New York Red Bulls learn 2016-17 CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage opponents

The draw for the 2016-17 CONCACAF Champions League has put the New York Red Bulls into a group with El Salvador's Alianza and Guatemalan club Antigua.

As it happens, all three of the teams in Group F of this year's CCL qualified based on their achievements in 2015: Alianza and Antigua are the 2015 Apertura champions of their respective leagues, meaning they won the titles that qualified them for this CCL last year; RBNY is, of course, the reigning MLS Supporters' Shield holder - a trophy also secured in 2015.

Dates for the forthcoming group stage games have yet to be announced, but CCL typically plays its opening rounds in a series of midweek match-days spread over August, September, and October.

Both the Salvadoran and Guatemalan leagues are in their off-seasons at the moment, so it is perhaps a little premature to start poring over the rosters of RBNY's opponents in CCL.

But let's do so anyway: Antigua found success last season in Guatemala with assistance from a clutch of foreign players, including Costa Ricans Alexander Robinson and Manfred Russell - both formerly of Saprissa - and Mexican Agustin Herrera, who scored five goals in the 2008-09 edition of CCL for Santos Laguna.

Alianza's best known player is probably Rodolfo Zelaya, who USMNT fans might remember from the 2013 Gold Cup:

And he also knows a thing or two about scoring at Red Bull Arena:

Zelaya's career was interrupted by a suspension for match-fixing shortly after the 2013 Gold Cup, which perhaps explains why he did not move on to bigger things after the show he put on at the CONCACAF tournament that summer.

Potentially some interesting visitors - and testing road trips - for RBNY in the months ahead.