The Union will face El Salvador’s Alianza FC to start the 2023 Concacaf Champions League

This article was updated on Nov. 17 after Concacaf confirmed the round of 16 schedule.

If it felt for some local soccer fans like the world ended after the Union’s heartbreaking MLS Cup final loss on Saturday, it took just over 48 hours to get a reminder that the world’s game never stops.

On Monday night, Concacaf held the draw for next year’s Champions League bracket, and set the Union up with a round of 16 matchup against El Salvador’s Alianza FC. Alianza will host the first game of the series on March 7 at 8 p.m., and the Union will host the second game at Subaru Park on March 14 at 8 p.m.

Veteran watchers of Concacaf Gold Cups and the Nations League might recognize three Salvadoran veterans from Alianza’s squad: forward Nelson Bonilla, midfielder Narciso Orellana and forward Rodolfo “Fito” Zelaya. They’ve all played against the U.S. multiple times before. Zelaya, who has a great left foot, is also famous for having been banned for a year in 2013 for involvement in a match-fixing scandal with El Salvador’s national team. Fortunately, that is now long in the past.

Alianza’s home stadium is the Estadio Cuscatlán in San Salvador, known to American soccer fans as the place where El Salvador’s men’s national team plays its home games. The U.S. has played there twice in recent times, a scoreless tie in World Cup qualifying in Sept. 2021 and a 1-1 tie in the Concacaf Nations League this past June.

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This will be the Union’s second journey in the continent’s top club competition, after their inaugural voyage in 2021 saw them reach the semifinals. Repeating that feat will be harder this time. If the Union beat Alianza, they’ll face Mexico’s Atlas or Honduras’ Olimpia instead of a MLS team like they did two years ago, Atlanta United. And because of the draw rules, the Union already know the order of games: at Subaru Park some time from April 4-6, and on the road April 11-13.

If the Union make the semifinals, an epic matchup could await them. The other part of their side of the bracket has the Vancouver Whitecaps playing Honduras’ Real España and Los Angeles FC playing Costa Rica’s Alajuelense. A semifinal rematch of the MLS Cup final would get everyone’s attention real fast.

The draw was simple, with eight teams from MLS and Mexico in the higher-seeded pot and eight other teams in the lower-seeded pot. And it was done in just half an hour, unlike FIFA’s perennially-slow World Cup draw shows.

Of the other MLS teams, Champions League debutant Austin FC got the easiest draw on paper against Haiti’s Violette AC. Fellow debutant Orlando City undoubtedly got the hardest: Mexican powerhouse Tigres UANL, the only Mexican team in the lower-seed pot.

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Games are listed in the order of the bracket.

1. Austin FC (United States) vs. Violette AC (Haiti)

2. León (Mexico) vs. Tauro FC (Panama)

3. Orlando City (United States) vs. Tigres UANL (Mexico)

4. Pachuca (Mexico) vs. Motagua (Honduras)

5. Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Real España (Honduras)

6. Los Angeles FC (United States) vs. Alajuelense (Costa Rica)

7. Atlas (Mexico) vs. Olimpia (Honduras)

8. Philadelphia Union (United States) vs. Alianza (El Salvador)

Tuesday, March 7

6 p.m.: Violette AC vs. Austin FC at Santiago, Dominican Republic (a neutral site because of political instability in Haiti)

8 p.m.: Alianza vs. Union

10 p.m.: Tigres UANL vs. Orlando City

Wednesday, March 8

6 p.m.: Tauro vs. León

8 p.m.: Olimpia vs. Atlas

10 p.m.: Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Real España (Vancouver is hosting the first leg because of a venue availability conflict at BC Place for the second leg)

Thursday, March 9

8 p.m.: Motagua vs. Pachuca

10 p.m.: Alajunelense vs. Los Angeles FC

Tuesday, March 14

8 p.m.: Union vs. Alianza, Austin FC vs. Violette

10:15 p.m.: Atlas vs. Olimpia

Wednesday, March 15

6 p.m.: Real España vs. Vancouver Whitecaps

8:15 p.m.: Orlando City vs. Tigres UANL

10:30 p.m.: Los Angeles FC vs. Alajuelense

Thursday, March 16

8 p.m.: León vs. Tauro

10:15 p.m.: Pachuca vs. Motagua