RSL to CONCACAF Finals!

RSL lost last night 2-1, but advanced to the CONCACAF Champions League Finals! The won the two game series 3-2 (think of each game as being a half and RSL won the first half 2-0).



They will now play a Mexican club for the bragging rights as the best soccer team in North America. No American team has ever made it this far in this tournament.



Great accomplishment! Way to go RSL!

I'm going to the finals game with a big group of old friends, hopefully we'll already be up in the aggregate at that point.

Lucky! I have to miss the game! I've had season seats all seven years and I'm doing my two-weeks (actually three this year) of training for the National Guard from 16 Apr - 7 May.



Granted I'm going to Croatia for a language refresher course. But still! I'm going to miss the biggest games in RSL history!

They're only the biggest games thus far; after we win, there will be much bigger games that you can attend!

Yep like the MLS Cup Finals this year! RSL is far and away the best team and organization in MLS.

Maybe I'll hit up this game.

As soon as RSL scored that goal, I knew it was over. Saprissa need to win 4-1 to get by on aggregate (something the announcers failed to mention until the 85th minute or so).



My wife and I are already planning on going to the USMNT-Spain friendly in June, so the Rio Tinto leg of the final is probably out...



BTW, Spiff, do you have extensive experience in Croatia? My wife and I are thinking about going to Dubrovnik or Split or both in the early fall and are very open to recommendation.

I vacationed at both about 4 years ago. Loved Dubrovnik. Be careful swimming in the water. I got some water in my lungs and got Bronchitis. Ruined the rest of the trip. There is a cruise there that visits 3 islands. The meal on ship was great. If you can take the bus to Lake Platvice national park (the bus goes there). It is one of top water fall parks in the world.

scott715 wrote:
I vacationed at both about 4 years ago. Loved Dubrovnik. Be careful swimming in the water. I got some water in my lungs and got Bronchitis. Ruined the rest of the trip. There is a cruise there that visits 3 islands. The meal on ship was great. If you can take the bus to Lake Platvice national park (the bus goes there). It is one of top water fall parks in the world.

Cheers Scott! I'm pretty excited about Croatia.

So, I'm not a huge soccer fan, but this is actually something pretty cool. If RSL wins this series, they will be the first MLS team to play in the Club World Cup. Playing against teams like Manchester United, Real Madrid, etc (not necessarily those teams, but teams from those leagues).



This would be a huge thing not only locally, or nationally, but internationally. Good luck RSL.

Wouldn't it be funny if we played vs Real Madrid, the team we decided to copy?

I came across this Grant Wahl article from before the first leg--a good read in general, I might add--but there was a great quote in the article:

To say that [RSL Coach Jason] Kreis is single-minded about soccer might be an understatement. "I don't think he watches other sports," says [team captain Kyle] Beckerman. "He just met [BYU basketball star] Jimmer Fredette the other day, and he didn't know who he was. All the rest of the guys are like, 'Jimmer!'"

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/grant_wahl/04/20/rsl/index.html

So funny that a bunch of professional athletes were stoked to meet Jimmer, love it!

Bummed there was not a good outcome tonight for RSL and MLS soccer.

Yeah, it was probably a fair outcome. Monterrey was the better team.

RSL had their chances. They gave up a weak goal at the end of the first half and didn't capitalize on some really good chances. Their best players didn't play their best on Wednesday, and I guess some of the credit for that goes to Monterrey.

For someone uneducated in international soccer tournaments outside of the World Cup, could someone explain exactly what RSL accomplished and what they did to get there?



I'm intrigued but totally ignorant.

tmoney35 wrote:
For someone uneducated in international soccer tournaments outside of the World Cup, could someone explain exactly what RSL accomplished and what they did to get there?



I'm intrigued but totally ignorant.

FIFA, the international body governing soccer, is divided into 6 continental governing bodies--Europe, Asia, Africa, North/Central America, South America, Oceania. For the World Cup, each continent is allocated a certain number of slots and the continental body determines how the slots will be divvied amongst their member national teams--this is referred to as World Cup Qualification.



Separately, the continental body also holds a continental championship tournament for national teams during a World Cup off year (once every 2-4 years depending on the continent)--the most popular is the quadrennial European or Euro championship because the overall level of soccer played there is generally higher than the World Cup as there are no losers like North Korea that make it. The winners of the continental championship go on to play in the Confederations Cup (held the year before the World Cup) along with the defending World Cup champion and the upcoming host of the World Cup.



All of the above is at the national team level.



In addition, each continental body hosts an annual continental club championship for the best club teams from each national league, with the winners of each continent going on the FIFA Club World Cup. Again, the most popular continental club tournament is Europe's UEFA Champions League because of its high quality of play.



Basically, RSL did was made it to the finals of the continental club championship, which is impressive since no other U.S. soccer team had made the semi-finals since the tournament became a serious tournament. Had they won, they would have gone on to represent the whole continent in the international club tournament.



What's really confusing is that in addition to all of these international tournaments, teams continue to play in their domestic leagues, so players might be playing lots of soccer.



For example, let's pick Lionel Messi an Argentine national team player who plays for FC Barcelona in Spain. On Saturday, he might play a Spanish league match for Barcelona against Valencia. Then on Wednesday, he might play a national team match for Argentina in a World Cup qualifier against Brazil. The next Saturday, he'll have another Spanish league match for Barcelona against Real Madrid. Then on Wednesday, he might play a European club championship tournament match for Barcelona against Manchester United. Depending on the locations of the matches, he could be playing a match in Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Madrid, and Manchester all in a 1 1/2 week period.

thank you! that is incredibly helpful