DC United will be the first MLS side to kick off their 2009-2010 CONCACAF Champions League campaign tonight (8pm ET, FSC), when they take on El Salvadorian club Luis Angel Firpo at RFK Stadium. The match is the first leg of a two-legged series that will decide who enter the group stages of the tournament.

While I don't expect United to have much trouble getting by Firpo, the start of the tournament only brings to mind the issues that MLS clubs have in international play. Good enough to play and beat many of the region's lesser teams, MLS teams just don't have the ammunition to go up against the big boys. Mexico and Costa Rican teams dominate this competition, and there's no reason to think that it will change this time around.

But there is hope. United is much improved over last year, when they went down in the group stages of the CCL. Of the other MLS teams involved, both the Dynamo and Crew are good enough to progress relatively deep if they can get a few breaks in the group stage. Toronto is inconsistent and has a tough qualifying series with the Puerto Rico Islanders, but should be able to get by the USL-1 club.

And then there's New York. The less said about them, the better.

It would be foolish of me to suggest that any MLS club is truly capable of competing for the CCL title. There's just too many handicaps for that the be the case, and the much-richer Mexican clubs have too many advantages. But it wouldn't take much more than a few teams in the quarterfinal, and one in the semis, to improve drastically over last year's league terrible showing.

I think it can happen, and it starts with United tonight.