Mexican champ Monterrey advances to Libertadores

January 15, 2010

Mexican Apertura champion Monterrey defeated America 3-1 on penalties after a 0-0 draw to claim the 2010 InterLiga title and a place in the start of next month’s Copa Libertadores.

Wednesday night’s victory before a capacity crowd of 27,000 at The Home Depot Center put Monterrey, which in December qualified for the 2010-2011 CONCACAF Champions League, in Group 2 of the Libertadores along with Sao Paulo of Brazil, Nacional of Paraguay and Once Caldas of Colombia. It begins play Feb. 10 against Sao Paulo.

Monterrey finished second in its InterLiga group behind Puebla, earning the match against America, which it beat in the quarterfinals of the Apertura Liguilla.

Estudiantes Tecos also advanced to the Libertadores, rallying to beat Puebla 3-2 earlier in the night and securing a place in the preliminary round. It will face Juan Aurich of Peru in a two-leg series for a berth in the main draw.

Both join fellow Mexican clubs Morelia, San Luis and CD Guadalajara in the Libertadores. Morelia had the best regular-season record in the Mexican league of any team not already playing in the CONCACAF Champions League. San Luis and CD Guadalajara were given a special invitation following their withdrawal from last year’s tournament due to influenza fears.

CARSON, California

Concacaf

Tags: America, berth, brazil, California, capacity crowd, CARSON, carson california, champ, colombia, concacaf, concacaf champions league, copa libertadores, Guadalajara, home depot, home depot center, influenza, interliga, invitation, Juan, juan aurich, mexican apertura, Monterrey, paraguay, peru, Puebla, quarterfinals, San, sao paulo, tecos, wednesday night

FAS, Municipal clinch Champions League berths

December 21, 2009

CD FAS won a record 17th El Salvadoran league title to earn a place in next season’s CONCACAF Champions League, outlasting long-time rival Aguila in extra time to claim the country’s Apertura championship.

On own-goal by Arturo Albarran in the 95th minute and an eventual winner by Juan Carlos Moscoso two minutes later gave FAS a 3-2 victory in the title match Sunday, overcoming a pair of goals by Aguila’s Nicholas Addlery.

FAS enters the Champions League field along with Municipal, which drew 0-0 with Comunicaciones on Sunday to claim a record 27th Guatemalan league crown. The draw gave Municipal a 1-0 aggregate victory, having won the first leg of the Apertura final on Thursday, and returns the capital club to the Champions League after its appearance in the inaugural competition.

Both winners assured themselves of places in the knockout Preliminary Round while Municipal can advance to the Group Stage by finishing with the best overall record between the Apertura and Clausura.

The teams become the ninth and 10th clubs to clinch berths in the 2010-2011 Champions League, filling nearly half of the 24-team field. Teams that already have qualified are American sides Real Salt Lake, Columbus, Los Angeles and Seattle; Mexican clubs Monterrey and Cruz Azul; Honduran Apertura champion Marathon; and Arabe Unido of Panama.

FAS’ title was its first since the 2004-2005 Clausura, and gave it three more than Aguila, sending the annual confederation club championship next year to Santa Ana, El Salvador’s second largest city with a population of 275,000.

Municipal will try to improve on its first showing in the Champions League, when it won only one of six Group Stage matches and finished last behind Santos, the Puerto Rico Islanders and Tauro of Panama.

NEW YORK

Concacaf

Tags: aggregate victory, aguila, albarran, Ana, apertura, arabe unido, Arturo Albarran, cd fas, COLUMBUS, concacaf, concacaf champions league, Cruz, cruz azul, El Salvador, extra time, group stage, guatemalan, inaugural competition, Juan Carlos, Juan Carlos Moscoso, league crown, Los Angeles, Monterrey, New York, nicholas addlery, Panama, panama new york, Puerto Rico, puerto rico islanders, real salt lake, santa ana el salvador, Santos, Seattle, tauro

Monterrey seizes place in Champions League Group Stage

December 15, 2009

Monterrey will be the seventh different team from Mexico to play in the CONCACAF Champions League next season, earning a berth in the Group Stage with its third Mexican league crown.

