Frist, the big one, we'll play Portland on Thursday in the conference semifinals. So far this season we've beaten them 2-0 at home and drawn them 2-2 in Portland. Later this week we'll go into more detail about those two matches and what to expect on Thursday.
Concacaf also announced the details of the Concacaf Champions League. The draw will take place on December 15th but we know 15 of the 16 teams in the competition already. The teams are ranked by how the teams in those slots have done in past editions of the CCL, not how the qualified teams have done in past editions. For example, the Supporters Shield winner always gets the USA2 slot, and based on how past Shield winners have done the Revs are ranked 5th of the 16th teams. The other conference winner always gets the USA3 slot, and based how they've done over the years the Rapids have the best ranking of American teams in 4th. Given that the rankings for 2022 are already known as well as 15 of the 16 teams in the slots:
Cruz Azul - Mexico
Leon - Mexico
UNAM (Pumas) - Mexico
Colorado Rapids - USA
New England Revolution - USA
Montreal - Canada
MLS Cup winner* - USA
Seattle Sounders - USA
***********
Santos Laguna - Mexico
Santos de Guapiles - Costa Rica
Motagua - Honduras
Saprissa - Costa Rica
Cavaly - Haiti/Concacaf League
Guastatoya - Guatemala/Concacaf League
Comunicaciones - Guatemala/Concacaf League
Forge FC - Canada/Concacaf League
The last 4 spots are awarded to the semi-finalists of the Concacaf league, played among qualifiers from the smaller leagues in the region. The competition is in the semi-final stage so we know the 4 teams who will qualify but the order of the two Guatemalan teams may change based on who wins the semi-final between them.
* - If the MLS Cup winner is one of New England, Colorado, or Seattle, the highest team in the Shield standings who hasn't yet qualified for the CCL will get the spot. This year that would be Sporting KC.
Once the 16 teams are ranked they're split into the top 8 and the bottom 8, and one from each side of the split are drawn against each other. So you can see that which of the spots the Guatemalan team fills or if one of the MLS teams moves into the MLS Cup spot doesn't really matter as they stay in the same pot.
The rules of the draw are that teams from the same federation can't be drawn against each other (there's an exception to that but it won't apply this year). So Montreal can't draw Forge FC and Santos Laguna can't draw Cruz Azul, Leon, or Pumas (which means they will draw a MLS team).
So the possible Rapids opponents in the first round are any of the bottom 8 teams in that list up there. The first round will take place as a home and home series on Feb. 15th-17th and Feb. 22nd-24th. As the higher ranked team the Rapids will host the second leg on Feb. 22nd-24th.
As part of the draw on Dec. 15th the teams will be placed into a traditional 16 team bracket, like the Sweet Sixteen, and they'll know what their path to the final is. In the quarter-finals the winners of series 1, 3, 5, and 7 in that bracket will host the second legs of the home-and-home series (generally considered the better option). Those will be played March 8-10th and March 15th-17th. For the semis and final the host of the second leg will be determined by the records of the teams involved in the earlier rounds, with the team with the better record getting the second leg. The semis will be played April 5th-7th and April 12th-14th, and the finals will be April 26th-28th and May 3rd-5th.
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