CONCACAF announced today that Honduras will get an extra qualifying place in next season's Champions League because Belize does not have a stadium that meets minimum standards. I'm not surprised by the ruling, as Belizean football suffers from chronic disorganization and substandard infrastructure. I am pleasantly surprised to see CONCACAF enforcing its own guidelines.

Below is the draw for the Preliminary Round of the 2009-10 CONCACAF Champions League. Three of the slots are incomplete because of the league competitions still in progress, but they will be filled in over the next two weeks. PR1: Arabe Unido/San Francisco (Panama) vs. San Juan Jabloteh (T&T) PR2: Pachuca (Mexico) vs.

Tomorrow's the start of the 2009-10 CONCACAF Champions League. I have to go to bed right now and I don't have time to preview all of the series, but I'll start with the two to be played tomorrow: Pachuca vs. Jalapa: Pachuca have the advantage in talent level and match preparation (Mexican league started last weekend, Guatemala's Apertura starts on Saturday).

Below are collated results for the preliminary round of the 2009-10 CONCACAF Champions League. Ties are a two-match, home-and-away series, higher aggregate score wins, and away goals count. If aggregate and away goals are level, a 30-minute extra time period is played with penalties if necessary. First leg home team score is listed first for both legs.

In a previous post, I had stated that Águila and Isidro Metapán had qualified for next season's CONCACAF Champions League. It turns out that I was incorrect; in case the same team wins both tournaments in the season, the second Champions League place goes to the runner-up in the Apertura and Clausura finals with the better overall record.

Wednesday night is this week's feature liveblog of Matchday 2 of the Champions League. All three MLS representatives are playing tonight, and two of them will face Mexican sides. All the action starts at 1700 Arizona time.Árabe Unido - Houston Dynamo 1700 DC United - Toluca 1700 Marathón - San Juan Jabloteh 1900 Cruz Azul - Columbus Crew 1900 Kickoffs are in Arizona time (GMT -7) and commentaries after the jump.

The field for next season's CONCACAF Champions League is almost complete. There are three open slots for the league champions of Guatemala, Panama, and Canada. (Nicaragua's slot is pending a visit of CONCACAF officials to Real Estelí's ground.) There is some uncertainty about which teams will go into which pot for the draw, but that just concerns the two Panamanian representatives.

The Puerto Rico Islanders and W Connection have secured their places in next season's CONCACAF Champions League by advancing to the final of the CFU Club Championship. In the first semifinal, the Islanders were taken to overtime by Haiti's Tempête before two goals by Jagdeosingh and Villegas ensured victory.

The group stage draw was conducted at the same time as the preliminary round, and those results are shown below. The 'PR#" tag refers to the match in my post on the preliminary round draw. Group A Houston Dynamo (USA) Metapán (El Salvador) PR2 PR4 Group B Toluca (Mexico) Marathón (Honduras) PR6 PR1 Group C Columbus Crew (USA) Saprissa (Costa Rica) PR5 PR8 Group D Pumas UNAM (Mexico) Comunicaciones or Municipal (Guatemala) PR3 PR7

Following up on my post from Friday: San Francisco FC won the Apertura championship in Panama after defeating Chorrillo 5-4 on penalties after a 0-0 draw in the final last night. The hero was San Francisco 'keeper William Negrete, who was substituted into the match by manager Rúben Guevara a minute before the end of the extra time period because of his expertise in saving penalties.

It's time for the Champions League to return. I just got home, so we join tonight's matches in progress. DC United 1-1 L.A. Firpo F Pachuca 1-0 Jalapa HT Commentary after the jump. A first half dominated by Pachuca, but it took them 40 minutes to get the ball past Ricardo Jerez. They're on top, and now they'll seek to extend their advantage in the second half.

Time for Wednesday's matches in the Champions League: Toronto FC 0-1 Puerto Rico Islanders 90'+ San Francisco - San Juan Jabloteh 1900 Liberia - Real España 1900 Commentary after the jump. 1856: Free kick to Puerto Rico in midfield. Into the second minute of stoppage time. But why a long ball to no one in particular?

The group stage draw was conducted at the same time as the preliminary round, and those results are shown below. The 'PR#" tag refers to the match in my post on the preliminary round draw. Group A Houston Dynamo (USA) Metapán (El Salvador) Pachuca (Mexico) Árabe Unido (Panama) Group B Toluca (Mexico) Marathón (Honduras) D.

San Juan Jabloteh won third place in the CFU Club Championship after defeating Tempête 2-1. I would have liked to have seen another team from another part of the Caribbean advance to the Champions League, but the semifinal round was the limit of the Haitian side's capabilities. All three goals were scored by the T&T club, including an own goal.

CONCACAF's website is saying that Real Estelí have secured Nicaragua's lone slot for next season's Champions League as the team with the highest point total in the Nicaraguan domestic season. Their appearance is pending a visit an inspection of Estelí's stadium by CONCACAF officials for Champions League matches.

Real Estelí's stadium did not pass inspection by CONCACAF officials last week, so no Nicaraguan team will participate in next season's edition of the Champions League. Nicaragua's spot was supposed to go to Panama, as they had the second-best record of the Central American countries in last season's competition, but Panama only has one stadium that meets Champions League requirements.

It's time for the Champions League to return. I just got home, so we join tonight's matches in progress. DC United 1-1 L.A. Firpo 66' Pachuca - Jalapa 1900 Commentary after the jump. 1832: Jaime Moreno exits, and Pontius enters for DCU. 1825: Lost possession by DCU (Jacobson I think) and Firpo go forward.

The first week of the CONCACAF Champions League comes to a close tonight with the last three matches of the preliminary round. W Connection 1-0 New York Red Bulls HT Olimpia - Árabe Unido 1900 Cruz Azul - Herediano 1900 1802: As has been the case throughout the Champions League this week, there is a sparse crowd at Manny Ramjohn Stadium.

Herediano's humiliating 6-2 home defeat to Cruz Azul in the Champions League is the kind of result that can end careers. Indeed, one hour after the match concluded, Herediano's directors moved to fire manager Rónald Mora with immediate effect. Mora had been in charge of the team since March, but he had been on thin ice since losing a winnable Verano final against Liberia Mía.

Below are collated results for the preliminary round of the 2009-10 CONCACAF Champions League. Ties are a two-match, home-and-away series, higher aggregate score wins, and away goals count. If aggregate and away goals are level, a 30-minute extra time period is played with penalties if necessary. First leg home team score is listed first for both legs.