2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League Results by Country

With the group stage kicking off tonight, it seemed like a good time to total things up by country. The surprises so far:

MLS Goes Five-for-Five: All four US teams made it through to the group stage. Additionally Toronto FC made it to the group stage and propelled Canada to the top of the list thus far.

The Caribbean Flame-out: This is the first year in which no team from the Caribbean made it out of the prelims, and the first year in which the Puerto Rico Islanders won't be competing in the group stage.

              W   L   T    GF   GA   DIFF  Win%   PPG

Canada        2   0   0     4    2    2    100    3.00

Mexico        3   1   0    11    3    8    75.0   2.25

USA           3   1   0     4    1    3    75.0   2.25

Costa Rica    1   0   1    10    2    8    50.0   2.00

Honduras      1   1   0     4    2    2    50.0   1.50

Puerto Rico   1   1   0     3    3    0    50.0   1.50

Panama        1   1   0     1    2    -1   50.0   1.50

Guatemala     1   1   0     2    4    -2   50.0   1.50

El Salvador   1   3   0     3    5    -2   25.0   0.75

Guyana        0   1   1     2   10    -8    0.0   0.50

Nicaragua     0   2   0     2    4    -2    0.0   0.00

Haiti         0   2   0     0    7    -7    0.0   0.00

Unlike past years, I will just keep updating the standings in this post throughout the competition.

Which US Teams Do the Best in the CONCACAF Champions League?

Now that we have a couple of years of data to work with, I wanted to know if how teams qualified for the CCL had any correlation to their success. There are four ways to qualify for the tournament:

• Win MLS Cup
• Win the US Open Cup
• Win the Supporters Shield
• Be the MLS Cup Runner Up

If the same team fills more than one of these slots (like Columbus which won MLS Cup and the Supporters Shield in the same year) another team gets one of the slots. In the analysis below, those teams are lumped into the "other" category. For any team that would have qualified in more than one way, I've counted them in BOTH of the appropriate categories below.

I assumed that the winners of the Supporters Shield would have the best record - after all they had the best record over the course of an entire season. It seemed like these teams should be best over the long haul in this sort of tournament. I was a little surprised by what I found.

MLS Cup Runner Up
Through three years, the teams that lost the MLS Cup game have fared the worst. In fact, until this year, no team even made it through to the group stage. These numbers will change after the 2011-12 tournament as all four US teams punched their tickets to the group stage this year.

          Team            W   L   T   GF   GA   DIF  Win%   PPG
2007-08   New England     0   2   0    1    6   -5    0.0   0.00
2009-10   NY Red Bulls    0   1   1    3    4   -1    0.0   0.50
2010-11   Los Angeles     1   1   0    3    5   -2   50.0   1.50
          Total           1   4   1    7   15   -8   16.7   0.67

Other
Chivas made it into the tournament in 2007-08 because New England won the US Open Cup and lost the MLS Cup game. Houston qualified in 2009-10 because Columbus won the double the year before. It's hard to draw any conclusions with the data so heavily concentrated in one season.

          Team            W   L   T   GF   GA   DIF  Win%   PPG
2007-08   Chivas USA      0   1   1    1    3   -2    0.0   0.50
2009-10   Houston         2   3   1    9    8   1    33.3   1.17
          Total           2   4   2   10   11   -1   25.0   1.00

Supporters' Shield Winners
Here's an interesting one. If DC United doesn't flame out in the inaugural tournament, the results come out much differently. When you remove their stats, the Points Per Game rises to 1.38, which puts the Supporters Shield winners just behind the MLS Cup Winners.

          Team            W   L   T   GF   GA   DIF  Win%   PPG
2007-08   DC United       0   5   1    4   13   -9    0.0   0.17
2009-10   Columbus        2   3   3    9   14   -5   25.0   1.13
2010-11   Columbus        4   3   1   11    8   3    50.0   1.63
          Total           6  11   5   24   35   -11  27.3   1.05

US Open Cup Winners
Truthfully I thought these numbers would be much worse, as it seems like many MLS teams don't take the Open Cup very seriously. As it turns out, the numbers are faily 'meh' - not horrible, not great. 1.17 Points Per Game is good enough for second best.

