CONCACAF Champions Cup, Canadian Championship & MLS Next Pro previews, April 23-24

This week's midweek action starts in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, where Club America face Pachuca in an all-Liga MX tie on Tuesday night. Wednesday night sees last MLS club standing Columbus Crew take the field for their home tie at Lower.com Field against Monterrey, also of Liga MX. A US club has only won the title three times in its 62-year history and Crew will face a tough test, Monterrey having already eliminated Inter Miami and FC Cincinnati to get to the semi-finals. The Nuevo Leon club currently sit fourth in Liga MX and are five-times former winners of the Champions Cup.


The 2024 Canadian Championship gets underway with a pair of preliminary round ties on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesay's match is an all-Canadian Premier League affair, with Cavalry FC hosting Vancouver FC at ATCO Field in Calgary. Vancouver sit top of the CPL after two rounds, having defeated both Valour FC and HFX Wanderers so far, while Cavalry lost away at Forge and drew away at Atletico Ottawa. Neither side have ever won the trophy, which has been the preserve of MLS clubs since its inauguration in 2008, and you can read a brief history of the Championship here. Wednesday's game is perhaps more interesting, if potentially more one-sided as Toronto FC of MLS take on 2023 League 1 Ontario champions Simcoe County Rovers. The semi-professional side are based in Barrie, seventy miles north of Toronto on the shores of Lake Simcoe, and were only formed in 2021 by former Canadian international (and Toronto FC star) Julian de Guzman. The other four games in the preliminary round take place on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday next week.


MLS Next Pro independent club Chattanooga FC are in action on Wednesday night when they travel to Georgia to face Atlanta United 2 at Fifth Third Bank Stadium in Kennesaw, an hour north of Atlanta in Chattanooga's direction. The Chatts currently sit third in the Eastern Conference and are yet to lose in regulation time, with English striker Alex McGrath in great form this season.

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