Con 24 equipos de diez países, ya está en marcha la edición 2009/10 de la Champions League de la Concacaf. Aunque a los organizadores no le guste el apodo, ya toda Centroamérica la llama "la Concachamps".
RONDA PRELIMINARHerediano (Costa Rica) - Jalapa (Guatemala) - Liberia Mia (Costa Rica) - Luis Ángel Firpo (El Salvador)
New York Red Bull (Estados Unidos) - Olimpia (Honduras) - San Francisco (Panamá) - Toronto FC (Canadá)
28/7: DC United (EE. Click to continue reading...

Yesterday we found out that the new League was a go and today a number of sites confirm that the TOA will play the 2010 season in a new league.
Teams such as Miami FC, Atlanta Silverbacks, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact, Carolina Railhawks and the Vancouver Whitecaps will soon be joined by a St. Click to continue reading...

I've always said that one of the realistic options for the disaffected USL owners was to leave and then just setup their own league away from the USL umbrella. Today, that appears to be what has happened, with everyone bailing on Francisco Marcos and the USL. I have not been following this all that closely, but where does this leave Portland, who has one more year to go before they join MLS. Click to continue reading...

Six ownership groups that were previously part of the USL-First Division have joined forces with St. Louis Soccer United to form a new professional soccer league that will begin play in 2010.

The Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina Railhawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps have joined St.

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Six ownership groups that were previously part of the USL-First Division have joined forces with St. Louis Soccer United to form a new professional soccer league that will begin play in 2010.

The Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina Railhawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps have joined St.

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Well, it looks like the NuRock v TOA saga is continuing, but only a little bit, while the USL-1 meetings are being held in Beaverton, OR this week. With the following teams certainly there - Rochester, Portland, Tampa Bay, Puerto Rico, FC New York, Cleveland and Austin. The TOA clubs, may or may not be Vancouver, [. Click to continue reading...

Well, it looks like the NuRock v TOA saga is continuing, but only a little bit, while the USL-1 meetings are being held in Beaverton, OR this week.

With the following teams certainly there - Rochester, Portland, Tampa Bay, Puerto Rico, FC New York, Cleveland and Austin.

The TOA clubs, may or may not be - Vancouver, Montreal, St Louis, Miami, Atlanta, Tampa, Carolina, Minnesota.

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La palabra Halloween es una derivación de la expresión inglesa All Hallow's Eve (Víspera del Día de los Santos). Se celebraba en los países anglosajones, principalmente en Canadá, Estados Unidos, Irlanda y el Reino Unido. Pero hoy la globalización extendió este festejo proveniente de la cultura celta por todo casi todos los países occidentales. Click to continue reading...

Two must-win games are on the slate tonight for MLS teams still involved in the CONCACAF Champions League. D.C. United is in Mexico, and takes on Toluca down in Mexico (8pm, FSC/Telefutura). Meanwhile in Puerto Rico, the Crew are out to ensure their passage to the third round (2am, FSC).

It's been a dramatic turnaround for the Black-and-Red in Group B.

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Here's the results through the penultimate group stage matches:
Country W L T GF GA GD Win% PPG
Mexico 19 2 3 71 17 54 79.2 2.50
Panama 5 3 1 17 12 5 55.5 1.78
Honduras 7 7 0 20 28 -8 50.0 1.50
USA 7 7 5 27 26 1 36. Click to continue reading...

Well that was a real kick in the balls.

After dominating Saprissa for 91 minutes, holding a 1-0 lead for most of that, the Crew gave up a stoppage time goal and settled for a 1-1 draw with the Costa Ricans in last night's Champions League match.

To say that Columbus "gave up" the late goal is a little bit of a misnomer, because in actuality Saprissa stole it, fouling no less than two Crew players while trying frantically to get the ball into the net.

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And he's all like, Sigi, are you ready for the game on the weekend?
I'm like, Robert, what the hell happened last night against Saprissa? A goal in the last minute, and now you have to hoof the team down to Puerto Rico?
Yes, Robert says, it is true that this happened, but if I were you, I would only concern yourself with Saturday's game. Click to continue reading...

The Columbus Crew had a chance to become the first MLS team to reach the knockout rounds of the CONCACAF Champions League, but fell short with just seconds remaining as a late equalizer forced the Crew to settle for a 1-1 tie vs. Deportivo Saprissa at Crew Stadium on Tuesday night.

The Crew looked on its way to clinching a top-two spot in its group before Alexander Robinson headed home an equalizer in the second minute of stoppage time to negate a first-half penalty kick from Robbie Rogers.

