2002 CONCACAF Champions' Cup

The 2002 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was the 37th edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. It featured a league format with 16 clubs. As part of the expansion, the quarterfinal stage for the current Champions Cup was moved to the first months of the 2002. Those clubs that had already qualified for the quarterfinal stage of the 2001 CONCACAF Champions' Cup were moved directly into the new league format.

2002 CONCACAF Champions' Cup
Tournament details
DatesFebruary 3 – September 18
Teams16 (from 7 associations)
Final positions
ChampionsMexico Pachuca (1st title)
Runners-upMexico Morelia
Tournament statistics
Matches played29
Goals scored74 (2.55 per match)
Top scorer(s)Brazil Alex Fernandes
Venezuela Juan Arango
(4 goals)
2000
2003

To facilitate the shift to the new cycle of qualifying rounds in the latter half of one year and the league stage in the first half of the following, the decision was taken to use the current competition as the transition period and fold those clubs already qualified into the league format.

In addition, the winner and runner-up of the 2001 CONCACAF Giants Cup (Club América and D.C. United) was also merged into the first edition to provide both of those clubs the opportunity to compete for a spot in the 2003 FIFA Club World Championship, as they would have done under the previous competition system. This was convenient, as one of the qualifying MLS teams, Miami Fusion F.C., was folded after the 2001 season despite winning the MLS Supporters' Shield that year.[1]

Club Comunicaciones, Tauro FC and Alajuelense, were elected as the top Central American non-qualifiers for the 2001 CONCACAF Champions Cup and finally the 2001 MLS Cup champions San Jose Earthquakes and the Mexican 2001 Invierno season champions Pachuca. Originally, four groups of four teams each, to be drawn in December or January, were planned, but at the end of November, CONCACAF changed plans once again and decided to play the tournament in a two-legs knock-out format, without a group stage. Because of this, the tournament's name was changed from CONCACAF Champions League back to CONCACAF Champions Cup.

The two finalists were supposed to qualify for the cancelled 2003 FIFA World Club Championship. Mexican club Pachuca beat countryfellow Morelia 1–0 in the final to win their first CONCACAF trophy.[2][3][1]

Qualified teams

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North American zone

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  Morelia2000 Invierno champion
  Pachuca2001 Invierno champion
  Santos Laguna2001 Verano champion
  Club América2001 Giants Cup champion
  Kansas City Wizards2000 MLS Cup champion and 2000 MLS Supporters' Shield winner
  Chicago Fire2000 MLS Cup runner-up
  San Jose Earthquakes2001 MLS Cup champion
  D.C. United2001 Giants Cup runner-up

Central American zone

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  MunicipalUNCAF champion
  SaprissaUNCAF runner-up
  OlimpiaUNCAF third place
  ComunicacionesUNCAF fourth place
  TauroUNCAF semifinal qualifier
  AlajuelenseUNCAF semifinal qualifier

Caribbean zone

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  Defence Force2001 CFU Club Championship finalist
  W Connection2001 CFU Club Championship finalist

Bracket

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First knockout round Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
                  
1   Morelia 2 1 3
16   Saprissa 0 1 1
  Morelia 2 1 3
  Chicago Fire 0 2 2
8   Municipal 0 0 0
9   Chicago Fire 1 2 3
  Morelia 6 1 7
  Kansas City Wizards 1 1 2
5   Tauro 1 2 3
12   Santos Laguna 1 4 5
  Santos Laguna 2 0 2
  Kansas City Wizards 1 2 3
4   W Connection 0 0 0
13   Kansas City Wizards 1 2 3
  Morelia 0
  Pachuca 1
6   Comunicaciones 4 1 5
11   D.C. United 0 2 2
  Comunicaciones 2 0 2
  Alajuelense 3 3 6
3   Alajuelense 1 2 3
14   Club América 0 0 0
  Alajuelense 2 0 2
  Pachuca 1 2 3
7   Defence Force 1 0 1
10   Pachuca 0 4 4
  Pachuca 3 0 3
  S.J. Earthquakes 0 1 1
2   Olimpia 0 1 1
15   S.J. Earthquakes 1 3 4

First round

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First leg and Second leg matches were played between February 3, 2002, and March 27, 2002.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Alajuelense   3–0   América 1–0 2–0
Comunicaciones   5–2   D.C. United 4–0 1–2
Pachuca   4–1   Defence Force 0–1 4–0
San Jose Earthquakes   4–1   Olimpia 1–0 3–1
Morelia   3–1   Saprissa 2–0 1–1
Municipal   0–3   Chicago Fire 0–1 0–2
Tauro   3–5   Santos Laguna 1–1 2–4
W Connection   0–3   Kansas City Wizards 0–1 0–2

Alajuelense win 3-0 on aggregate


Comunicaciones win 5-2 on aggregate


Pachuca win 5-0 on aggregate


Olimpia  1–3  San Jose Earthquakes
Sheldon-Pleasant Grove Stadium, Sacramento, United States

San Jose win 4-1 on aggregate


Morelia win 3-1 on aggregate


Chicago Fire win 3-0 on aggregate


Santos win 5-3 on aggregate


Kansas City win 3-0 on aggregate

Quarterfinals

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First leg and Second leg matches were played between April 14, 2002, and April 24, 2002.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Comunicaciones   2–6   LD Alajuelense 2–3 0–3
C.F. Pachuca   3–1   San Jose Earthquakes 3–0 0–1
Morelia   3–2   Chicago Fire 2–0 1–2
Santos Laguna   2–3   Kansas City Wizards 2–1 0–2

Alajuelense win 6-2 on aggregate


Pachuca win 3-1 on aggregate


Morelia win 3-2 on aggregate


Santos win 3-2 on aggregate

Semifinals

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First leg and Second leg matches were played between August 7, 2002, and August 28, 2002.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
LD Alajuelense   2–3   Pachuca 2–1 0–2
Morelia   7–2   Kansas City Wizards 6–1 1–1
LD Alajuelense  2–1  Pachuca
Alfaro   24'
López   48'
Chitiva   3'
Pachuca  2–0  LD Alajuelense
Santana   32'
Silvani   76'

Pachuca won 2–1 on aggregate.


Morelia  6–1  Kansas City Wizards
Fernandes   50', 75', 83' (pen.)
Buján   57'
Bautista   62'
Saavedra   73'
Fabbro   85'
Kansas City Wizards  1–1  Morelia
Brown   68' Noriega   36' (pen.)
Referee: Michael Seifert (Canada)

Morelia won 7–2 on aggregate.

Final

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Morelia  0–1  Pachuca
Report   48' Silvani
Attendance: 15,000

Top scorers

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Rank Player Club Goals
1   Alex Fernandes   Morelia 4
  Juan Arango   C.F. Pachuca 4
3   Dema Kovalenko   Chicago Fire 3
  Milton Núñez   Comunicaciones 3
  Eduardo Lillingston   Santos Laguna 3
6   Pedro Jiménez   Santos Laguna 2
  Sandro Alfaro   LD Alajuelense 2
  Erick Jimenez   LD Alajuelense 2
  Chris Brown   Kansas City Wizards 2
  Wilmer Lopez   LD Alajuelense 2
  Franz Torres   Morelia 2
  Antonio Gonzalez   Morelia 2
  Andrés Chitiva   C.F. Pachuca 2
  Sergio Santana   C.F. Pachuca 2
  Walter Silvani   C.F. Pachuca 2

References

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