Monterrey captured the spot with a 2-1 victory over Cruz Azul in Mexico City on Sunday in the second leg of the Apertura finals, completing a 6-4 aggregate win that gave the club its first title since 2002-2003 Clausura season.

By virtue of its runner-up finish, Cruz Azul will return for a third straight season, assured of at least a Preliminary Round berth. The Mexico City side has easily advanced past the early knockout stage of the competition each season so far, outscoring its two opponents, Hankook Verdes and Herediano 18-2 in four matches.

Chilean forward Humberto Suazo sealed Monterrey’s title Sunday with a 90^th-minute goal, giving him three in the two-leg finals and second time in four days he scored late to lead his side to victory. Suazo scored twice in Thursday’s 4-3 win at home, including the dramatic clincher in the 88^th minute.

Monterrey finished fifth in the Apertura regular season standings, eliminating America and Toluca in the Liguilla playoffs to reach the finals.

Monterrey and Cruz Azul become the sixth and seventh teams to guarantee themselves places in next season’s Champions League, joining American Major League Soccer clubs the Columbus Crew, Real Salt Lake, Los Angeles Galaxy and Seattle Sounders as well as Honduran side Marathon.

MEXICO CITY

Concacaf

Tags: berth, champions league group, clincher, columbus crew, concacaf champions league, cruz azul, group stage, herediano, knockout stage, league crown, los angeles galaxy, Major League Soccer, marathon mexico, mexico city, minute goal, Monterrey, real salt lake, soccer clubs, straight season, th minute

D.C. shooting for more improvement

August 18, 2009

D.C. United already has made history. Now it wants to make the quarterfinals.

By edging Luis Angel Firpo on penalty kicks, D.C. became the first Major League Soccer team to advance out of the preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions League.

Now, United is hoping to improve on last year’s group stage form, which saw D.C. earn just one point out of six matches.

A 2-0 league loss to Toronto FC on Saturday afternoon, though, wasn’t the ideal way to head into the group stage, especially with 10 games in the next 31 days.

“You always want to start these stretches in the right way,” D.C. coach Tommy Soehn said after the match. “It’s very disappointing and we’ll have to adjust very quickly. We have no time to hang our heads. We’re going to watch a lot of tape on this one…We had six fouls today. That just shows me that we’re not fighting enough.”

D.C. has the difficult task of heading to San Pedro Sula to take on Marathon on Tuesday night.

Marathon is two points in front of archrival Real Espana, having won four of its first six matches in the Honduran Apertura. Jerry Palacios struck twice in the opening 12 minutes, but Carlos Pavon scored three to lift Espana to a 3-2 win on Saturday at Estadio Francisco Morazan.

Like Soehn, Marathon coach Manuel Keosseian is concerned about his team’s fixture congestion.

“We have a heavy schedule,” he told La Tribuna. “We must handle the physical aspect to reach every game as best they can.”

One of four Mexican teams among the final 16 in the Champions League, Toluca meets Trinidad & Tobago’s San Juan Jabloteh at Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella, Trinidad Thursday night.

Toluca won its first three games to sit atop Group 1 in Mexican’s Apertura, but faltered Saturday, losing 1-0 to Monterrey. Despite the defeat, Toluca coach Jose Manuel De la Torre wasn’t especially concerned.

“I leave feeling calm,” he said. “I’m upset because of the defeat, but calm because of the effort and the way we played.”

It was the first game of the Apertura that Nelson Calderon failed to score.

“Today, things didn’t go as we planned,” said Calderon, who leads the league with four goals. “It hurts to lose the unbeaten streak because the team had set finishing the tournament unbeaten as a goal. The team gave their best effort and it wasn’t enough. They had opportunities and they put them in. We had one or two clear efforts, but we didn’t know how to take advantage of them.”

