By Dylan Butler
The name of CONCACAF's premier club tournament has changed. Mexico's dominance of the region continues.
One year after Pachuca captured the final CONCACAF Champions Cup trophy, Atlante defeated Cruz Azul to claim the inaugural CONCACAF Champions League crown.
It's a command that has continued into the second edition, with all four of Mexico's entrants advancing to the quarterfinals of the 2009-2010 Champions League by winning their groups.
By winning the title, its first CONCACAF club title in 26 years, Atlante earned a bid to the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. There it crushed Auckland City 3-0 only to be overwhelmed by eventual winner FC Barcelona 3-1 in the semifinals.
Atlante stuck first on a fifth-minute goal by Guillermo Rojas, but Sergio Busquets equalized 30 minutes later and Lionel Messi and Pedro sealed the Barcelona win with second-half tallies. Atlante fell on penalty kicks to Pohang Steelers in the third-place game.
It was the second straight fourth-place finish at the world club championship for a CONCACAF side, following Pachuca's consolation game loss a year ago.
While the all-Mexican final was expected by many, there was plenty of intrigue in the first CONCACAF Champions League.
One of the biggest surprises of the tournament was the Puerto Rico Islanders of the United Soccer Leagues First Division, which needed to qualify through the CFU Club Champions Cup.
The Islanders became the first Caribbean team in 14 years to reach the final four of CONCACAF's club competition, where they were eliminated by Cruz Azul on penalty kicks.
The Montreal Impact, also of the USL-1, a second-tier North American league, defeated Toronto FC of Major League Soccer to win the Canadian Nutrilite Championship and qualify for the Champions League.
The Impact finished behind Atlante in Group D, advancing to the knockout stage where they faced Santos in the quarterfinals, drawing a Champions League record crowd of more than 55,000 for the home leg.
Montreal stunned the Mexican powerhouse 2-0 in the first leg and led 2-1 at halftime at Estadio Corona before Santos struck four times in the final 37 minutes, including a pair of stoppage time goals by Carlos Darwin, to come away with a dramatic 5-2 victory.
As successful as the tournament was for Mexican and United Soccer League squads, Major League Soccer teams struggled. Of the four teams that qualified - New England Revolution, Chivas USA, D.C. United and Houston Dynamo - just Houston advanced to the knockout stage where they were eliminated by Atlante.
"We've established its legitimacy," CONCACAF General Secretary Chuck Blazer said. "The fans have a level of expectation - they've seen what it is, they know what they're going to get and they have every reason to believe we're going to make it better as we go. And we will."
The second iteration of the Champions League looks very similar to the first, with Mexico's Cruz Azul, Pachuca, Pumas and Toluca leading the way into the knockout stages.
They are joined by the Columbus Crew, the lone Major League Soccer to advance, Marathon of Honduras, Guatemala's Comunicaciones and Arabe Unido from Panama. The quarterfinals begin March 9.
Nearly half of the field for the 2010-2011 Champions League has been decided with CD FAS, which won a record 17th El Salvadorian league title, and Municipal, which claimed a record 27th Guatemalan league crown, the most recent to book their tickets.
They join American sides Real Salt Lake, Columbus, Los Angeles and Seattle, Mexican clubs Monterrey and Cruz Azul, as well as Honduran Apertura champion Marathon and Arabe Unido.
