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The Canadian Championship winner was handed a tough opponent in Mexico’s Club Leon in Wednesday’s draw for the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League.
Toronto FC will face CPL champion Forge FC to decide the Canadian team that will move into the round-of-16 matches, scheduled for April 6-8 and April 13-15, of CONCACAF’s flagship club competition. The date of the Canadian Championship final has yet to be announced.
The Canadian Championship winner was placed in the draw’s Pot 1, containing the top eight seeds. Club Leon was the lone Mexican team in Pot 2.
The winner of the two-legged matchup will face either Mexico’s Cruz Azul or Haiti’s Arcahaie FC in the quarterfinals. The Haitian side qualified for the Champions League by beating Hamilton-based Forge in a penalty shootout in the quarterfinal of the CONCACAF League, a feeder competition.
The other round-of-16 matchups are CF Monterrey (Mexico) versus Club Atletico Pantoja (Dominican Republic), Columbus Crew SC versus Real Esteli FC (Nicaragua), the Philadelphia Union versus Deportivo Saprissa (Costa Rica), Atlanta United FC versus LD Alajualense (Costa Rica), Club America (Mexico) versus CD Olimpia (Honduras), and the Portland Timbers versus CD Marathon (Honduras).
The quarterfinals will be played from April 27-29 and May 4-6, the semifinals from Aug. 10-12 and Aug. 24-26 and the one-legged final Oct. 26-28.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2021
The Canadian Press