Mexico On Top Again

Guadalajara’s lucky 13

This year should have been remembered as the year MLS finally managed to shake off the dominance of Liga MX in the CONCACAF Champions League. As the tournament progressed, US and Canadian teams made things extremely difficult for their Mexican counterparts, and when Toronto met Guadalajara in the Final it was the Canadians who were clear favourites.

However, for the 13th time in a row, it wasn’t meant to be. When all was said and done, it was yet again a Mexican side that emerged victorious, prolonging the longest streak of continental dominance by a country in the recent history of the game.

The tournament started with a change of format. Instead of the usual group phase, for the first time CONCACAF decided to jump directly to the knockout round, seeding the 16 teams into two pots based on their performances in the competition in the past and preventing teams from facing another from their own country for the first two rounds.

The results were very encouraging as some of the favourites were pushed to the limit in the first round, with Dallas surprisingly beaten by Panama’s Tauro.