Tuesday, June 28, 2016

CONCACAF Champions League Schedule Released

CONCACAF today announced the schedule for the 2016-2017 CONCACAF Champions League. A month ago, Sporting Kansas City was placed into Group C for the tournament with Central FC out of Trinidad and the Vancouver Whitecaps from Canada. Today we have the schedule for the tournament, creating some travel headaches for KC in the process.

Sporting KC are off the first week of group on August second, third, and fourth as Central host Vancouver. KC has their first group game in week two in Trinidad on 8/16 before traveling to Vancouver on 8/23 for their tournament game against the Whitecaps in week three. Sporting then will turn around and host Vancouver in week four on September 13th at Children's Mercy Park before being off in the fifth week of group play the following week when Central travel to Vancouver. Sporting close out group play on the 19th of October when they host Central FC.

The August stretch is going to be absolutely brutal for Kansas City as they'll have five games in 15 days in five different cities and three different countries as KC will be in Dallas on 8/13, at Central on the 16th, home against Vancouver on the 20th, in Vancouver on the 23rd, and then travel to Philadelphia on the 27th. It could be even more congested if Sporting KC advances to the US Open Cup semifinals, which would be hosted on August 10th, potentially adding a sixth different city to the list of travel for Kansas City in that stretch. That will certainly require some squad rotation from Peter Vermes and would seem to be the best opportunity for call ups for players currently on the Swope Park Rangers' roster to play for the first team.

The other two games are a little easier for KC in terms of their travel schedule. Sporting are at home both weekends (9/9 vs Houston and 9/18 vs Los Angeles) around the 9/13 game against Vancouver, although that could be complicated a bit if KC returns to the US Open Cup final on 9/21. The final group game against Central on 10/19 and is sandwiched between a trip to Salt Lake on 10/16 and the season finale on 10/23 at home against San Jose.

8/16 at Central
8/23 at Vancouver
9/13 vs Vancouver
10/19 vs Central

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