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The Columbus Crew had a chance to become the first MLS team to reach the knockout rounds of the CONCACAF Champions League, but fell short with just seconds remaining as a late equalizer forced the Crew to settle for a 1-1 tie vs. Deportivo Saprissa at Crew Stadium on Tuesday night.

The Crew looked on its way to clinching a top-two spot in its group before Alexander Robinson headed home an equalizer in the second minute of stoppage time to negate a first-half penalty kick from Robbie Rogers.

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Under-20 World Cup: Brazil - Czech Republic on Galavision at 12:30pm. UEFA Champions League on Fox Soccer Channel: Manchester United - VfL Wolfsburg at 2:30pm (5pm - Setanta) and Real Madrid - Marseilles at 5pm (6:45pm - Setanta). Setanta has Apoel - Chelsea at 2:30pm. CONCACAF Champions League on Fox Soccer: San Juan Jabloteh - DC at 8pm and Pachuca - Houston at 10pm. Click to continue reading...

It's all going well for the Columbus Crew at the moment. After their stumbling start to 2009, things have� long been smoothed out as the team clinched a playoff spot after the weekend's results. The Crew� have an opportunity to further their international pedigree with a win against Deportivo Saprissa tonight (8pm, FSC), which would lock up second place in Group C and advance them through to the Champions League quarterfinals.

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It wasn't as exhilarating as last year, when the Islanders scored 3 goals at home (the last on the 119′, in overtime) to win the series 3-2 on aggregate; but the Islanders duplicated the feat: To knock out the Rochester Rhinos of the USL Playoffs.

After losing 2-1 to the Rhinos last Thursday in the away leg of the 2009 USL Quarter Finals, the Islanders won 4-1 in the return leg in Bayamón to win the quarterfinal match up with a 5-3 aggregate, and eliminate the Rhinos from the playoffs for the 2nd year in a row.

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It wasn't as exhilarating as last year, when the Islanders scored 3 goals at home (the last one on the 119′ in overtime) to win the 2008 Semi-Final match up 3-2 on aggregate; but the Islanders duplicated the same feat this year: to knock out the Rochester Rhinos of the USL Playoffs.

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The Islanders had leads against Cruz Azul (3-1) and Saprissa (1-0) in the home games at Bayamón, but...

The Islanders 2008 killer alajuelazo weapon (last minute goal) was used twice against them at home in Bayamón, and Puerto Rico had to settle with sour draws (that tasted like defeats) against both Cruz Azul (3-3, tying goal in 85′) and Saprissa (1-1, tying goal in 90′+3).

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Heading into the fourth round of CONCACAF Champions League and the leaders are separating themselves from the pack. Nowhere is this more evident than Group C, where Columbus and Cruz Azul have a small lead ahead of the bottom two teams in the group, Saprissa and Puerto Rico.�

With the way the standings are set, the winner of tonight's match is in the driver's seat to at least snag one of the top two spots in the group and advance to the quarterfinals. Click to continue reading...

The final game of the year is here! ...and to show their level of commitment to South Florida, Miami FC players and staff are willing to shave their heads if fans fill Lockhart Stadium!
When: Saturday Sept 19th 2009 8:00pm
The game: Miami FC vs Puerto Rico Islanders
For every 500 ticket sold, one player will shave his head. Click to continue reading...

By TRAVIS CLARK

After a two week hiatus for the U.S. Open Cup Final and to accommodate the international break, CONCACAF group play resumes this evening with the third matchday. D.C. United is the only MLS club in action, and have plenty of work cut out for them if they plan on making any inroads in the competition.

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I've been a little busy today so the links will be fairly light tonight. I guess that's what you can expect when it is the week of your wedding and you have loads of things to do other than write on a blog. But I will have more on that in a couple days.

Tonight I want to really get into a couple things here.

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Friday, August 28
Portland Timbers 0:0 Charleston Battery
Charleston clinches USL playoff berth Charleston Post and Courier
Timbers push unbeaten streak to 24 with draw The Oregonian
Saturday, August 29
Minnesota Thunder 1:3 Puerto Rico Islanders
Thunder lose on the road to Islanders Inside Minnesota Soccer
Miami FC Blues 0:1 Austin Aztex
Key breaks finally fall Aztex' way in shutout Austin American-Statesman
Rochester Rhinos 1: 1 Vancouver Whitecaps
Rhinos rally for tie in Vancouver Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Whitecaps, Rhinos duel to 1-1 draw Vancouver Sun
Sunday, August 30
Carolina RailHawks 1:1 Montreal Impact
Carolina steals a draw Canada. Click to continue reading...

Minnesota Thunder Hosts Cleveland City Stars Thursday Followed by Road Match at Puerto Rico Saturday
BLAINE, Minn. (Tuesday, August 25, 2009) – The Minnesota Thunder will host the Cleveland City Stars Thursday, August 27th at the National Sports Center in Blaine. Kickoff is set for 7:05 p.

