Monday, October 29, 2007

Interliga announcement


InterLiga™ 2008, the fifth edition of the tournament that determines two berths for Mexican clubs to the prestigious Copa Libertadores, will be held between Wednesday, January 2 and Saturday, January 12, 2008, with stops in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. The eight teams participating in InterLiga 2008 earned berths based on their combined record in the 2006 Apertura and 2007 Clausura seasons of the Mexican domestic league. The eight squads are: Group A – América, Atlas, Toluca, Morelia;Group B – Cruz Azul, Pumas, Monterrey, San Luis.
If any of the participating eight teams becomes champion of the current 2007 Apertura season, to be crowned the weekend of December 8, that club will be replaced by Atlante. The champion of the 2007 Apertura is required to participate in the 2008 CONCACAF Champions Cup. While InterLiga™ 2008 will determine two Mexican club births for Copa Libertadores known as “Mexico 2” and “Mexico 3”, the other spot, known as “Mexico 1,” has been determined according to the regulations set forth by the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol. Given Pachuca’s required participation in the 2008 CONCACAF Champions Cup due to its status as the champions of Mexico’s 2007 Clausura, CD Guadalajara, the 2006 Apertura champions, have been selected as “Mexico 1” and will participate in the 2008 Copa Libertadores. Schedule In its fifth anniversary, InterLiga will kick off on Wednesday, Jan. 2 in Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, with a Group B doubleheader, highlighted by a duel between InterLiga™ veterans Cruz Azul and newcomers San Luis (matches start at 7 p.m. local). Group A action hits Frisco on Sunday, Jan. 6 including a match up between Mexican powers América and Toluca (matches start at 4 p.m. local). InterLiga will return to the Bay Area for the first time since 2005, beginning Thursday, Jan. 3 with Group A action starting at 6:30 p.m. (local time). Less than a week later, Group B clubs will be featured in a doubleheader on Wednesday, Jan. 8 at 6:30 p.m. (local time). The Bay Area venue will be announced in the coming weeks. For the second consecutive year, InterLiga™ returns to Houston’s Roberston Stadium for a Group B doubleheader on Saturday, Jan. 5 featuring Cruz Azul against Monterrey as well a match between San Luis and Pumas (matches starting at 7 p.m. local time). Group A teams will close out the group phase on Wednesday, Jan. 9 in Carson, California including a match between América and Atlas, Mexican League playoff opponents during the last two seasons (matches starting at 6 p.m. local). The InterLiga™ 2008 finals will then take place on Saturday, Jan. 12 at The Home Depot Center, site of the finals in 2004, 2006 and 2007. Match times and order of the games will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

Who can name the guys in the photo? Take a wild guess even if you don't know.


14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why do they punish teams in Mexico that win the league by not allowing them to play in Libertadores? This makes no sense to me. Let the winner play both concacaf and libertadores--it is certainly doable. It is a shame that this great Pachuca team will likely be broken up by the time Pachuca finally matriculate into Libertadores. This year and next year they have a team that could be competitive enough to realistically win it--which is more than any of the other teams in Mexico can say at this point...

Anonymous said...

I know you tried really hard to make that easy, but I still have me a headache.

Anonymous said...

I know the guy on the left is Decio De Maria, but I have no idea who the other guy is.

El Güero said...

Well, if they hadn't won the Clausura, they would have played Chivas in a two-leg series to see who goes in as Mexico 1. But their latest win obligates them to go to the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Besides, the CCC should be more prestigious to Mexican teams as it IS the club championship of their confederation. Doesn't make sense to many, but that's the way it goes.

If they don't win another title before this time next year, they'll have another chance to get in automatically or go to the Interliga.

James said...

Decio De Maria (left) and Nelson Rodriguez, from SUM, (right).

Can you imagine if America wins the 2007 Apertura? The InterLiga field will AWFUL. Simply awful.

I can't wait for that Toluca-Morelia and Atlante-Atlas double-header on Jan. 9 at the HDC. Or the finals that will follow that weekend on Jan. 12.

Awful.

Anonymous said...

And once again, Chivas qualifies to one of these tournaments by

a) invitation, or
b) bs administrative call


Are the goats ever going to qualify to Libertadores on own efforts?

Anonymous said...

Why don't they just let Pacuca juggle the 3 tournaments?

CONCACAF Champions Cup only runs between February and April.

Libertadores knock-out hadn't even started by the time the last CCC began.

Put Pachuca in the spot Necaxa was in last year, and I'm sure they would've managed to get out of the group and move on further than Necaxa did.

A.C. said...

Jaime wins!

Wins, well, ok - maybe nothing much. A pressbox cookie, perhaps?

El Güero said...

Yeah, but February-April is the all-important group stage.

And they base the team selections on the number of points the teams earn during two seasons, so it's not just hand-picked (like SuperLiga).

Tacologic said...

http://www.metrotimes.com/sb/59602/filmRoyalTenne.jpg

Gene Hackman in the Royal Tennenbaums.

Anonymous said...

The one on the left is Royal Tenenbaum, no?

brucio said...

its dennis franz and dr drew in the picture

Anonymous said...

I was almost certain the guy on the left was the Mexican Ron Jeremy

Anonymous said...

Rodriguez has dollar signs all over his smile.