The 2014-15 CONCACAF Champions League will take clear shape for its five MLS participants tonight as the tournament draw is held at the InterContinental hotel in Doral, Fla., just outside Miami.
The event takes place at 7 pm ET and will be streamed live on CONCACAF.com.
Eight groups of three teams each will be created via three “pots,” with special provisions to ensure that the four US and four Mexican teams are drawn into different groups. The structure of the pots does, however, leave open the possibility that the Canadian champion will be drawn into the same group as one of the American MLS teams, as happened last year when the Montreal Impact and San Jose Earthquakes met in CCL Group 5.
Sporting Kansas City, the New York Red Bulls, D.C. United and the Portland Timbers will all participate in 2014-15 CCL play, and will be joined by the winner of the Canadian Championship final between the Montreal Impact and Toronto FC.
The group stage will see participating teams play four games against each other to produce a group winner that will advance to the quarterfinals in spring 2015. MLS has produced three of the eight quarterfinalists in each of the last three Champions League campaigns.
New York and D.C. United are both making their first appearances since 2009-10, while Kansas City appeared in the competition last year and Portland qualified for the first time.
Pot 1
Alajuelense (Costa Rica 1); Comunicaciones (Guatemala 1); Olimpia (Honduras 1); Léon (Mexico 1); Pachuca (Mexico 2); Tauro (Panama 1); Sporting Kansas City (USA 1); New York Red Bulls (USA 2)
Pot 2
Montreal Impact/Toronto FC (Canada 1); Deportivo Saprissa (Costa Rica 2); Isidro Metapán (El Salvador 1); Real España (Honduras 2); Club América (Mexico 3); Cruz Azul (Mexico 4); Portland Timbers (USA 3); D.C. United (USA 4)
Pot 3
Belmopan Bandits (Belize 1); FAS (El Salvador 2); Municipal (Guatemala 2); Alpha United (Guyana); Waterhouse (Jamaica); Real Estelí (Nicaragua 1); Chorrillo (Panama 2); Puerto Rico Bayamón (Puerto Rico).