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Last night on the 26th minute Islanders' Domenic Mediate scored a 'golazo' that silenced shocked the crowd, as well as many of his critics, as the Islanders took a 1-0 lead at Ricardo Saprissa stadium in San Jose, Costa Rica.

But that lead was not to last, as Saprissa came back 9 minutes later on a goal by birthday boy Armando Alonso (26 years old, happy birthday!

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After dispatching Toronto FC of Major League Soccer to earn their place in the 2009/10 CONCACAF Champions League Group Stages, the Islanders turn their attention to another MLS foe as they face the Columbus Crew tonight at Crew Stadium. Puerto Rico is looking to repeat their from last season's CCL tournament that saw them within penalty kicks of the Champions League final. Click to continue reading...

So the CONCACAF Champions League is at the group stage, and here's how it shakes out: Mexico: 4 (2 from preliminary round) USA: 3 (1) Trinidad & Tobago: 2 (2) Honduras: 2 (1) El Salvador: 1 (0) Panama: 1 (1) Guatemala: 1 (0) Costa Rica: 1 (0) Puerto Rico: 1 (1) The only countries that were able to place all their representatives from the preliminary round into the group phase were Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, and Puerto Rico. Click to continue reading...

Timbers defender Cameron Knowles has surgery on broken leg, out for season The Oregonian
Friday, August 14
Minnesota Thunder 1 - 0 Miami FC Blues
Blues splutter on offense Miami Herald
Saturday, August 15
Portland Timbers 4 - 1 Rochester Rhinos
(Timbers' 22nd straight game without defeat)
Portland routs Rhinos Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Pore, Keita help Timbers keep streak alive The Oregonian
Montreal Impact 0 - 1 Puerto Rico Islanders
Krause scores in 37th as Islanders win 1-0 over visiting Impact The Canadian Press
Carolina RailHawks 0 - 0 Vancouver Whitecaps
Whitecaps and RailHawks fail to disturb the net Vancouver Sun
Western Mass Pioneers 0 - 3 Charlotte Eagles
Charlotte in playoffs against Maryland Charlotte Observer
Wilmington Hammerheads 2 - 2 Richmond Kickers
Kickers settle for tie with Wilmington Richmond Times-Dispatch
Crystal Palace Baltimore 0 - 1 Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Palace falls 1-0 to Pittsburgh in regular season finale The Examiner
Sunday, August 16
Minnesota Thunder 2 - 2 Austin Aztex
Aztex lose lead, settle for tie with Minnesota Austin American-Statesman Click to continue reading...

Finally, Toronto FC have found a way to eliminate a Puerto Rico Islander -terminate his contract. TFC announced the release of defender Marco Velez after 38 appearances for the club. The enigmatic 29 year old was capable of the odd solid game but all too often was caught on the wrong end of a defensive blunder. Click to continue reading...

August 14th is the end of the international transfer window for MLS teams. This would be last chance for TFC to sign a player from overseas and they have already made one move. They signed Lesley Fellinga (23 years old), a Haitian international with a Dutch background. He played for SC Heerenveen last year. Click to continue reading...

But this time Puerto Rico beat an MLS team in CONCACAF play, once again reigniting a debate which MLS apologists do not want to have.
I have to say I am somewhat offended that many of my colleagues and friends in the soccer blogger community have seemingly chosen to ignore the success of USL sides in CONCACAF competition while continuing to discuss MLS' failures in a vacuum. Click to continue reading...

Word from across the pond is that Clark Hunt might be looking to add another team to his collection. Apparently Hunt Sports Group came out of left field with a £120m buyout offer for West Ham. As of right now, no one is saying anything, which usually means that something is happening, but according to Sean Mitchell the Hunts are flatly denying any interest in acquiring the EPL side, saying that they "kind of have a full plate.

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In Tuesday's CONCACAF Champions League qualifiers, DC United advanced after beating Firpo on penalties. Toronto couldn't score home or away, with USL-1 club Puerto Rico advancing. Jose Francisco Torres' Pachuca were the big winners on the night, beating Jalapa 7-1 in Guatemala. DC United 1 - Firpo 1 (5-4 on penalties) DC United got the result they needed to force overtime in their series with Luis Angel Firpo. Click to continue reading...

In my last blog post I wrote how this new viral campaign was a step in the right direction for Miami FC. Goalkeeper Pat Hannigan, Coach Zinho and even President Aaron Davidson are willing to go bald if the Stadium gets filled! I hope this is a sign of things to come. I hope that Miami FC can close this season off with a bang and a full Lockhart Stadium. Click to continue reading...