Oh CONCACAF, never change. Almost immediately after announcing the draw for the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League, the federation was forced into scramble mode as they realized that the tournament’s rules had been violated by having Mexican and American teams in the same group. The draw rules were changed prior to last year’s tournament after the group stage was expanded from having four four-team groups to one that had eight three-team groups with only the winner advancing.
2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League: Draw announced, changed
CONCACAF manages to screw up the initial draw and is forced to readjust four of the eight groups.
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Initially, Club Tijuana and the Houston Dynamo were in Group 7 and the LA Galaxy and Cruz Azul were both in Group 8. That caused quite a bit of initial confusion, as CONCACAF apparently didn't realize their mistake until announcing the results.
That forced a quick redraw of four groups with the end result being the Dynamo moved to Group 1 and Cruz Azul being moved to Group 3.
The only group to end up with two MLS teams was Group 6, as Canada's representative does not fall under the same classification as the other MLS teams. As a result, the Montreal Impact and San Jose Earthquakes were drawn into the same group. The group will be filled out by a yet-to-be-determined Guatemalan team.
This year’s tournament will have a new champion, as Monterrey failed to qualify after winning each of the past three iterations. Santos Laguna, who has made two consecutive finals, did not qualify either.
2013-14 CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Group 1: Arabe Unido (Panama), Houston Dynamo (USA), DirecTV W Connection (Trinidad & Tobago)
Group 2: Olimpia (Honduras), Sporting Kansas City (USA), Real Esteli (Nicaragua)
Group 3: Herediano (Costa Rica), Cruz Azul (Mexico), Valencia FC (Haiti)
Group 4: Club America (Mexico), Alajuelense (Costa Rica), Sporting San Miguelito (Panama)
Group 5: San Jose Earthquakes (USA), Montreal Impact (Canada), Guatemala #2 (Guatemala)
Group 6: Comunicaciones (Guatemala), Toluca (Mexico), Caledonia AIA (Trinidad & Tobago)
Group 7: Club Tijuana (Mexico), Victoria (Honduras), Luis Angel Firpo (El Salvador)
Group 8: LA Galaxy (USA), Isidro Metapan (El Salvador), Cartagines (Costa Rica)
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