Concacaf Champion's League

[BarryWhite]

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[BarryWhite]

The second round the CONCACAF Champions League takes a bite out of the MLS schedule for all the MLS representatives but Real Salt Lake who rebounded from a 1-0 opening round loss to Herediano at the end of July with a 2-0 victory over Tauro last week. The match results below show Toronto, Seattle, Houston and LA all cruised multi-goal wins.

Results to date
1 - 0 Herediano - Real Salt Lake
5 - 1 Toronto - Águila
3 - 1 Seattle Sounders - Caledonia AIA
2 - 0 Real Salt Lake - Tauro
1 - 3 FAS - Houston Dynamo
5 - 2 LA Galaxy - Metapán

This week's schedule
Tues. 8/28/2012 08:00 PM EDT Toronto - Santos Laguna
Wed. 8/29/2012 10:00 PM EDT LA Galaxy - Puerto Rico Islanders
Thur. 8/30/2012 08:00 PM EDT Caledonia AIA - Seattle Sounders
Thur. 8/30/2012 10:00 PM EDT Olimpia - Houston Dynamo

Quick thoughts

Toronto - Santos Laguna - Important home match for Toronto. Giving points to a Mexican team when you still have to travel away is always a bad idea. After one game Toronto sits second to Santos on goal differential.

LA Galaxy - Puerto Rico Islanders - If LA does not take all three points at home to Puerto Rico they are not taking this match seriously. LA sits atop the group with a game in hand but both road trips yet to come. Puerto Rico has competed in all five of the CONCACAF Champions League tournaments and upset LA in the 2010-2011 preliminary round. Anyone want to bet LA's senior players didn't need to be reminded about that this week?

Caledonia AIA - Seattle Sounders - This should be the easier of Seattle's two road trips so they need to lace'em up tight and tape the shin guards in place and bring home some points. Seattle sits in first after one on goal differential but Marathon should be the real competition in this group and Seattle will play the last two against them. This is Caledonia AIA's first appearance in the tournament having advanced on PK's from the Caribbean club championship.

Olimpia - Houston Dynamo - Houston sits behind Olimpia on goal differential after one and if they can find a way to get at least a point here they will have the comforts of home for the last two matches but going to Honduras is never easy and Olimpia knows how to play in the CONCACAF Champions League. Olimpia, along with Puerto Rico and Marathon, is one of three teams to have qualified for all five of the tournaments and making it to the quarterfinals in 2010-2011. I look for Houston to put up a tough fight as usual but Olimpia will not give up any points easily.

Real Salt Lake - RSL have held serve having won their lone home match and lost their lone home match through two rounds.

[HatterDon]

thanks for your analysis. Much appreciated!

[BarryWhite]

Toronto falls as Santos grabs hold of Group 1

TORONTO - Santos Laguna took a major step toward the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League Tuesday night, getting a goal and an assist from Daniel Ludena in the final minutes to beat Toronto 3-1.

Ludena scored the winner in the 90th minute and then set up Candido Ramirez in the second minute of injury time.

The result moved Santos - last season's runner-up -- atop Group 1 with six points, three better than Toronto with two games remaining for each.

However, Santos will play Aguila, which it beat 5-0 on August 21, in El Salvador, and Toronto at home. The Canadian side must play both its remaining games away.

Aguila was pushed to the brink of elimination with zero points and must win both remaining games to have any chance. Only the group winners advance.

A match summary is included at the linked concacaf.com article.

[SoCalJoe]

Thanks Barry for putting this together.

[BarryWhite]

The Toronto Sun discusses FC's last minute collapse.

While at times it looked as though the Reds were capable of pushing on for an eventual winner, having played a league match in Houston just three days prior, fatigue set in.

During the final 10 minutes Hall was forced into game-saving action at least twice, and Santos’ Felipe Baloy struck the post from a header.

Eventual goals in the 89th and 92nd minutes saw the visitors assert their superiority over a club that continues to be the architects of their own demise.

Looks like Mariner is none to happy with his defenders according to the article.

[BarryWhite]

LA jumps ahead of the pack in Group 5 with a 4-0 victory over Puerto Rico while the islanders are left nearly stranded at the bottom. A match that featured no Donovan, no Beckham and no Keane was no problem for the Galaxy and much to my liking the lineup LA featured was young and full of American players. LA takes a three point lead in the group with both of their remaining matches to be played on the road. The return leg to Puerto Rico taking place on September 19 and the likely group deciding match with Metapan will be played on October 25.

