With the ritual of the US National Team's quadrennial collapse in Estadio Azteca safely behind us, attention here in Columbus can return to club - but not domestic - soccer. Yes, there is a home game against FC Dallas this Saturday, and with Chicago breathing down our necks in the Eastern Conference that is certainly a must-win match. But lurking just beyond that is the return of something I find much more exciting right now:

The return of international club soccer to Columbus.

 

Starting Tuesday, the Crew will make their debut in the CONCACAF Champions League - the team's first international experience since the 2003 CONCACAF Champions Cup. The Crew find themselves placed into a four-team group alongside Costa Rican club Saprissa, Mexico's Cruz Azul, and the Puerto Rico Islanders (who play in the USL first division, as there is no professional domestic league in Puerto Rico).

The team will play each of the other teams twice over the next three months (see schedule at right), with the top two teams advancing to the knockout stages that will be played in early 2010. This drawn-out process has its disadvantages, but there is one huge upside to this tournament - and we saw it on display on Wednesday afternoon.

There are very rare opportunities for a player to experience an atmosphere like that found in Estadio Azteca - yet those are the very games in which experience factors so heavily. The Thursday morning debate about whether Jozy Altidore should have started at forward for the US centers, at least in part, around Altidore's relative lack of experience compared with the veteran status of Brian Ching. Yet, if Altidore's New York team had qualified for international competition that experience gap would have been much more narrow.

So here, on the Crew's roster, we have potential future internationals like Chad Marshall or Robbie Rogers scheduled for a first taste of what it feels like to walk onto the fake turf at Estadio Saprissa. Or how a referee handles rough challenges on the road in Mexico City. While the quality of play in a road qualifier may never be exactly duplicated, the process of playing these games should put our budding stars in a better position to contribute not only to their domestic club, but internationally.

Beyond this "prepare for the international game" viewpoint, however, is another reason to get excited for this tournament. While MLS is no longer the cozy 10-team fraternity it was in 2003, the team has still faced Dallas 35 times over the last 14 years. They've played DC and New England a whopping 54 times each. Meanwhile, Tuesday's game against Puerto Rico will be only the seventh meaningful international game the team has played - ever.

If for no other reason than a change of scenery, I'm more excited by the CONCACAF Champions League right now than I am the league schedule.