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reprint of COLORADO RAPIDS NEWS RELEASE -- byline Ben Grossman
NEWS RELEASE
DENVER (Tuesday, May 19, 1998) - The Colorado Rapids will host Mexican First Division club Leon on Sunday, June 28, at 6:00 p.m. MST in the first leg of the home-and-home qualifying round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup tournament. The prestigious event, featuring the top clubs in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, will mark the first time the Rapids have competed in a major international tournament.
Colorado will travel to Mexico to face Leon in the second leg of the fixture, on a date to be determined, but tentatively set for July 15. The Rapids, along with MLS Cup '97 champions D.C. United, qualified for the tournament based on reaching the MLS championship game in 1997.
The winner of the fixture will advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament, and will face the top qualifier from Central America at Washington, D.C.'s R.F.K. Stadium on Tuesday, August 11. If the teams split the two games, total goals will determine the winner of the fixture, with away goals counting double as in any international competition.
WHO'S IN (3): Already qualified for the quarterfinals are D.C. United and Mexican Club Cruz Azul, which won the tournament last year. Joining those two clubs will be the winner of the Mexican League playoffs, which are currently taking place.
THE QUALIFIERS (5): One quarterfinal spot will got to the winner of the Rapids/Leon fixture, both of whom were runners up in their respective countries last season. Out of qualifying stages also about to take place, three Central American teams and one Caribbean team will advance to the quarterfinal round.
BALBOA PLAYED FOR LEON: Colorado Rapids defender/midfielder Marcelo Balboa knows the Rapids' opponent well, as he spent two seasons playing for the Mexican club before joining the Rapids. Balboa joined a struggling Leon team in 1995 and kept them in the first division, and then led them to the playoffs the following season.