Galaxy reserves show their stuff in 4-0 win

From the LA Times and Kevin Baxter

"With David Beckham, Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan all sitting out, the Galaxy's reserves have no trouble in 4-0 win over the Puerto Rico Islanders in a CONCACAF Champions League match at the Home Depot Center."

"In their place was a lineup that featured 10 Americans, nine of them age 23 or younger.

Not that it mattered much with Tommy Meyer, Jose Villarreal, Jack McBean and Michael Stephens — who have 10 MLS starts among them this season — each scoring to give the Galaxy a 4-0 victory, moving it a big step closer to winning its group and advancing to the knockout round of the 24-team tournament."

The Concacaf.com match summary

[Clevelandmo]

LA jumps ahead of the pack in Group 5 with a 4-0 victory over Puerto Rico while the islanders are left nearly stranded at the bottom. A match that featured no Donovan, no Beckham and no Keane was no problem for the Galaxy and much to my liking the lineup LA featured was young and full of American players. LA takes a three point lead in the group with both of their remaining matches to be played on the road. The return leg to Puerto Rico taking place on September 19 and the likely group deciding match with Metapan will be played on October 25.

Galaxy reserves show their stuff in 4-0 win

From the LA Times and Kevin Baxter

"With David Beckham, Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan all sitting out, the Galaxy's reserves have no trouble in 4-0 win over the Puerto Rico Islanders in a CONCACAF Champions League match at the Home Depot Center."

"In their place was a lineup that featured 10 Americans, nine of them age 23 or younger.

Not that it mattered much with Tommy Meyer, Jose Villarreal, Jack McBean and Michael Stephens — who have 10 MLS starts among them this season — each scoring to give the Galaxy a 4-0 victory, moving it a big step closer to winning its group and advancing to the knockout round of the 24-team tournament."

The Concacaf.com match summary

I watched this match until I fell asleep. The LA Galaxy side was pretty much their reserve team + Noonan and they were an absolute joy to watch. Some of the nicest soccer I have ever seen. Maybe somebody spiked my milk and I was hallucinating but wow was it encouraging for the future.

[BarryWhite]

Group 4
Caskey, Ochoa and Montero talley to eliminate Caledonia with a 3-1 victory.

Seattle 3 - Caledonia AIA 1 - CONCACAF match report including highlights

"Alex Caskey scored a goal and set up another to lead Seattle Sounders FC to a 3-1 win over host Caledonia AIA Thursday night and put it control of Group 4 in in the CONCACAF Champions League.

Seattle improved to six points atop Group 4, five points ahead of Caledonia AIA and Marathon, which has played just one game."

The remaining group matches are scheduled for:

Marathón 10:00 PM EDT Seattle Sounders - September 19
Marathón 10:00 PM EDT Caledonia AIA - September 26
Seattle 10:00 PM EDT Marathón - October 24

Seattle's victory squarely puts all of the pressure on Marathon whose only match to date ended in a 0-0 tie with Caledonia.

[BarryWhite]

Group 3
Ten-man Houston holds off Olimpia 1-1

From the CONCACAF match report and highlights:

"Adam Moffat scored his third goal of the season and a 10-man Houston held on for a 1-1 draw with Olimpia that kept both teams tied atop Group 3 in the CONCACAF Champions League.

The result left both with four points after two games, but Olimpia must play its last two matches away from home while the Dynamo will play its final two matches in Houston at BBVA Compass Stadium. Salvadoran club FAS is last in the group with zero points."

In a match that was getting increasingly thuggish toward the end Houston held on in Honduras for a 1-1 draw after Nathan Sturgis was ejected in the 62nd minute for committing a foul from behind. Unfortunately in a game in which several of the players offered up terrific individual performances, yes I am looking at you Mac Kanji, it was the officiating and missed opportunities that highlighted this match. Both sides spurned excellent opportunities in front of goal and both managers became increasingly agitated with the officiating crew as the match rolled on. Olimpia was probably a bit unlucky not to draw a PK and a second red on what looked like a handball on the goal line. Houston was probably extremely lucky to have everyone walk off the pitch under their own power. OK it wasn't that bad but it wasn't good either. I am used to watching MLS teams get kicked and hacked in Honduras but I was concerned that Kinnear was going to burst a few blood vessels over the inequity in the calls delivered during the final 30 minutes of the match. At times the Honduran defending more closely resembled cross-checks than tackles and only minutes after Sturgis was rejected an Olimpia player committed a nearly identical foul and received a yellow for his efforts.

