Revolution keep busy with another tourney

Another tournament, another country, and another match are on the way for the Revolution, who play Joe Public FC in Trinidad tonight in the preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions League, the third in-season tournament of the year for New England.

The Revolution flew from Toronto Sunday to Trinidad & Tobago for the first game of the home-and-away series, which will conclude Sept. 2 at Gillette Stadium.

This is the first season for the new tournament and format, which replaced the CONCACAF Champions Cup, which began in 1962. Organizers are optimistic that some of the changes will spread appeal among fans and players and create a buzz about soccer over time in the US.

The Champions League is modeled after the UEFA Champions League, which features the top European club teams. Revolution coach Steve Nicol, who once played for Liverpool FC, among other teams, said such events generate a "particular atmosphere about it, that's different from all the other competitions."

The CONCACAF Champions League includes 24 teams representing each of its regions. It breaks down to four teams from Mexico and the US, two clubs each from Costa Rica and El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama, three teams from the Caribbean, and one representative each from Canada, Belize and Nicaragua.

The winning club earns the right to represent CONCACAF in the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup in Dubai.

The Revolution were semifinalists in the US Open Cup and won the SuperLiga Tournament, which pitted four Mexican clubs against four MLS teams.

"With the SuperLiga experience, you're playing just Mexican teams, and Champions League is going to be a real mixed bag," Nicol said. "It's not just teams from two countries. It's teams from all over the place, so it's a fantastic experience for the players."

The travel could take its toll, though.

"There are a little bit of mixed emotions on it," said Steve Ralston. "It's tough. We just got done with SuperLiga and Open Cup and now we have [Champions League]. It's a lot to ask.

"It would be a whole lot different if we were taking an hour bus ride somewhere. But we're flying all over the hemisphere here, that's what makes it a little bit more difficult."

The Revolution played Toronto FC to a 1-1 tie Saturday and will return to Foxborough for this Saturday's match against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

"We have to concentrate on the next game at hand, but sometimes you see [the schedule] and it's hard to miss," Ralston said. "You see Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday and it's going to be really difficult. We've never experienced this type of schedule before."

If the Revolution should win the first round, they can look ahead to even more games.

In the CONCACAF Champions League breakdown, 16 teams are paired into eight home-and-away matches in the prelims. Eight other teams are seeded directly into Group Stage.

In Group Stage, each team will play two matches against each team in its group in round-robin. The top two clubs from each group advance to the Elimination Stage, in which the eight teams will be drawn into quarterfinals.

Monique Walker can be reached at mwalker@globe.com.