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The Montreal Impact and Club America will meet tonight in front of 68,000 fans at the Olympic Stadium to play for the CONCACAF Champions League title. The first leg finished tied 1-1, so they are all even and tonight one of them will be crowned the best team in the entire confederation and book their spot in the Club World Cup.
But who should United States fans be rooting for?
The easy answer is the Impact. The growth of MLS is good for the USMNT. The better the league is, the more players they produce for the national team and the better the team should be. If an MLS team can win the Champions League, that bodes well for the league and shows that it is improving, theoretically. It's also a feather in the cap for the league because they'll have bested Liga MX.
But the Impact don't have a single U.S. national team player. The closest they come is Justin Mapp and Kenny Cooper, neither of whom has played internationally in at least six years. So they're not really national teamers anymore. There is Dilly Duka, who was a youth national teamer, but that's about it. Really, the only hope this team has of impacting the U.S. is for Jack McInerney to get a call-up. Oh, and they're a Canadian club to boot.
Meanwhile, Club America have Ventura Alvarado, a man who has made himself firmly a part of the player pool. He is a contender to start just about any match at centerback and, after missing the first leg through suspension, should start for Club America tonight.
So who are you rooting for? The Canadian team from the American league or the Mexican team featuring the American national teamer?