• CONCACAF announced a reworking of its Champions League schedule, turning the entire competition into a big knockout tournament. Major League Soccer's main complaint — that the tournament starts in February, before the MLS season starts — hasn't been addressed, though. The MLS could have pushed to play the knockout rounds in the fall. Instead it chose to keep the league's fall playoff-chase schedule uncluttered, and now will continue to suffer by playing in February when the league is still in preseason.

• This year's CONCACAF Champions League knockout rounds start on Feb. 22. MLS has three clubs in the quarterfinals, but two of them — New York and Vancouver — play each other, meaning neither has an advantage. Dallas, though, has to play Panamanian champions Arabe Unido, which started its spring season a couple of weeks ago.

• There's only one undefeated team left in Europe's biggest leagues. It's not only not a big-name team, it's in third place, 11 points out of first. TSG Hoffenheim has seven victories and an astonishing 10 draws. It's just the sixth German team that has gone without a loss halfway through its season.