Jabloteh rallied to beat San Francisco of Panama 4-3 on aggregate to join fellow Trinidadian squad W Connection in the Group Stage. But while W Connection is attempting to bolster its roster ahead of the group stage, Jabloteh manager Earl Jean doesn’t think his roster is deep enough to compete in the group stage.

“I don’t think we have the depth for that kind of football at international level,” he told reporters after beating San Francisco. “We are doing what we can, but based on our financial problems it is very difficult. But, we will take our chances.”

In their first game back in the Digicel Pro League following an emotional win against San Francisco, Jabloteh tied W Connection before being upset by St. Ann’s Rangers 1-0 last Tuesday.

By Dylan Butler

Tags: Carlos Pavon, concacaf champions league, d c united, D.C., Dylan Butler, Earl Jean, fouls, francisco morazan, group stage, Jerry Palacios, jose manuel, luis angel firpo, Major League Soccer, Manny Ramjohn, Manuel Keosseian, marabella trinidad, marathon coach, Monterrey, Nelson Calderon, palacios, Panama, physical aspect, quarterfinals, San Francisco, san juan, san juan jabloteh, san pedro sula, soccer team, St. Ann, three games, Tobago, Toluca, Tommy Soehn, toronto fc, W. Connection

Faith in youth makes La Roja roar again

July 14, 2009

If ever an international football team merited the tag of perennial bridesmaids, it’s Chile.

The country’s football federation was founded in 1895 and Chile were one of the four founding members of the South American federation CONMEBOL in 1916, but they have never won a major international honour.

Chile have appeared at 35 Copa Americas, six times as hosts, but have nothing more than four runners-up finishes to show for their efforts, while their best World Cup showing occurred when, as hosts, they reached the semi-finals in 1962.

La Roja have not graced the sport’s greatest tournament since 1998, but recent developments suggest the nation’s footballing fortunes may be about to change.

In June, the Chilean under-20 team won the prestigious Toulon Tournament in France, beating the hosts 1-0 in the final, having lost to Italy by the same scoreline in the 2008 decider.

Their successes in Toulon followed on from a third-place finish at the 2007 Under-20 World Cup in Canada, where a scuffle with local police after their semi-final exit to Argentina was not enough to over-shadow an eye-catching showing in the tournament.

Indeed, 2007 marked a turning point in the national set-up, with enigmatic former Argentina coach Marcelo Bielsa taking the reins of the senior side after a 6-1 thrashing at the hands of eventual winners Brazil had ended Chile’s participation in that year’s Copa America.

The 53-year-old Argentine, who led his home nation to Olympic gold in 2004, inherited an ageing squad and quickly set about injecting some youth but the results, to begin with, were mixed.

In their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign Chile earned their first ever point against Uruguay in Montevideo and recorded their first ever win over Argentina in a World Cup qualifier, but 3-0 home defeats to Paraguay and then Brazil were the heaviest in their history.

Gradually, though, Bielsa’s attacking philosophy has taken hold.

Back-to-back wins in Paraguay (2-1) and at home to Bolivia (4-0) at the beginning of June have lifted them to second in the South American standings, one point behind group leaders Brazil with just four matches remaining.

Taxing trips to Brazil and Colombia await, but with the top four teams qualifying automatically, the finals in South Africa are in sight.

“This a cycle that is producing some very promising results and on top of that we are starting to mature as a team,” said Bielsa.

“We’re excited but we haven’t qualified yet. That’s why we remain cautious.”

The last Chilean side to reach the World Cup finals in 1998 boasted the talents of iconic strikers Ivan Zamorano and Marcelo Salas, and Salas came out of international retirement to score both goals in the 2-2 draw in Uruguay.

The 34-year-old’s return, though, was a short-lived affair, as Bielsa began to place increasing faith in his young tyros, led by 21-year-old centre-back Gary Medel, classy Villarreal midfielder Matias Fernandez and 20-year-old Udinese forward Alexis Sanchez.

“He’s a striker capable of weaving past three of four defenders and winning you games,” said defender Arturo Vidal of his team-mate Sanchez.

