By Giovanni Savarese
Guest Analyst of CONCACAF.com

By the last day of the CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage, there was little drama. All the quarterfinal places had been settled, and Joe Public and Columbus already knew what their fates were.

BIO Giovanni Savarese is a former Venezuelan international who has played professionally on three continents, including in his native country, and now works as an analyst for the ESPN family of networks, which is a CONCACAF Champions League TV partner. He scored 10 goals in 30 games for the "Vinotinto" before retiring as a player in 2007. ARCHIVE: 10/22/10 | 9/24/10 | 8/27/10 | 8/7/10

The last question had been settled Wednesday night, when Honduran club Olimpia convincingly defeated the Puerto Rico Islanders 3-0 to claim the last berth from Group D, prevailing on
two goals from Roger Rojas and another from Brazilian Fabio de Souza.

It gave Olimpia the group title and relegated Toluca to second place with its 5-0 defeat of FAS on three goals by Héctor Mancilla earlier in the evening.

The major drama of the final round was decided on Tuesday, when Santos crushed Municipal 6-1 to guarantee Columbus of advancing and Real Salt Lake held off Cruz Azul 3-1 -- sending two MLS teams to the final phase of the tournament for the first time.

The results, with clearly second-choice lineups, demonstrated Real Salt Lake and Columbus to be serious candidates for the crown.

The victory by Jason Kreis' Real Salt Lake side over Enrique Meza's Cruz Azul earned the defending MLS champion the Group A title - all while heading into the final round of the MLS' season in a fight with the Los Angeles Galaxy for the Supporters Shield -awarded to the team with the best regular-season record.

It proved that the team has reached a point of maturity sufficient to deal with both tournaments with a limited lineup - thanks to MLS roster rules, but deep enough with all of its players able to play together in mix-and-match circumstances.

The Crew also was able to handle the two competitions, but its winless October until Thursday showed it's not on par with its fellow MLS club.

Could the performances of these two MLS teams portend more joy for American fans than previously seen in the Champions League -- like for instance a berth in the final or a first U.S. club win on Mexican soil?

It costs nothing to dream since it has been shown that distances have shortened and that the MLS teams are beginning to display more maturity and skill, leaving behind the naivety they exhibited years ago.

But the Championship Round does arouse some concerns for some teams - especially the MLS teams.

The fact that MLS has only another month before it heads into its off-season makes one wonder if we will see the same performance from these teams when the Champions League restarts.

One can expect that some of these teams will be missing a player or two from its current roster, i.e., Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who last year considered leaving Columbus. But this long period will affect not only MLS teams, but nearly all the quarterfinalists.

The clearest example will be Toluca, which already knows manager Juan Manuel "Chepo" De la Torre will leave at the end of Apertura to become the new coach of the Mexican national team. While all teams will be aiming to achieve a new plateau in the Champions League, their attention will be completely focused on their own leagues until then.

Other things to note before we conclude the Group Stage was the play of Monterrey, which was the only team to get through the league phase without a loss. Its 1-0 victory over Marathon not only denied the Honduran side a third straight trip to the quarterfinals, but finished the Mexican club with 16 points - a full victory better than the next best team.

For now, we must wait for February and the next phase of the Champions League. Time will not be short and some will look quite different, but the goal will remain the same - claim the title and head to the Club World Cup.