MLS' elite teams learn the harsh realities of schedule congestion

Participating in the CONCACAF Champions League has had differing effects on MLS playoff teams Chivas USA and Houston. Thomas B. Shea/MLS via Getty Images Luis Bueno's Mailbag Submit a comment or question for Luis. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

When Major League Soccer sent four clubs to the CONCACAF Champions League, there was a glimmer of hope that the teams would compete and possibly bring an international trophy to American soil.

Instead, the tournament only brought to light the deficiencies within the 13-year-old league as most of its participating clubs were systematically eliminated in seemingly every manner possible.

Worse, the tournament may have hampered a pair of clubs' chances at the MLS playoffs while potentially doing damage to the Houston Dynamo -- the lone remaining MLS team in the tournament -- and their quest for a third consecutive MLS Cup.

MLS clubs are about as capable of participating in such a rigorous international tournament as a mule is of running the Kentucky Derby. A lack of depth and demanding schedules are just too great of obstacles to overcome for teams that simply don't have the resources to deal with them.

"The league is still tweaking with formats for tournaments," said Chivas USA midfielder Jesse Marsch. "I know they're excited to get our teams into international tournaments and I think those are important for our league and our players. But I sometimes worry that they put just playing in the tournament above scheduling it in a way that makes sense for the players."

While most of the rest of the participating CONCACAF clubs dealt with the Champions League schedule during the early part of their respective league calendars, the tournament fell during the most crucial time of the MLS schedule.

In late August, when MLS teams must prepare for their make-or-break final third of the season, Chivas USA and New England each played their qualifying series against Panamanian side Tauro FC and Trinidad's Joe Public, respectively. Had they advanced, the two would have joined D.C. United and Houston in a grueling seven-week period that would have had them play six midweek matches. They didn't, falling meekly and leaving only D.C. and Houston as the automatic entrants to the group stage.

Once that began, it was too much for D.C. to handle. When United tied FC Dallas 2-2 back on Sept. 13, it improved to 10-11-3 and was in fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings, four points ahead of Kansas City. D.C. debuted in the Champions League three days later and quickly learned the tournament's harsh realities.

After a 2-0 loss at home to Deportivo Saprissa, United traveled across the country and lost to the Los Angeles Galaxy 5-2 before traveling to Central America, where it fell to Honduran side Marathón 2-0. Following that debacle was a trip to FC Dallas, which resulted in a 3-0 loss. All told, D.C. United traveled nearly 6,000 miles in one week's time to play three games -- and didn't win one.

D.C. posted just one win and one draw in MLS play and was overtaken by Kansas City, which qualified for the playoffs and finished five points ahead of United. To make matters worse, D.C. had a miserable Champions League effort, finishing 0-5-1 in the group stage.

"With a lot of the MLS teams, it's very difficult for us," said Chivas USA forward Ante Razov. "There's not enough depth on the team to [compete in both tournaments]. You'd have to be extremely lucky with injuries to get through it. [Not qualifying] helped us. New England, you saw them fade toward the end. D.C. completely crumbled. It's a hard competition and if you don't have almost two full good teams it's going to be hard."

While acknowledging that Houston seems to be the exception to the rule, mortal MLS teams have neither the roster nor the experience to handle a league slate that may determine whether the team will reach the playoffs and an international schedule that demands thousands of miles of travel in a short amount of time.

"You see what Houston has been able to do in all these competitions is quite extraordinary," Razov said. "I don't know if that can be replicated. They seem to have a very deep bench."

Still, even Houston has had to deal with adversity and the club may not qualify for the knockout rounds of the Champions League despite its play in the tournament. Hurricane Ike forced the postponement of a match against Salvadorian club Luis Ángel Firpo. Still, the Dynamo had five midweek international games while trying to secure the Western Conference title.

"You look at D.C. and Houston down the stretch and they have two games a week for the last six weeks of the season, it doesn't make sense," Marsch said. "[Houston] had to play a midweek game before a playoff game. That obviously doesn't make sense. The league is going to have to balance the needs of the league with the needs of the players."

Indeed, once Chivas USA was eliminated from the Champions League in the qualifying stage by Tauro FC, things got much easier once it had only MLS foes to worry about in September and October. The Goats won five of six games and secured a playoff spot. Had things gone the other way against Tauro, perhaps the road to the playoffs would not have been quite as simple.

"You never want to lose, but certainly, we knew that if we were to lose, it wouldn't be the worst thing given what the schedule would have looked like," said Marsch, a veteran of all of MLS' 13 seasons. "For an old guy like me, the task of playing two games a week was not something that I was that excited about. Playing in those international tournaments is worth the trouble but it's just got to be done the right way."

While the CONCACAF Champions League is still in its infancy, the tournament is perhaps too demanding and has too many obstacles to overcome.

"Those tournaments are all great tournaments," said Razov, "but to really expect an MLS team to win it and to have more than one team, it's a lot to ask at this point. I don't think the teams have enough depth and have enough good players on each team to do it."