“Single-handedly, he can unlock any defensive formation.”

The average age of the starting XI that took to the field in the 4-0 victory over Bolivia in Santiago was a mere 24, with diminutive striker Humberto Suazo of Mexican side Monterrey the grandfather of the side at just 28 years old.

Sanchez dedicated the second of his two goals that night to Salas, who announced his retirement from the game in November and played his farewell match in front of 60,000 fans at the beginning of June.

PARIS (AFP)

Tags: american federation, Argentina, Argentine, arturo vidal, bolivia, brazil, bridesmaids, Canada, Chile, colombia, conmebol, copa america, copa americas, faith, final exit, football federation, France, Gary Medel, home nation, Humberto Suazo, international football, international honour, Italy, Ivan Zamorano, marcelo bielsa, Monterrey, Montevideo, olympic gold, PARIS, recent developments, reins, s chile, scoreline, South Africa, South American, Toulon, toulon tournament, World Cup, world cup qualifier

Perez gives Panama 1-1 draw with Mexico

July 10, 2009

HOUSTON – Mexico and Panama drew 1-1 Thurday night, a match which included a 12-minute delay late in the second half for pushing and shoving match with players leaving the bench and debris from the stands.

The result clinched quarterfinal berths for Canada, the United States and Guadeloupe, which beat Nicaragua 2-0 earlier in the evening.

The match finished with three players ejected as well as a coach — Mexican manager Javier Aguirre.

What was already a tense match turned ugly when Panama’s Ricardo Phillips pushed Aguirre near the Mexican bench. Phillips reacted after Aguirre appeared to kick him as Phillips dribbled the ball down the sideline. Aguirre extended his leg to stop the ball and made contact with Phillips.

Phillips pushed the coach and Mexico’s bench immediately reacted.

Soon drink cups and other items rained onto the field from the stands, mostly toward Panama players and its bench.

Panama players on the bench walked to the middle of the field in protest while Mexican players tried to calm the partisan crowd.

Peace was restored but not after both teams lost momentum.

The match was testy early but reached a peak when Mexico midfielder Luis Noriega and Panama’s Armando Gun were shown straight red cards for a mini-altercation during first-half injury time.

Gun took umbrage at a foul by Giovani dos Santos near Panama’s bench. He reacted and Noriega responded to Gun’s aggression, prompting a brief skirmish between both teams.

That’s when referee Joel Aguilar took out his red card and showed it to Noriega and Gun.

Players from both sides also exchanged pushes earlier in the match that totaled 25 fouls (Mexico 16, Panama nine) in the first 45 minutes.

Things perhaps heated after Panama’s Blas Perez led an elbow to the back of Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa in the 14th minute while Ochoa went up for a long centered pass that sailed over the crossbar.

Ochoa laid inside his goal for a couple of minutes, reaching for his lower back. He remained in the match.

The fighting overshadowed the match that featured goals by Mexico’s Miguel Sabah and Panama’s Perez.

Sabah scored 10 minutes into the match. Perez scored 19 minutes later.

Sabah sent Giovanni dos Santos’ rolling cross to the opposite post to beat Panama goalkeeper Jaime Penedo, sending his shot into the lower right corner of the net.

Dos Santos broke away with only the goalkeeper to beat when Israel Martinez filtered a pass through Panama defenders near the left sideline.

Dos Santos then sprinted about 40 yards before sending the ball for Sabah, who finished for his first goal in four caps with El Tri.

It was also the 500th goal in Gold Cup history.

Sabah was the Mexican Clausura scoring champion in his first season with Monarcas Morelia.

It was Panama’s leaders and national icons that helped “La Marea Roja,” the Red Wave. It was those same leaders that are very familiar with Mexican soccer.

That includes Perez.

The Panama forward and Felipe Baloy play in the Mexican Premier division.

Perez tied the game in the 29th minute after he forced his way through two Mexican defenders. He tapped in a bouncing ball near the mouth of the goal past Ochoa.

