The CONCACAF 2009-10 Champions League Quarterfinals Draw was released recently. The quarterfinals are set to begin in March, with the semifinals in late March, early April, and the final in late April. Here's the full schedule. A video of the draw can be seen here.

QUARTERFINALS
First Leg March 9-11
Second Leg March 16-18
QF1: *Comunicaciones vs.

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I have not been able to cover the Champions League as much as I did last year because of other demands on my time, and my own desires to have a life. But fortunately CONCACAF has been able to fill the gap with a very good Champions League website. Today was the draw for the knockout stage (the Championship Round, as CONCACAF calls it) of the Champions League. Click to continue reading...

CONCACAF held its draw for the Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday and the draw will pit defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew against defending Mexican League champion Toluca.

Columbus was eliminated from the MLS playoffs by Real Salt Lake in the first round, but will kick off 2010 in March with a home-and-home quarterfinal series against Toluca.

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CONCACAF held its draw for the Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday and the draw will pit defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew against Mexican League power Toluca.

Columbus was eliminated from the MLS playoffs by Real Salt Lake in the first round, but will kick off 2010 in March with a home-and-home quarterfinal series against Toluca.

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With the Don's latest state of the league comments about the importance of the Concacaf Champions League (CCL) and the extra load that it puts on teams that do well in the MLS standings, I've been thinking about what the league could do. Let's start out with the commissioner's problem description:

We need to prove that we can be among the best teams in the region, and that means beating Mexico.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

MLS Commissioner Don Garber gave his annual State of the League Address on Monday and covered a wide range of topics, from expansion to the Collective Bargaining Agreement to the Designated Player rule.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

MLS Commissioner Don Garber gave his annual State of the League Address on Monday and covered a wide range of topics, from expansion to the Collective Bargaining Agreement to the Designated Player rule.

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As in the guys that aren't Mr Kasey Keller. Due to injuries Keller played essentially all competitive matches. Next year with the potential for a dozen more matches in the season and Kasey passing 40 in just a few days the back-up keeper will be much more important. While he does feel healthier at the end of this season than in the past, he made many statements that it was due to the nature of MLS playing basically once a week.

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GBS helped lead the Crew to a second straight Supporter's Shield trophy. (Getty Images)

We all expected big things in 2009 for the Columbus Crew. Anytime you win a MLS Cup and retain the bulk of a lineup that got you that title you expect to repeat or come extremely close to do so. As we saw last week the Crew fell short of that this year as they lost to Real Salt Lake at home in the semi-finals of the eastern conference.

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Freddie Ljungberg and Osvaldo Alonso were huge additions to Seattle and to MLS this year. (Getty Images)

Everyone knew going into the 2009 season that the new kids on the block would make a splash. Just the kind of splash the league needed in some folks eyes. The Seattle Sounders FC came into the year not as a typical expansion club.

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Friday is here and we are faced with the somewhat surprising reality that the first team eliminated from this year's MLS playoffs is the defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew. You can complain all you want about the playoff format, and the fact that Real Salt Lake barely edged its way into the playoffs, but RSL played great soccer when it mattered most, while the Crew bumbled and stumbled to the finish line and ultimately paid for its inconsistency.

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Friday is here and we are faced with the somewhat surprising reality that the first team eliminated from this year's MLS playoffs is the defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew. You can complain all you want about the playoff format, and the fact that Real Salt Lake barely edged its way into the playoffs, but RSL played great soccer when it mattered most, while the Crew bumbled and stumbled to the finish line and ultimately paid for its inconsistency.

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Former DC United Coach Tom Soehn

Earlier this morning came the news that DC United coach Tom Soehn would not seek to extend his current contract with the team. Set to expire at the end of this year, Soehn will instead leave the club he has been a part of for the past six seasons – three years as an assistant and three as the head coach.

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BMO Field finally turned into a fortress in 2009. (Getty Images)

2009 was expected to the be year that Toronto FC turned the corner and really made a splash in Major League Soccer. The moves were made to get local star Dwayne De Rosario at the start of the season and things looked promising early on but midway through the first full month of action manager John Carver stepped down and if you ask me the club never really rebounded from that change.

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Now here's something interesting. United Soccer League's CEO Nick Papadakis told a Canadian radio station that "the negotiations are finished" and Vancouver and Montreal are out of the league for 2010. Neither club has issued a statement though so perhaps this is just a hardball tactic on the part of the honchos at USL 1. Click to continue reading...

So did you enjoy the MLS regular season?
Were you compelled to watch not only your own team's games, but others as well since they all mattered?
Are you looking forward to some exciting playoff games?
If so, Richard Snowden wants you to know that every time New York loses a CONCACAF Champions League qualifier, God kills a kitten. Click to continue reading...

Tickets for the seventh annual tournament that serves as the qualifying tournament for the Copa Libertadores for Mexican clubs go on sale next month.

Home Depot Center hosts games Jan. 9, 10 and 12.

More info from today's press release:

InterLiga 2010 will determine two Mexican club berths (Mexico 2 and Mexico 3) for Copa Libertadores.

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The final regular season numbers look like this...

