Proxy War: Why CONCACAF Champions League Is So Important to MLS

...and Mexico. Especially Mexico. For players and fans alike, Mexican pride has been hurting for the better part of the decade. Few can pinpoint when the tide started to shift against them, but a commonly accepted starting point is Carlos Queiroz's "Q-Report", authored in 1998 with the ultimate goal of making US Soccer a contender by the 2010 World Cup.

A few years later, for the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, the United States handily defeated Mexico on home soil, and while neither country actually won it, the 2000 Gold Cup showed a chink in Mexico's armor, failing to reach the semifinals in a tournament they once owned.

In the second round of the 2002 World Cup, Uncle Sam's boys shocked El Tri by ending their tournament with a 2-0 victory. After a Mexican resurgence in the 2003 Gold Cup, the United States again defeated Mexico in the World Cup qualifiers, eventually finishing in first place.

The United States have won the last two Gold Cups, with the more recent one coming thanks to a 2-1 victory over—you guessed it—Mexico. Following a 2-2 draw in Arizona earlier this year, Mexico's inability to beat the Americans in the United States has now reached the better part of a decade.

The MLS, on the other hand, have not had that much to crow about when facing their Mexican equivalent, the members of La Primera División. Mexican clubs, better funded and with generally more talented foreigners, have ruled the roost in CONCACAF tournaments and have not seen their dominance challenged even after the inception of MLS in 1996.

Sure, three of the four finalists in the Superliga's history (the only tournament that features four teams from each league going head-to-head) have been American clubs, but Mexicans are quick to point out that this tournament is held when the MLS season is in full swing, while La Primera División is in its pre-season.

With the redesign of CONCACAF's premier club competition, American and Mexican clubs will be going full-on to claim supremacy for their respective countries. Aside from a few Central American powers, CONCACAF's main attraction remains watching the Beckhams, the Blancos and the Ochoas battle it out.

As the preliminary round is underway, a few surprises have already creeped up on MLS' finest, with the Revolution and Chivas USA losing the first legs of their series. Mexico's Cruz Azul pounded Hankook Verdes 6-0 with UNAM Pumas awaiting their first match.

Like the Cold War in yesteryears, CONCACAF's club tournament is only just a proxy war for the two superpowers involved. Next year will undoubtedly provide the biggest new chapter in this growing rivalry as both Mexico and the United States are expected to win out their preliminary groups in 2010 World Cup qualification and face each other twice on their respective roads to South Africa.

As this happens, and the World Cup approaches, all of the United States' soccer fans, as well as many Mexicans, will be left wondering and fearing, respectively, whether Carlos Queiroz really did make a difference for American soccer.