Perez, who plays for Pachuca, reached a Baloy pass via header while Mexico defenders Jose Castro and Jonny Magallon watched the play develop.

Mexican defenders displayed their displeasure briefly pointing fingers, pointing at the ground near the scene of the defensive mishap while screaming at each other.

Baloy, who has made a career in Mexico playing for Monterrey, out-jumped his man near the penalty mark to send the ball to Blas.

By Ivan Orozco

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CONCACAF discontinues participation in Copa Sudamericana

July 1, 2009

NEW YORK – CONCACAF has elected to discontinue participation in CONMEBOL’s Copa Sudamericana.

CONCACAF clubs from the United States, Mexico and Central America have taken part in the Copa Sudamericana since 2005, with Mexico’s Pachuca being crowned champion in 2006.

In 2005, CONCACAF reached an agreement with CONMEBOL to play in four editions of the South American club tournament.
The agreement was satisfied with the appearance of Mexican clubs CD Guadalajara and San Luis competed in the 2008 edition.

Now, with the CONCACAF Champions League in its second year and the higher level of activity in the confederation, CONCACAF has elected not to extend its relationship with CONMEBOL for the Sudamericana.

“We regret that Mexico’s Copa Sudamericana designees Monterrey and Puebla will not participate in the tournament due to CONCACAF’s decision,” CONCACAF General Secretary Chuck Blazer said. “However, we hope that both teams will have opportunity to participate in future CONCACAF competitions.”

“By contrast CONCACAF is committed to the 2010 Copa Libertadores and will utilize Interliga to qualify teams. In November the Executive Committee will review CONCACAF’s future participation in the Libertadores.”

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CONCACAF says Adios to Copa Sudamericana

July 1, 2009

NEW YORK (AFP) – The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) announced on Tuesday that it will no longer participate in Copa Sudamericana, the Americas’ second-best club event.

US, Mexican and Central American clubs have taken part in the Sudamericana since 2005 under a four-year deal with South American football governing body CONMEBOL.

The decision means that Mexican clubs Monterrey and Puebla, which were set to play in this year’s Copa Sudamericana, will be withdrawn from the event.

And while CONCACAF teams will take part in next year’s Copa Libertadores, the biggest club tournament in the Americas, CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer said his group will review future play in that event in November.

“We regret that Mexico’s Copa Sudamericana designees Monterrey and Puebla will not participate in the tournament due to CONCACAF?s decision,” Blazer said.

“CONCACAF is committed to the 2010 Copa Libertadores… In November the executive committee will review CONCACAF?s future participation in the Libertadores.”

The move allows the clubs to participate in the CONCACAF Champions League, a second-year regional event.

A swine flu outbreak nearly two months ago in Mexico had South American teams refuse to play Copa Libertadores matches in Mexico, citing health risks, which sparked a threat by the Mexican Football Federation to drop out of other events with South American teams. Cooler heads eventually prevailed.

Tags: american clubs, blazer, Caribbean, caribbean association football, Central America, Central American, Champions, Chuck Blazer, concacaf champions league, CONCACAF Champions' Cup, confederation, conmebol, cooler heads, copa libertadores, copa sudamericana, executive committee, flu outbreak, football federation, general secretary, governing body, health risks, Mexico, Monterrey, New York, Puebla, regional event, South American, south american football, swine flu, U.S.

La Volpe opens his mouth and puts his foot in it

April 14, 2009

Mexico’s recent tribulations — four coaches in the last three years, two defeats to Honduras in five months, an even more humiliating loss in Jamaica — have left many supporters with a certain nostalgia for former coach Ricardo La Volpe.

Gruff and outspoken, La Volpe brought almost unprecedented stability between 2002 and 2006 as he actually completed the four-year cycle between World Cups. He made Mexico one of the world’s most tactically versatile teams, boldly drafted in numerous young players and enjoyed competitive wins over both Brazil and Argentina.

Now coach of Mexican club Atlas, La Volpe is still producing the goods and has taken the unfashionable side on an impressive nine-match unbeaten run which has included a 1-0 win away to their more powerful neighbours Guadalajara.

