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Sporting Kansas City drew Saprissa and Real Esteli in the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League, forming a formidable Group 2.
Saprissa is the 2014 summer champion from Costa Rica, finishing first in the standings, then winning the playoffs to earn the spot in the Champions league. They play in San Jose at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Ayma, which is known for being a formidable environment for opponents due to the close proximity of fans to the pitch. They are nicknamed "The Purple Monster," which already sounds scary. They haven't won the Champions League in its current format but they are three time winners of the Champions Cup and have been runners up four times. Their most recent final appearance was 2008.
They faced the Kansas City Wizards in 2005 in the Champions Cup, winning 2-1 on aggregate.
Real Esteli is back in the 2014-2015 Champions League after winning both the 2013 Clausura and the 2014 Apertura in Nicaragua. They faced Sporting Kansas City in the group stage last year, losing 2-0 in the home match and drawing 1-1 in Kansas City.
The dates for the matches have not been announced yet but the games are likely to start in August and finish in October. Each team will play the other twice, once at home and once away. The winner of the group will advance to the quarterfinals, which will take place in March of 2015.
Ben Jata brings us the full results from the draw, where it looks like Sporting Kansas City has one of the tougher groups.
2014-2015 CONCACAF Champions League Draw Results pic.twitter.com/km0R3MwM8k
— Ben Jata (@Ben_Jata) May 28, 2014
