lot of pressure from Garber to take it seriously. The entire concept of it hinges on them doing so.  And while I (and obviously most people on this forum) enjoy watching the Mexican teams in the CCL (and the CCL in general), I think it's still for the more invested fans. The last time a Mexican team came through Vancouver (during a period of the Whitecaps actually being good and in the semi-final of the CCL), attendance was good but still not as good as their MLS attendance had been.

Having said that, for MLS teams where the season is going wrong, I can see the Leagues Cup as a chance at salvation for them and really trying their best.

[Kingston]

22 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

 

I'm really interested in seeing how seriously teams take it as well, though I can see a lot of pressure from Garber to take it seriously. The entire concept of it hinges on them doing so. 

The one thing about the Leagues Cup is that MLS is literally shutting down its season for the duration.  So it isn't like the CCL or the Canadian Championship/USOC where teams need to make competitive decisions.

I've been thinking about taking it seriously more from the fan/front office perspective, but I guess there's no reason for the teams not to try their best on the field.

Edited March 8, 2023 by Kingston

[narduch]

Concacaf is a joke.

 

 

[Kent]

40 minutes ago, narduch said:

Concacaf is a joke.

 

 

Seriously, play the game in Mexico or something. Teams get kicked out of the CCL for not having an adequate stadium. Why are teams without an adequate way for teams to even get to the city be allowed to just win by default due to their own (country's) failings?

[Kent]

Heck, even the first leg was played in the Dominican Republic instead of Haiti because of violence or something. Haiti wasn't deemed an acceptable host country, so they had to play at a neutral site. USA should be deemed an unacceptable host country for this particular game, so they should play at a neutral site.

[Watchmen]

 

[Kent]

3 hours ago, Watchmen said:

 

Enough to travel and compete. So I guess there are at least 7 players available (since that's the minimum). Hopefully they have at least 11, with one of them being a keeper.

[narduch]

 

 

[Kingston]

You know what would be sporting?  If Violette can only get ten players, then Austin plays them 10 v 10.

I doubt it would happen, but I recall an FA Cup match where a player scored the winning goal because he took advantage of the other team giving him the ball after it was kicked out of bounds for an injury instead of giving it back.  His own team insisted on replaying the game later.  So sportsmanship can happen.

Found a reference:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/feb/14/deniscampbell.theobserver

[Treppy2]

52 minutes ago, Kingston said:

You know what would be sporting?  If Violette can only get ten players, then Austin plays them 10 v 10.

I doubt it would happen, but I recall an FA Cup match where a player scored the winning goal because he took advantage of the other team giving him the ball after it was kicked out of bounds for an injury instead of giving it back.  His own team insisted on replaying the game later.  So sportsmanship can happen.

Found a reference:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/feb/14/deniscampbell.theobserver

It was under different circumstances, but two years ago the Haitian Olympic team began a match with 10 players: https://www.si.com/soccer/2021/03/19/haiti-olympic-qualifying-team-honduras-10-men-field-player-gk

Only in CONCACAF...

[narduch]