Yet, not for the first time, La Volpe has threatened to undo his good work on the field with his comments off it. Tact is not his strong point, as he proved once again with a stunning public attack on his squad.

“We don’t have any players who can tip the balance of a match,” he complained, adding that if the players did not understand his tactics — a criticism which has been levelled at him in the past — then they should leave.

“The players have to adapt to me, not the other way around. I’m 57 years old and I can’t change my style. My team plays the way I want and if they can’t understand it, their agents should go and look for another team as we can always sell them.”

It has been like this throughout his recent career. La Volpe spent most of his time as Mexico coach squabbling with the media, saying: “Seventy-per cent of journalists are really, really bad.”

He threatened to quit four times, backtracking on each occasion by saying his remarks had been misinterpreted. He left the talented Cuauhtemoc Blanco out of the World Cup squad while including his own son-in-law Rafael Garcia despite only a handful of appearances in the run-up to the tournament.

He is also not renowned for being a gracious loser. After a World Cup qualifying defeat in the United States La Volpe said: “It’s easy for them, because they aren’t playing under any pressure. My mother, my grandmother or my great grandmother could play in a team like that.”

He fell foul of FIFA’s no smoking rules at the Confederations Cup and committed a gaffe on the eve of the World Cup when he appeared in a soft drinks commercial for a rival of one of the Mexican federation’s own sponsors.

After leaving Mexico, he joined Argentina’s most popular club Boca Juniors and celebrated his home debut by pulling a bright red tie out of his wardrobe — a colour which represents their rivals River Plate.

After coaching Velez Sarsfield, La Volpe moved back to Mexico to Monterrey where he stoked up the rivalry with UANL Tigres by describing them as boring.

“I’d rather go shopping than watch them play,” he said. “If that’s football, I’m going to take up baseball.”

PHOTO: Ricardo Lavolpe as head coach of Argentine soccer club Velez Sarfield, April 2007. REUTERS/Andres Stapff

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Tags: Andres Stapff, Argentina, Argentine, brazil, club atlas, cuauhtemoc, five months, former coach, Guadalajara, handful, Honduras, Jamaica, journalists, match, Mexico, Monterrey, neighbours, nostalgia, rafael garcia, Ricardo La, ricardo la volpe, Ricardo Lavolpe, squabbling, strong point, tact, tribulations, United States, World Cup, world cup squad, world cups

Latin American complexities — Part three: Mexico

March 9, 2009

This is the fourth instalment in our look at the wacky world of Latin American championships having started with an introduction and then analysed Peru’s interesting league system and moved on to Uruguay.

Today, we’ve reached Mexico and it’s a goody.

Mexico has some of the finest stadiums in Latin America and pays some of the highest wages. It is also notable for having a system in which the championship’s best team repeatedly fails to win the title.

Like several countries, Mexico holds two championships per season, the Apertura and Clausura. There is no overall champion.

Each championships consists of a qualifying stage follow by a knockout stage, known as the Liguilla.

In the qualifying stage, the 18 teams play each other once — but are curiously divided into three groups. The top two teams in each group qualify for the quarter-finals while the two best teams from the remainder, regardless of group, also go through.

There are two major drawbacks: some groups often turn out to be much stronger than others and it is possible for a team to finish bottom of their group and have more points than the leaders of a different group; it is also common for the best team in the qualifying stage to then get unceremoniously dumped out in the quarter-finals.

Of the last five champions, only Pachuca also had the best overall record in the qualifying stage.

To complicate matters further, relegation is decided over three full seasons — which means six championships. This makes it theoretically possible for a team to win the championship and get relegated at the same time.

Tigres UANL came close to achieving this unique feat. They were relegated in 1996 and also qualified for the play offs, but lost to Necaxa in the quarter-finals.

PHOTO: Toluca’s Carlos Esquivel looks surprised during a Mexican League match against Tigres at the Universitario stadium in Monterrey November 8, 2008. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo

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