          Team            W   L   T   GF   GA   DIF  Win%   PPG
2007-08   New England     0   2   0    1    6   -5    0.0   0.00
2009-10   DC United       4   2   2   14   10   4    50.0   1.75
2010-11   Seattle         2   5   1    8   12   -4   25.0   0.88
          Total           6   9   3   23   28   -5   33.3   1.17

MLS Cup Champions
The MLS Cup Winners have actually had the best success, buoyed in part by the great run by Real Salt Lake in the most recent edition of the tournament. Maybe the playoffs prove something after all.

          Team            W   L   T   GF   GA   DIF  Win%   PPG   
2007-08   Houston         2   2   4   10   13   -3   25.0   1.25
2009-10   Columbus        2   3   3    9   14   -5   25.0   1.13
2010-11   Real Salt Lake  6   3   3   26   17   9    50.0   1.75
          Total          10   8   10  45   44   1    35.7   1.43

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

Is Arabe Unido the Dirtiest Team in the CONCACAF Champions League?

Over the last two years I've developed an overwhelming hatred of Panama's Arabe Unido. The strategy in their 2009-10 home leg against Houston consisted of two-footed tackles and overall hackery. This year's performance against Real Salt Lake alternated between thuggery and the worst display of "ow my spleen" time-wasting I've ever seen. If E/R was still running we might have seen a number of their players on gurneys as extras. With nine yellow and one red card in just two games this year, it made me wonder if they were the dirtiest team in the CONCACAF Champions League.

In order to study this I combed through last year's discipline stats. While Arabe Unido had the most red cards of any team in the 2009-2010 edition of the tournament, they weren't even in the top five as far as yellow cards per game. After factoring out the teams that only played twice, these teams rose to the top:

             YC/G  RC/G
Pachuca      3.70  0.00
Houston      3.17  0.17
Toluca       3.00  0.00
Cruz Azul    2.90  0.10
DC United    2.63  0.25
Columbus     2.38  0.13
Arabe Unido  2.30  0.30

So three Mexican teams, three American teams and then Arabe Unido. Perhaps there's something about playing American teams that brings out the worst in Arabe.

ReAL Epic Failure

Three stinking minutes. All Real Salt Lake had to do was hold out for another three minutes last night and they would have become the first American team to beat a Mexican team in Mexico during an official competition. Instead they managed to give up three goals from the 87th minute onward and go on to lose 5-4 to Cruz Azul. They even managed to score a goal of their own in there to level at 4-4 and managed to screw that up as well.

Un-frickin-believable.

Well That Didn't Take Long

Less than 24 hours after I opined that a Mexican team had to lose at some point in the CONCACAF Champions League, Toronto FC managed to shock Cruz Azul 2-1 at BMO Field. By defeating last year's runners-up Toronto FC became the first MLS team to beat a Mexican team in the 2+ years of the Champions League. The last time an MLS team defeated a Mexican team in a CONCACAF tournament was April of 2008 when DC United beat Pachuca in the semifinals of the old Champions Cup.

2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League Results By Country

With the group stage about to kick off, it seems like a good time to recap the current results by country. Teams from Mexico, the United States, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and Panama will join the survivors of the preliminary round, so these number may change drastically by the end of the group stage. I mean, Mexican teams have to lose at some point, right?

                   W  L  T  GF  GA  GD  Win %  PPG
Mexico             4  0  0  15   2  13  100.0  3.00
Canada             1  0  1   3   2   1   50.0  2.00
USA                2  1  1   5   6  -1   50.0  1.75
Puerto Rico        1  1  0   5   3   2   50.0  1.50
El Salvador        1  1  2   4   3   1   25.0  1.25
Honduras           1  2  1   6   5   1   25.0  1.00
Trinidad & Tobago  1  2  1   6  10  -4   25.0  1.00
Costa Rica         0  1  1   4   6  -2    0.0  0.50
Guatemala          0  1  1   1   3  -2    0.0  0.50
Panama             1  3  0   4  13  -9   25.0  0.00

An Open Letter to Colin Clarke

I'm sorry for ever doubting you could beat the LA Galaxy in your CONCACAF Champions League series. I realize that you coached the Puerto Rico Islanders to the semifinals of the inaugural CONCACAF Champions League. I know you drew with Saprissa, Columbus and Cruz Azul in the group stage of last year's tournament, coming within five minutes of beating Cruz Azul and giving up Saprissa's equalizer in the 89th minute. It just wasn't enough to convince me this year would be the same.

