CONCACAF Champions Cup – or Copa de Campeones y Subcampeones CONCACAF, as the tournament is officially called. The usual messy and rather strangely organized competition, in which the only worthy teams were the Mexican: America and Monterrey. They, however, could not reach the big final both – at the final of Northern/Central Section one of them was inevitably out. One may argue that stronger teams (from Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador) were actually in impossible position unlike the much weaker Caribbean teams, but such was the construction of the tournament. US teams were practically a joke – San Pedro Yugoslavs (who did not even play – they withdrew) and St. Louis Kutis SC and the Mexican sailed to the final in which America won over Monterrey 3-3 and 2-0. Thus, one of the CONCACAF was America.
The Caribbean Section was even murkier: the representatives of Surinam – Robin Hood and Paloeloe withdrew for financial reasons at the first leg. The whole divide into sections hardly made sense – few Caribbean states participated and among those who did not was even Haiti, better known to most thanks to their play at the 1974 World Cup. Jamaica had only one team in the tournament, which required 2 of every country. In the second leg the second match between Defence Force (Trinidad & Tobago) and Club Franciscain was not played – apparently, the hosts of it, Club Francisacain, decided to withdrew after losing the first game. At this stage is also entirely unclear how Etoile de Morne-à-l’Eau (Guadelupe) was eliminated – by results, they won against VSADC (St Lucia) 0-0 and 3-1. Seemingly, records of semi-final round are non-existent – if there was such round. However, 3 teams qualified from the previous round, yet the next was already the final and between the teams of Trinidad & Tobaco – Defence Force (who played so far just one match – they had a bye in the first round, then Club Franciscain withdrew before the second leg) and Trintoc, who played solid 4 games before reaching the final (they successfully eliminated teams with outlandish names – Rick’s Superstars from Saint Vincent first and then Golden Star from Martinique). Where and why Etoile de Morne-a-l’Eau evaporated nobody knows… The clash of Trinidad ended with Defence Force victory – 1-1 and 2-1 – and once again they had a chance to win the CONCACAF trophy. On theory. In reality they managed a tie at home – 1-1 – and lost in Mexico 0-2.
One can appreciate Defence Force in their own terms – a small team from small country, which was doing quite good on international level. But not when against them were real professionals – no matter how determined and heroic, they had no chance.
America (Mexico City) won the CONCACAF Champions Cup for a second time.
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