El Salvador's Super Bowl

There is a certain amount of homogeneity in Concacaf club football. Apertura/Clausura formats have become the norm, stretching beyond the Spanish speaking sub-region to places like Haiti and Canada. Playoffs are everywhere. Across Mexico and Central America, we typically see two-legged playoff series settling the final, but El Salvador remains the exception. Rather than a two-legged home and home final, the tiny nation opts for a one off national championship game. Unlike their regional neighbors at Major League Soccer, this final is not hosted by either team but is instead played at the massive Estadio Cuscatlan every season.

It's *the* big sporting event in El Salvador. For a league with dwindling attendance numbers, the final remains a must see event across the country. Not only does a win in the big game mean a national title for your club, but it also means an automatic berth in continental competition, and if you've watched any CCL over the last decade you'd know how important that is to Salvadoran fans.

The most recent Apertura final, played in front of 50,000 fans, produced a classic match. Alianza trailed Santa Tecla 1-0 for the majority of the game. They equalized late, but then were struck down by an 89th minute Santa Tecla goal to send the stadium into chaos and Santa Tecla into the history books. Alianza are back for another shot at glory, but revenge is not an option; it is Aguila, not Santa Tecla, who stand in their way this time.

These two were the top two finishers in the regular season and this is the final everyone wanted to see. Alianza, seeking their 13th championship, had a dominant regular season and quarterfinal but were played tough by a stingy Limeño side in the semis, advancing only on away goals. Aguila, the 15-time champions who are in a title drought, having not won since Apertura 2012, come in a bit hotter after back to back 2-0 victories over Isidro Metapan in their semifinal encounter. Both teams have already qualified to the 2019 Concacaf League, though the winner of this clash will go to the Round of 16 rather than the new preliminary round.

Alianza are the favorites for a good reason. These two sides had the two best defensive records in the league, but Alianza scored a staggering 49 goals (in 22 games) compared to Aguila's 27. That's in large part thanks to Colombian Bladimir Diaz, who has bounced around El Salvador for several seasons now for different clubs. His league leading 16 goals (and two hat-tricks) make him by far the most dangerous man in the Primera Division. Alianza also boast Oscar Ceren, brother of FC Dallas' Darwin Ceren. Oscar has linked up with Diaz numerous times this season and the duo are the ones to watch for Alianza.

On the other side, Aguila boast Ricardo Guevara who led the team with 7 goals, and goalkeeper Benji Villalobos has been in the mix for La Selecta's starting job for almost a decade, though he is not on the Gold Cup roster. A match-fixing scandal a few years back put a dent in his international career, but Villalobos' quality is still there. Aguila have three players named in El Salvador's 40-man preliminary roster, compared to nine for Alianza.

There is a lot of soccer on Sunday. The 2nd leg of the Liga MX final (Vamos Tigres 🐯) is at night, while the 2nd leg of the Guatemalan final is on in the afternoon. The Salvadoran "Final Soñada," as this edition has been dubbed, falls comfortably between the two, with scheduled kickoff at 3PM Local Time (5PM Eastern).

It's a unique specimen. A cup final atmosphere but with the weight and impact of a league title decider. If you can, make some time for it and enjoy El Salvador's biggest match.

For streaming information, check out my twitter (@tim_sokol) as kickoff approaches and I'll hopefully have some options tracked down.

What to expect in the Guatemalan Final

The 2nd leg of the Liga Nacional de Guatemala Final is this Sunday afternoon, and there is still everything to play for. Antigua and Malacateco will be battling it out for both the title and Guatemala's final place in the 2019 Concacaf League.

In the first leg in Malacatan, Los Toros fell 1-0 at home to Antigua courtesy of an Alejandro Galindo goal in the first half. There are no away goals in the final, so Malacateco aren't dead yet, but they will have to win in the deciding game in Antigua on Sunday, which is expected to draw a sizable crowd.

These two sides have very different histories, though they do share the trait of being from smaller towns. The national title has rarely left the confines of Guatemala City throughout its history, but it will do so this weekend. Antigua have risen up in recent years, claiming their first ever title during Apertura 2015, and repeating the feat in Apertura 2016 and 2017 as well. Along with Guastatoya (who had won the previous two titles before this season), Antigua represent the new order in Guatemalan football. Comunicaciones and Municipal have 30 titles each, but neither have been able to match the top new sides in recent years.

Malacateco, on the other hand, are experiencing their greatest ever success just in being here. For the better part of their history they played in the 2nd or 3rd Division, though Los Toros have remained a stable top flight team since 2010. Should they go home with the trophy it would be another sign that Guatemala's duopoly has fallen off and the league is entering a period of newfound parity unlike anything in its history.

Antigua have claimed the one-seed in a close and competitive regular season. They finished 12-5-5, snatching first place on the final jornada. But for a first place finish, they weren't overwhelmingly dominant. They didn't have the best offense, or the best defense, or the best goal differential. They did however, beat Guastatoya, who I consider the actual best team in the league, in the semifinals to get here. And they deserve a lot of respect for that feat. The Mexican (and former Santos Laguna player) Agustin Enrique Herrera poured in a whopping 23 goals this season, the only player to crack the 20+ mark.

Malacateco held down first place for large parts of the early season, but stumbled throughout the second half and dropped all the way to 5th place. They fought their way through the wildcard round and semifinals to get this far, and it feels like that early season form is back despite the first leg defeat. A 10-man Malacateco side won away from home in the semifinal against 2nd placed Coban Imperial to punch their ticket to their first ever league final.

Antigua are the better side and need only a draw at home to seal the title, so of course they are the favorites. But a spirited Malacateco performance in the vain of what they did last week at Coban would certainly be enough to give them a chance.

One of the great things about the Guatemalan league is that the biggest matches of each week are typically broadcast for free on ChapinTV, and Sunday's final should be no exception. Tune in here at 1:30 Eastern on Sunday to catch the action.

Welcome to CONCACAF Lives!

Hello all, as you probably know there are few things in this world I love more than CONCACAF Football, and rather than loading my twitter with lengthy threads of analysis and comments I've decided to start putting my thoughts here instead. Less twitter clog for you guys, more room to write for me.

What can you expect on here? I'll be putting out my thoughts on all the happenings in the region, including the Gold Cup, CONCACAF teams at FIFA tournaments, the CCL, and domestic leagues within the confederation. That means previews, recaps, news, strange stories, stats, and hopefully just interesting reads in general.

I have so many thoughts on this stuff throughout the day, and I need to write it down somewhere just for my own sake. If people also happen to enjoy reading it, that would be wonderful.