TFC draws the Galaxy in CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final

Toronto FC will face the Los Angeles Galaxy in its CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final.

The two teams were matched together during Tuesday’s quarter-final draw at CONCACAF headquarters in New York.

Los Angeles won the Supporters’ Shield as the top regular-season in MLS and is the heavy favourite to beat the Houston Dynamo in the MLS Cup two weekends from now.

Toronto, as the lower seed, hosts the first of the two legs — and that will happen from March 6-8. But will it go at BMO Field or the Rogers Centre? And, will David Beckham, whose contract expires at the end of the season, be back with the Galaxy next season?

For novelty’s sake, a Mexican side might have been more of a ticket-sale generator. If TFC moved the game to Rogers Centre, could it find 25,000 more fans than a BMO sellout to see a team that comes to Toronto every year? And, for the casual fans and Eurosnobs who don’t “get” the CONCACAF Champions League, is the game a tougher sell because it sees TFC taking on another MLS side rather than a sexy Mexican power?

But, on the flipside, it’s a break for TFC to miss a Mexican side, which will already be in league play and will be in better form. Both Los Angeles and TFC will come careening out of their preseason rituals and into these matches. And, even though Los Angeles is the best side in MLS at the moment — and things can change in the offseason — TFC fans will be much more hopeful of being able to steal a result in the road leg against the Galaxy than they would be if the Reds had to go to Mexico.