User:Quidster4040/sandbox/2020–21 CONCACAF Champions League knockout stage

The 2020–21 CONCACAF Champions League knockout phase will begin on 16 February 2021 with the round of 16 and end on 9 May 2021 with the final at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, United States, to decide the champions of the 2020–21 CONCACAF Champions League. A total of 16 teams will compete in the knockout phase.

Times are EST/EDT, as listed by CONCACAF (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Round and draw dates
The schedule is as follows (all draws are held at the CONCACAF offices in Miami, United States).

Format
Each tie in the knockout phase, apart from the final, is played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scores more goals on aggregate over the two legs advances to the next round. If the aggregate score is level, the away goals rule is applied, i.e. the team that scores more goals away from home over the two legs advances. If away goals are also equal, then extra time is played. The away goals rule is again applied after extra time, i.e. if there are goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score is still level, the visiting team advances by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals are scored during extra time, the winners are decided by a penalty shoot-out. In the final, which is played as a single match, if the score is level at the end of normal time, extra time is played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the score is still level.

The mechanism of the draws for each round is as follows:


 * In the draw for the round of 16, the eight group winners are seeded, and the eight group runners-up are unseeded. The seeded teams are drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group or the same association cannot be drawn against each other.
 * In the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals, there are no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association can be drawn against each other. As the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals are held together before the quarter-finals are played, the identity of the quarter-final winners is not known at the time of the semi-final draw. A draw is also held to determine which semi-final winner is designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it is played at a neutral venue).

For the quarter-finals and semi-finals, teams from the same city are not scheduled to play at home on the same day or on consecutive days, due to logistics and crowd control. To avoid such scheduling conflict, if the two teams are drawn to play at home for the same leg, the order of legs of the tie involving the team with the lower domestic ranking in the qualifying season is reversed from the original draw.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
Many of the knockout stage matches will be played before a COVID-19 vaccine is administered to the general population, thus likely affecting the attendance for early round matches (played either behind closed doors or with restricted capacity depending on local regulations). The group stage, played in the Fall of 2020 was played at neutral venues behind closed doors from October until January, which caused the draw for the knockout round to be held a month later than normal.

The knockout stage is scheduled to begin in early April as opposed to the normal mid-February start time and teams will play a two-legged series at their home venues, unless local regulations prevent sporting matches to be held. In the wake of possible matches not being able to be held at a team's home ground, CONCACAF as designated three alternative venues for matches to be played:


 * Exploria Stadium, Orlando (United States)
 * Toyota Stadium, Frisco (United States)
 * Inter Miami CF Stadium, Fort Lauderdale (United States)

On 16 January 2021, Inter Moengotapoe announced that their home matches would not be played at their normal venue of Ronnie Brunswijkstadion in Moengo, Suriname due to COVID-19 infrastructure concerns, and instead would play their home matches at Inter Miami CF Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Unite States.

On 19 January 2021, CF Montréal announced that their home matches would be played at Marina Auto Stadium in Rochester, New York, if COVID-19 restrictions in Canada remained in place by 1 April 2021.

Qualified teams
The knockout phase involves the 16 teams which qualify as winners and runners-up of each of the eight groups in the group stage. 

Round of 16
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 18 January 2021, 12:00 EST.

Summary
The first legs were played on 6 and 7 April, and the second legs were played on 13 and 14 April 2021. 


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Matches
Motagua won 1–0 on aggregate.

Los Angeles FC won 9–3 on aggregate.

''3–3 on aggregate. Olimpia won 5–4 on penalties.''

Philadelphia Union won 10–0 on aggregate.

''2–2 on aggregate. Alajuelense won 1–0 on away goals.''

Atlanta United won 3–1 on aggregate.

Cruz Azul won 3–2 on aggregate.

León won 3–2 on aggregate.

Summary
The first legs were played on 27 and 28 April, and the second legs were played on 4 and 5 May 2021. 


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Matches
Los Angeles FC won 5–1 on aggregate.

Olimpia won 1–0 on aggregate.

Philadelphia Union won 4–1 on aggregate.

Cruz Azul won 4–2 on aggregate.

Summary
The first legs were played on 18 and 19 May, and the second legs were played on 25 and 26 May 2021. 


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