MLS outfit Real Salt Lake have made a big impact on Major League Soccer in the U.S in recent times and the side is now looking to transfer this impact to the CONCACAF Champions League, an American version of the UEFA Champions League.
The CONCOCAF Champions League has so far been dominated heavily by Mexican side over the years, and in total, Mexican teams have won the CCL (old version of CONCACAF) 27 times and been runners up 13 times, more than any other team in North http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/America-c38390.
The last two finals were played between Mexican teams and currently, Mexican teams are at the top of each group and it was only in 2005, that a Mexican team wasn’t a winner. Such is the dominance of this nation that the winners of the 2007, 2008 and 2010
competition, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pachuca-c40151, didn’t even qualify for this season’s Champions League.
The four teams that are leading their groups are http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Toluca-c40739 and Santos Laguna and boast a combined record of 9 wins, 2 draws and just one defeat (Santos Laguna), and have scored 32 goals and let in a miserly 10. It seems very unlikely for
a non-Mexican side to win the Champions League this time.
Having said that, there are three teams that actually, do have a chance to win the Champions League. Saprissa of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Costa-Rica-c2877, the winners of the competition in 2005 and runners up in 2008 after Pachuca, are one of these three teams. But the current Saprissa
team is not even close to the 2005 side that won the tournament. Roy Myers’ side is struggling on the domestic front as and has recovering recently after a poor start to the Champions League. In the first match of the tournament, they lost 0-1 at home to Mexican
side Monterrey and the scoreline could have been even bigger as the Mexican side was the better team throughout the match.
But the other two sides who look more likely to mount a serious title challenge are Real Salt Lake and Columbus Crew. Both sides have big matches coming up this week. The Crew face Santos for the contention to top the table of Group B. Columbus will also
be looking to take some revenge after losing out to Santos earlier in the competition after a dubious injury time goal. A win will see the American team top Group B, something that an MLS side has never done in the history of the competition. But even if they
don’t top the group, they still have a lot with them and are better equipped than the Costa Rican side, Saprissa, to mount a title challenge.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Panama-c2978 to face Arabe Unido who lost 6-0 to Cruz Azul last week. Earlier
on when RSL faced Arabe Unido, the MLS side won 2-1. After taking 9 points from 4 games, Salt Lake has a great chance of making it to the play-offs.
Real Salt Lake is playing in the Champions League for the first time but are looking very good. RSL was the best team in MLS last season, a great achievement considering that the club was formed only in 2005. Moreover, the team is even better than last season
and has an MLS record of 23 unbeaten games and is yet to concede a goal since August. This year, the team is second in the MLS standings and chances are that they will perhaps end the season as champions again.
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