📈📉 Who's hot and who's not heading into the CCC quarterfinals?
The preferred power rankings of the savvy soccer fan return!
When you read this, the world’s greatest club competition will be making its long-awaited return, entering the best round of the tournament full of interleague clashes between heavyweights.
No, not the UEFA Champions League. And not the group stage of the Copa Libertadores. It’s Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinals time.
Once again, let’s look at each of the teams in a power rankings format going from least-likely to lift the trophy to most.
Just two of the lower-ranked teams in my previous power rankings advanced last time around - I still doubted Nashville SC’s powers against Lionel Messi & Co. and had the Vancouver Whitecaps a few slots above the Seattle Sounders thanks to the ‘Caps 2025 success and decent start to the competition. So, my record is solid thus far.
To the rankings!
8. LA Galaxy
Despite the 3-0 victories over Mount Pleasant in the previous round, a four-match winless skid in MLS play has the Galaxy looking like the least likely team to win the Concacaf Champions Cup.
The quarterfinals see the difficulty level ramp up significantly, as a defense that has been unable to stop the Portland Timbers or Minnesota United suddenly is put to the test against Paulinho, Alexis Vega and the rest of the Toluca attack.
Gabriel Pec and Joao Klauss will need to repeat and perhaps exceed their heroics from the previous round for the Galaxy to have any hope of hanging with Toluca and keep it as close as they did when they met in the Campeones Cup exhibition match in October of last year.
7. Club América
It’s not just the concerning league form that has América near the bottom of this ranking. The CCC games have been labored, whether the nervous second leg with Olimpia or the … nervous second leg against the Philadelphia Union - something that looks worse every week as the Union continue to lose in MLS play.
Injuries have hit hard, whether it be missing winger Alejandro Zendejas at the start of the season, goalkeeper Luis Angel Malagon in the back half of the campaign or forward Henry Martin throughout most of it.
That has hampered the adaptation of the new arrivals, who América really needed to adapt quickly after losing players in the winter window. Add it all up and you’re looking at a team clinging to a playoff place and one that would be an unlikely winner of the continental championship.
It’s América. Would it be a shock to see Las Aguilas in the final or even lifting the trophy? No, because that’s what they’ve done the last several years, and Andre Jardine still can find ways to make magic happen. Plus, they get use of the Estadio Azteca back for at least this round, returning to the But nothing in 2026 has hinted that this is one of the four best club teams in the region.
6. Tigres
The only reason Tigres take the sixth spot over América, whom they trail in the Liga MX table, is that superb second leg at home against FC Cincinnati. Tigres manager Guido Pizarro said after a 3-0 loss in Ohio that his team was confident it would get a boost from the Volcan and be able to score the needed quantity of goals. Even when that number became five, that’s exactly what happened.
This time, though, the second leg will take Tigres on their travels. And while Donald Trump’s flight plans look less likely to disrupt their logistics, it seems unlikely that another night in a hotel will be the solution to Tigres’ defensive deficiencies.
Their last clean sheet came against Queretaro in March, but even that game wasn’t on Tigres were able to win - with the attacking firepower they should be able to display arriving only occasionally. Pizarro needs Juan Brunetta and Fernando Gorriarán to look like their old selves and at least one of the wide attackers Diego Lainez, Ozziel Herrera or Marcelo Flores to deliver an above-average series as well for Tigres to move closer to a first international trophy since he captained them to the 2020 CCC crown.
5. Nashville
Everyone was so busy talking about Inter Miami’s offseason, they missed the real winter winners in the Eastern Conference. Nashville got a boost from new additions Cristian Espinoza and Warren Madrigal to get past the Herons and set up a showdown with Club América that few forecasted.
Yet, with those new players gelling well with Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge, plus new center back Maxwell Woledzi who had rarely putting a foot wrong before losing the ball in a first-minute press in a loss to the Chicago Fire this weekend, Nashville enters the quarterfinal in much better shape than Las Aguilas. B.J. Callaghan can engineer the type of game plan that puts Nashville in rarefied air.
4. Seattle Sounders
Everything is coming up Sounders ahead of the series against Tigres actually starting. By chance, the Sounders were in Houston ahead of the first leg in El Volcan, allowing for optimal travel and preparation.
They don’t play a league game this weekend while Tigres will be fighting for their playoff life against Chivas. And, oh yeah, their form looks good with no defeats in their last six contests.
What will matter in the first leg, however, is how well Jackson Ragen and whoever joins him in the back line suffering from injuries and knocks are able to repel the attacks that even a struggling Tigres will offer.
3. LAFC
The top team in MLS at the moment and one that made the savvy move to ‘season’ Son Heung-min in the ways of the Concacaf Champions Cup. While he and Denis Bouanga made quicker work of Real España in that opening series than the team did of Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, there is no question that meeting Cruz Azul is a real test.
It’s one the Black and Gold could pass. While every team left in the tournament is a step above the Orlando City team they dismantled over the weekend, there aren’t glaring weak spots in Marc dos Santos’ team. The attack has Son, Bouanga and an emerging third option in David Martinez. The defense is yet to concede in MLS play - though Liga did put one past in each leg of their series. This series against Cruz Azul is going to be a banger.
2. Toluca
The absence of Marcel Ruiz is a concern for the Diablos Rojos, but they keep their place after a convincing second-leg victory over San Diego FC. The focus this year has been on the CCC, and that showed when manager Antonio Mohamed opted to leave playmaker Alexis Vega and left back Jesus Gallardo on the bench for what ended up being a shock 1-0 loss to Queretaro.
When those players, plus potentially a center back like Bruno Méndez come back into the XI, this team will be much more difficult to beat. Toluca didn’t win back-to-back Liga MX trophies by accident. They know where their priorities are and will be going all-out to beat the Galaxy.
1. Cruz Azul
La Maquina hasn’t actually rolling in the last several weeks, winless in its last four. But the weekend loss to Pachuca came with a number of regulars playing limited roles in preparation for the showdown with LAFC.
The reigning champions are one of the best-balanced teams in the Americas. With Erik Lira rested and back in the starting XI, AgustÃn Palavecino returning after missing the Tuzos game with a suspension, both Toro Fernandez & Nico Ibanez finding form up top, and Kevin Mier returning in goal, La Maquina should be back on track and are the favorite to lift the trophy once again.
Back tomorrow with a look at the stretch run of the Concacaf W Championship qualification. After I took Easter Monday off, that one will be only for premium subscribers.
I’ll have some other updates - both about the newsletter schedule & about soccer in the region - soon!