To be fair the Islanders are at the bottom of the USL Conference within the USSF D2 league, and were just 1-4-4 on the road this season coming into their game with the Galaxy. But your Islanders beat the Galaxy anyway, pasting them 4-1 at the Home Depot Center. Four away goals more or less seals the deal unless a cataclysm of biblical proportions happens in the second leg in Bayamon.

So I apologize. I will never doubt you again. Please come coach the Chicago Fire.

Love, PhantomTollbooth

CONCACAF Champions League - Best Finishes By Country

I realize the competition is only two years old, but here's the best finish by country.

Belize - Prelims: Hankook Verdes (2008/09)
Canada - Quarterfinals: Montreal Impact (2008/09)
Costa Rica - Group Stage: Saprissa (2008/09 and 2009/10)
El Salvador - Group Stage: L.A. Firpo (2008/09), Isidro Metapan (2009/10)
Guatemala - Quarterfinals: Comunicaciones (2009/10)
Honduras - Quarterfinals: Marathon (2008/09 and 2009/10)
Jamaica - Prelims: Harbour View (2008/09)
Mexico - Champions: Cruz Azul (2008/09), Pachuca (2009/10)
Nicaragua - Prelims: Real Esteli (2008/09)
Panama - Quarterfinals: Arabe Unido (2009/10)
Puerto Rico - Semifinals: Puerto Rico Islanders (2008/09)
Trinidad & Tobago - Group Stage: Three Teams
USA - Quarterfinals: Houston Dynamo (2008/09), Columbus Crew (2009/10)

Final 2009 CONCACAF Champions League Results By Country

I'm finally getting around to mopping up some things. Here's the final CCL results by country. I'm sure everyone is surprised to see Mexico at the top of the list for the second year in a row.

                W  L  T  GF  GA  DIF  Win%  PPG
Mexico         25  8  7  79  36   43  62.5  2.05
Honduras        9  9  0  29  39  -10  50.0  1.50
Panama          5  6  1  17  18   -1  41.7  1.33
USA             8  9  7  35  36   -1  33.3  1.29
Guatemala       3  5  1   9  21  -12  33.3  1.11
Costa Rica      2  5  3  11  20   -9  20.0  0.90
Puerto Rico     1  3  4   7  12   -5  12.5  0.88
Trin & Tobago   4 10  2  21  31  -10  25.0  0.88
El Salvador     1  5  2   5  21  -16  12.5  0.63
Canada          0  1  1   0   1   -1   0.0  0.50

An Embarrassment of Riches

The recently-signed MLS collective bargaining agreement raised the salary cap to $2.55 million per year, with 5% increases each of the four years after that. If you think that's a small number, take a look at our neighbors to the south in Jamaica.

Howard Hamilton recently published a summary of a couple of articles showing just how cash-starved the Jamaican federation (and it's club teams) are. The Jamaican league has decided not to participate in the CFU Champions Cup - the regional tournament which is used to qualify teams for the CONCACAF Champions League. The reason was that the tab for playing these games was too much for the teams to bear. So what is the estimated cost for making it through the tournament?

$65,000

That's right -- an extra $65,000 is enough to put these teams significantly in the hole. There's your dose of perspective for the next time you want to complain that MLS teams aren't spending enough.

CONCACAF Champions League Quarters Set

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  75.0%  2.39
Panama             5   4  1  17  14   3  50.0%  1.60
Honduras           8   8  0  26  33  -7  50.0%  1.50
USA                7   8  7  31  31   0  31.8%  1.27
Guatemala          3   5  0   7  18 -11  37.5%  1.13
Costa Rica         2   5  3  11  20  -9  20.0%  0.90
Puerto Rico        1   3  4   7  12  -5  12.5%  0.88
Trinidad & Tobago  4  10  2  21  31 -10  25.0%  0.88
El Salvador        1   5  2   5  21 -16  12.5%  0.63
Canada             0   1  1   0   1  -1   0.0%  0.50

Crew, Sounders to Enter 2010 Champions League

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.

The rest of the field will consist of the MLS Cup Winners and runner up, unless the Crew or Sounders are one of those teams. In that case, the slots will be filled by the team with the most points in the 2009 regular season that hasn't already claimed a spot. At his point, that would be one of Houston, Los Angeles, Chivas USA or the Fire, all of whom are knotted at 45 points going into the last weekend of the season.

