MLS: Ranking the 5 CCL teams
Five MLS teams will take to the CONCACAF Champions League over the coming weeks. But who has the best chance of winning the competition? Here are the five ranked in order of likelihood of lifting the CCL trophy.
The CONCACAF Champions League starts this week for Major League Soccer clubs, Toronto FC opening the billing versus Independiente de la Chorrera followed by the Houston Dynamo versus Guastatoya later on Tuesday night.
In all, there are five MLS teams hoping to break the voodoo of failing to win the CCL, with this year’s competition perhaps displaying the depth of quality that MLS now boasts — all five have a viable argument to make a deep run in the competition.
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But who, of the five, is the most likely to win the CCL. Here, I rank all five in order of the likelihood that they lift the CCL trophy.
5. Houston Dynamo
The Houston Dynamo finished in ninth position in the Western Conference. They amassed just 38 points from 34 games and had a goal difference of exactly zero. This was a middle-to-poor MLS team in 2018.
The reason they qualified for the CCL is their U.S. Open Cup victory. But the best team does not always win cup competitions. A league campaign, over a much larger sample size in which one bad performance does not end your chances of winning the competition, is a far fairer reflection of the standard of teams.
Of the five that will play in the CCl in 2019, Houston were by far the worst. It would, therefore, be naive of me to rank them anywhere but fifth. That said, their counter-attacking style is perfectly suited to CCL play and, if their attacking players hit form, they will cause far better teams than them serious problems. But a lot has to click for the Dynamo to be considered genuine title contenders.