5 year comparison  Final Week YTD   Avg  +/-  GP  Avg  +/-  GP  2005  18,417   6  15,108   192  2006  20,277  10.10%  6  15,504  2.62%  192  2007  20,575  1. Click to continue reading...

Chivas USA (playing its third game in nine days) and the Houston Dynamo (eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions League Wednesday) stagger to the MLS finish line at noon at Home Depot Center with playoff seedings and pairings on the line for themselves and virtually every other club in MLS it seems.

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I've updated my CONCACAF club/country coefficients with data from the now-completed group stage of the 2009-10 CONCACAF Champions League. I'll discuss the results in a future post, but the coefficients confirm the near-total domination of the Mexican clubs in the region's top club competition. I've posted the coefficients on my Soccermetrics blog, and you can find the files here. Click to continue reading...

Once again, all four Mexican teams made it through to the quarterfinals, as did one MLS team. Here's the survivors:
Mexico (4): Cruz Azul, Pumas, Toluca, Pachuca
Guatemala: Comunicaciones
Honduras: Marathon
Panama: Arabe Unido
USA: Columbus Crew
Here's the updated results by country:
Country W L T GF GA GD win% PPG
Mexico 21 3 4 77 21 56 75. Click to continue reading...

With Chicago's defeat of Chivas USA on Thursday, the Columbus Crew wrapped up the 2009 Supporter's Shield. This feat automatically qualified them for next year's CONCACAF Champions League. Earlier this year, the Seattle Sounders grabbed a slot when they defeated DC United for the US Open Cup Title. Click to continue reading...

Congrats to the Columbus Crew whose tie in Bayamon, Puerto Rico was enough to punch their ticket into the CONCACAF Champions League knockout stages.
Congratulations to DC United as well, who became just the second MLS team to get any sort of a result in Mexico, tying Toluca 1-1. Had Lawson Vaughn not gotten his legs tangled up with Isaac Lopez in the box, DC would have advanced. Click to continue reading...

Hyperbole to be sure, but still...ouch! You'd be forgiven for being miserable if you were a USA and DC United fan poking about in assorted RSS streams and illegal internet feeds yesterday. To recap... Snatched Away! In simultaneous games, United... Click to continue reading...

DC United exited the CONCACAF Champions League on Wednesday night. United needed San Juan Jabloteh to beat Marathon. Instead, Marathon finished in second-place in Group B with a 4-2 win over Jabloteh. Jerry Palacios had a second-half hat-trick for Marathon. Click to continue reading...

Pachuca solidified first place in their group with a 2-0 victory over to Panamanian club Arabe Unido in the final match of group play in the CONCACAF Champions League at home in Hidalgo Stadium. Click to continue reading...

The Houston Dynamo may have failed in their bid to become the second MLS team to qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals but D.C. United still have a glimmer of hope left. After a rough start to the tournament that saw them drop their first two games, three consecutive wins and a draw have turned fortunes around.

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The Houston Dynamo may have failed in their bid to become the second MLS team to qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals but D.C. United still have a glimmer of hope left. After a rough start to the tournament that saw them drop their first two games, three consecutive wins and a draw have turned fortunes around.

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So, the Dynamo fell 3-2 to Isidro Metapan. After a 7th minute goal from Elias Montes, plus an 8th minute goal from Anal Canal Anel Canales, the Metapan side gained plenty of momentum to push their way past the Orange.

Geoff Cameron managed to skip a ball past the opposing keeper after a perfect feed from Brian Ching who, in a weird entertainment twist, played the entire game while doing a spot-on Frankenstein impersonation (pictured right).

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Was it a foul? Houston ended up dropping the match 3-2 and falling out of the CONCACAF Champions League.
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Playing on the road against Group A's worst team, the Houston Dynamo couldn't get the win to send them to the quarterfinals. Instead, they exited the CONCACAF Champions League on Wednesday night, losing 3-2 to Isidro Metapan at the Tiburcio Carías Andino. Metapan opened the scoring through Elian Montes in the 7th, and were up 2-0 a minute later when Anel Canales scored. Click to continue reading...

As the CONCACAF Champions League group stage entered its last week, all three MLS representatives were still with a chance of qualification to the knockout round of the competition. Results through Wednesday night have cleared up the fates of the Columbus Crew and the Houston Dynamo, while DC United must sweat out the last Group B game taking place tonight.

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Again, horrible music with these highlights. But you get the idea: The Crew coasted to a 1-1 draw with The Islanders on Tuesday night, playing some of the most uninspired, "lets just go play and get it over with" soccer I've ever seen The Massive play.

But they got the result nonetheless, and are moving on to the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League.

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CCL: Houston Dynamo v. Isidro Metapán
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MLS on ESPN2: Chivas USA - Chicago at 8pm. Europa League on GolTV: Benfica - Everton at 1pm, Fulham - Roma at 3pm, and Lazio - Villarreal at 8pm. Copa Sudamericana on Fox Sports en Espanol: River Plate - San Lorenzo at 5:30pm and Fluminense - Universidad at 7:30pm. CONCACAF Champions League: Comunicaciones - UNAM Pumas at 10pm. Click to continue reading...