MLS Gets Just One to the Champions League Knockouts

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. It makes you wonder how things would have gone if Tom Soehn had actually brought his full squad to Mexico.

No congratulations however for Houston. With their fate in their own hands they managed to give up three goals to Metapan, and lose a clinching game to a team that had not won a game or score a goal in the group stage. Painful...

A MASSIVE Win For the Crew

Update: Reader Dr. Chuck Pearson left a comment pointing me to the missing game. The Crew lost 2-0 to Saprissa in the one and only edition of the CONCACAF Giants Cup in 2001.

Last night the Columbus Crew became the first MLS team to beat CD Saprissa in Costa Rica. Soccer By Ives is reporting that it's the first time in seven tries for an MLS club, but I can only find six games at Estadio Ricardo Saprissa:

9/16/09 Saprissa 0, Crew 1
10/9/08 Saprissa 2, DC United 2
3/12/08 Saprissa 3, Houston 0
3/8/06 Saprissa 3, LA Galaxy 2
3/16/05 Saprissa 2, KC Wizards 1
4/14/04 Saprissa 2, Chicago 0

I think SBI might be mistaken, but if anyone can find the missing result, post a comment.

Can MLS Advance to the Champions League Knockout Stage?

With one round to go in the group stage, all three remaining MLS teams still have a chance to advance. In my eyes, one is a shoe-in, one is a tossup and one needs a well-placed outbreak of swine flu among their rivals to advance.

Houston

Houston is currently in third place, but they hold the tiebreaker with Arabe Unido. To advance, Houston must win against Isidro Metapan and Arabe Unido must lose to Pachuca. With Metapan winless and scoreless in five group stage games, the Dynamo have to like their chances of gaining a win. The problem is that Pachuca has already punched their ticket and may not especially care about their tie with Unido. As an MLS fan, you have to hope that Pachuca wants some payback for the 4-1 loss they suffered in Panama.

My take: 50% chance Houston advances

DC United

DC is level on points with Marathon of Honduras and holds the tiebreaker going into the last round. As long as United matches Marathon's result, they advance. The problem is that Marathon plays winless San Juan Jabloteh, and DC plays Toluca... in Mexico. Did I happen to mention no MLS team has even won in Mexico? Oh, and their first-string keeper is out with an injury. Let's face it United is totally hosed.

My Take: 5% chance United advances.

Columbus

The Crew control their destiny. They are two points ahead of Saprissa, and can guarantee advancing with a tie or win against the Puerto Rico Islanders regardless of what the Purple Monster does against Cruz Azul. It's a tricky tie for the Crew, but one they should be able to handle.

My Take: 80% chance Club Massive advances.

2009 CONCACAF Champions League Results By Country

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  36.8  1.37
Costa Rica         2  4  3  10  18  -8  22.2  1.00
Puerto Rico        1  3  3   6  11  -5  14.3  0.86
Guatemala          2  5  0   5  17 -12  28.6  0.86
Trinidad & Tobago  3  9  2  16  25  -9  21.4  0.79
Canada             0  1  1   0   1  -1   0.0  0.50
El Salvador        0  5  2   2  19 -17   0.0  0.29

The themes of the tournament so far:

• The Mexican teams have been even more dominant this year than last, only losing two games combined to this point. Mexican teams lost 12 games in last year's tournament -- there's no way they can drop more than 10 games total with the schedule that remains.
• The US teams have been much better than last season, where they only managed two wins in the entire tournament.
• The Caribbean teams (T&T and Puerto Rico) were second and third after the prelims. Neither of them have found much joy in the group stage.
  
• El Salvador - ugh.
  

Houston vs. Pachuca = 2 Goals for Someone

The Houston Dynamo is competing in just its fourth season in MLS, but when they square off with Pachuca again in two weeks, it will already be the sixth time they have tangled with the Tuzos. If they can win the game, it will actually level the overall series at three wins apiece:

9/16/09 Pachuca 2, Houston 0 (CONCACAF Champions League)
7/29/08 Pachuca 0, Houston 2 (Superliga)
3/15/07 Pachuca 0, Houston 2 (CONCACAF Champions Cup)
4/05/07 Pachuca 5, Houston 2 (CONCACAF Champions Cup)
8/14/07 Pachuca 2, Houston 2* (Superliga)
*Pachuca wins on PKs

Going by the numbers, I predict a 2-0 Houston win at Robinson Stadium on the 30th.