CONCACAF Champions Cup – Copa de Campeones y Subcampeones CONCACAF. The usual complicated formula, which gave probably unfair chances to the Caribbean teams, but in any case apart from Mexico there was no serious championship in this part of the world – NASL already disappeared, but they did not participate in this tournament anyway. USA was represented by obscure and not even fully professional teams, Canada did not participate at all. All depended on the Mexicans, really – and at the crucial moment Atletico Morelia failed to appear and was disqualified. Cruz Azul lost to Olimpia (Honduras) 0-0, 1-2. Most likely their mind was elsewhere and not really committed to this tournament. Thus, from North/Central Zone Olimpia (Honduras) and Alajuelense (Costa Rica) reached the semifinals. The Caribbean Zone had only one team at this stage – so was the formula… Defence Force (Trinidad and Tobago) won the Caribbean final, prevailing over Robin Hood (Surinam) 0-1, 3-1. And since the semifinals were still played in zonal lines, Defence Force had no opponent and directly qualified to the final. Olimpia, however, faced Alajuelense and won 1-1, 1-0. This should have been the final, if strength had to do anything with this competition, but perhaps if the weak, yet numerous, Carribbean countries had no chance they would have refused to participate at all. Anyhow… the final did not reach Trinidad and Tobago – both legs were played at Estadio Nacional, Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Money surely was the issue for Defence Force and the outcome was predictable: they lost both matches, played on 19th and 21st of December – 0-2 and 0-2.
When one looks at the records, it is impressive – Defence Force reached the CONCACAF final regularly, even won the Cup once. In terms of Carribean football, no doubt they were best for a long time, but in a larger picture it was not so. And the club was quite aware of that – otherwise why deciding to play both legs away?
Olimpia (Tegucigalpa) won the trophy without trouble and the victory was great – it was the second time they won it, having to wait a long time, for the first time they won was in 1972. Yes, their opponents were very weak and yes, the Mexicans kind of neglected the tournament, but winners are winners and it was not their fault that the others were weak or not serious. Again, in their own continental terms, Olimpia was one of the strongest clubs – perhaps only the Costarican Alajuelense was equal to them and in the direct clash Olimpia prevailed. Joy in Tegucigalpa and rightly so.
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