CONCACAF Champions League - MLS vs USL/NASL

Since qualifying for the CONCACAF Champions League is by country and not by league, it's possible for the same league to qualify teams for multiple countries. For the current 2011-12 tournament, the USL/NASL could have qualified teams by winning the US Open Cup, the Nutrilite Canadian Championship and through the qualifying for Caribbean teams.

As it turned out, the NASL only qualified one team (the Puerto Rico Islanders, while MLS qualified five teams -- all four American representatives and the Canadian spot seized by Toronto FC.

I thought it might be interesting to see CCL results broken down by league, so here's some numbers for you.

All-time Results

          W   L   T  GF   GA  DIFF  Win%  PPG
MLS      26  34  22  107  123  -16  31.7  1.22
2008-09   2  10   6  16    35  -19  11.1  0.67
2009-10   8  10   8  35    37   -2  30.8  1.23
2010-11  16  14   8  56    51   5   42.1  1.47
                   
USL      15  11  12  53    51   2   39.5  1.50
2008-09  11   5   6  33    26   7   50.0  1.77
2009-10   1   3   4   7    12   -5  12.5  0.88
2010-11   3   3   2  13    13   0   37.5  1.38

Some might use this data to argue that USL/NASL teams are not that far off quality-wise from their MLS counterparts. However if you look a little deeper, you can see that a USL/NASL team has only managed to wrest a qualifying spot away from an MLS team once -- in 2008 when the Montreal Impact represented Canada. If anything, you might be able to argue that MLS should annex the Puerto Rico Islanders, as they make up the bulk of the non-MLS results.

All-time qualifiers

MLS
2008-09: New England Revolution, Chivas USA, Houston Dynamo and DC United (USA)
2009-10: Columbus Crew, DC United, Houston Dynamo and NY Red Bulls (USA), Toronto FC (Canada)
2010-11: Columbus Crew, Los Angeles Galaxy, Real Salt Lake and Seattle Sounders (USA), Toronto FC (Canada)

USL
2008-09: Montreal Impact (Canada), Puerto Rico Islanders (Caribbean)
2009-10: Puerto Rico Islanders (Caribbean)
2010-11: Puerto Rico Islanders (Caribbean)

CONCACAF Champions League -- All-Time Results by Country

Below are the results by country for the first three full years of the Champions League. Once the 2011-12 tourney is done, I'll update this post.

As you can see, not every country competes in the tournament every year. The 2011-12 tournament will see two new countries added to the list: Guyana and Haiti.

                   W   L   T  GF   GA  DIFF Win%  PPG
Belize             0   2   0  0    12  -12  0.0   0.00
2008-09            0   2   0  0    12  -12  0.0   0.00
                  
Canada             8   5   7  23   20   3  40.0   1.55
2008-09            5   2   3  15   10   5  50.0   1.80
2009-10            0   1   1  0     1  -1   0.0   0.50
2010-11            3   2   3  8     9  -1  37.5   1.50
                  
Costa Rica        11  12   7  40   49  -9  36.7   1.33
2008-09            3   3   2  9    12  -3  37.5   1.38
2009-10            2   5   3  11   20  -9  20.0   0.90
2010-11            6   4   2  20   17   3  50.0   1.67
                  
El Salvador        4  13   9  20   51  -31 15.4   0.81
2008-09            2   3   3  9    12  -3  25.0   1.13
2009-10            1   5   2  5    21  -16 12.5   0.63
2010-11            1   5   4  6    18  -12 10.0   0.70
                  
Guatemala          7  11   7  32   55  -23 28.0   1.12
2008-09            2   3   3  13   18  -5  25.0   1.13
2009-10            3   5   1  9    21  -12 33.3   1.11
2010-11            2   3   3  10   16  -6  25.0   1.13
                  
Honduras          22  23   7  80   83  -3  42.3   1.40
2008-09            6   5   5  27   18   9  37.5   1.44
2009-10            9   9   0  29   39  -10 50.0   1.50
2010-11            7   9   2  24   26  -2  38.9   1.28
                  
Jamaica            0   1   0  0     3  -3   0.0   0.00
2008-09            0   1   0  0     3  -3   0.0   0.00
                  
Mexico            73  30  24  254 122  132  57.5  1.91
2008-09           23  12  10  84   44   40  51.1  1.76
2009-10           25   8   7  79   36   43  62.5  2.05
2010-11           25  10   7  91   42   49  59.5  1.95
                  
Nicaragua          0   1   1  0     1  -1    0.0  0.50
2008-09            0   1   1  0     1  -1    0.0  0.50
                  
Panama            11  21   6  46   70  -24  28.9  0.95
2008-09            4   7   5  21   25  -4   25.0  1.06
2009-10            5   6   1  17   18  -1   41.7  1.33
2010-11            2   8   0  8    27  -19  20.0  0.30
                  
Puerto Rico       10   9   9  38   41  -3   35.7  1.39
2008-09            6   3   3  18   16   2   50.0  1.75
2009-10            1   3   4  7    12  -5   12.5  0.88
2010-11            3   3   2  13   13   0   37.5  1.38
                  
Trinidad & Tobago  8  22   4  43   78  -35  23.5  0.82
2008-09            3   5   0  9    16  -7   37.5  1.13
2009-10            4  10   2  21   31  -10  25.0  0.88
2010-11            1   7   2  13   31  -18  10.0  0.50
                  
USA               23  31  18  99  113  -14  31.9  1.21
2008-09            2  10   6  16   35  -19  11.1  0.67
2009-10            8   9   7  35   36  -1   33.33 1.29
2010-11           13  12   5  48   42   6   43.33 1.47

Final 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League Results By Country

Well, I suppose if I'm going to do this again for 2011-12, I should probably post the summary stats from last year first, huh?

                   W   L  T  GF  GA  DIF  Win%  PPG
Mexico            25  10  7  91  42   49  59.5  1.95
Costa Rica         6   4  2  20  17    3  50.0  1.67
Canada             3   2  3   8   9   -1  37.5  1.50
USA               13  12  5  48  42    6  43.3  1.47
Puerto Rico        3   3  2  13  13    0  37.5  1.38
Honduras           7   9  2  24  26   -2  38.9  1.28
Guatemala          2   3  3  10  16   -6  25.0  1.13
El Salvador        1   5  4   6  18   -12 10.0  0.70
Trinidad & Tobago  1   7  2  13  31   -18 10.0  0.50
Panama             2   8  0   8  27   -19 20.0  0.30