Although Houston are tied in points and sitting in second on goal differential they came out the real winner of this match. Taking a point on the road in Honduras while playing a man down puts them in the enviable position of playing their final two matches at home.

[BarryWhite]

Round five kicks off this evening:

September 18

Tauro 8:00 PM EDT Real Salt Lake
Xelajú 10:00 PM EDT W Connection
Real Estelí 10:00 PM EDT Tigres UANL

In a tightly contested Group 2 RSL travels to Panama to face Tauro who is 0-2 and sits on the bottom of the group. RSL will need to grab three points on the road if the want to challenge Herediano for the right to advance.

[BarryWhite]

Group 2

RSL used a stoppage time PK to eliminate Tauro and pull even on points with Herediano. The victory insures that RSL will have a chance of advancing out of the group in it's final group stage match to be played at Rio Tinto Stadium on October 23rd when Herediano will pay a visit for the return leg between the group leaders. In the interim Herediano will host Tauro on September 25th. Costa Rica is never a fun place to visit for opposing squads and with nothing on the line but pride it will be interesting to see how Tauro approach this match. The quality of fight they put up will dictate for the performance required for RSL to advance out of this group.

.....................G....W....D.....L.....F.....A.....D...Pts
1 Real Salt Lake..3.....2.....0.....1.....3.....1.....+2...6
2 Herediano......2.....2.....0.....0.....2.....0.....+2...6
3 Tauro ...........3.....0.....0.....3.....0.....4.....-4...0

CONCACAF match summary

[BarryWhite]

Results from September 19

Group 1
Águila 0 - 4 Santos Laguna - Santos closes on CCL quarterfinals

Santos all but wrapped up a quarterfinal slot with their 4-0 victory over Aguila. Toronto still holds at least a mathematical chance of overtaking Santos if they can sweep their final two matches and over come the massive 9 goal differential that Santos has accumulated over Toronto. Oh yeah, both of Toronto's remaining matches are road legs by the way.

Group 4
Marathón 2 - 3 Seattle Sounders - Seattle clinches quarterfinal berth

Seattle took care of business in three by going on the road and claiming the first quarterfinal berth this year. Their return home leg against Marathon has been rendered meaningless unless you're counting pride. I'd wager Seattle will be focusing on the MLS schedule until next spring.

Group 5
Puerto Rico Islanders 0 - 0 LA Galaxy - Galaxy oust Islanders from CCL contention

Much like Santos the Galaxy had the opportunity to put a stranglehold on their group but left Metapan with a more manageable comeback than Toronto has to deal with by managing just a 0-0 tie with the Islanders. Metapan will travel to Puerto Rico at the end of this month before hosting LA in the final Group 5 match on October 25. The Galaxy currently hold a 4 point and six goal differential edge on Marathon.

September 20 matches

Group 3
Houston Dynamo 8:00 PM EDT FAS

With a decisive victory Houston will put pressure on front runner Olimpia.

Group 7
Municipal 10:00 PM EDT Chorrillo

Municipal will need a decisive victory to make group leader Monterrey start thinking about their final match up.

[BarryWhite]

September 20 Match results

Group 3

Houston Dynamo 4-0 CD FAS - Houston tops FAS, moves closer to CCL QFs

Former Fulham loanee Giles Barnes opened the scoring in Houston's 4-0 win over FAS and was joined on the score sheet by Bobby Boswell, Cam Weaver and Calen Carr. FAS received it's walking papers from the competition while Houston put itself in good position to advance. The Dynamo sit three points and three goals clear of Olimpia who will pay a visit to FAS in El Salvador on September 27 before traveling to Houston for what will be the deciding group match on October 23.

Group 7

Municipal 1-1 Chorrillo in the 59th minute

Municipal will need a big finish to make group leader Monterrey start thinking about their final match up.

[BarryWhite]

September 25, 2012 Matches

Group 1
Aguila v. Toronto

Toronto will not only need to win but win convincingly to close the 9 goal differential gap between themselves and Santos Laguna. The final match will take place at Nuevo Estadio Corona. Odds of Toronto advancing are waif like.

Group 2
Herediano v. Tauro

Herediano host Tauro and can put themselves in a prime position to advance with a win although they will have to finish group play at Rio Tinto against a Real Salt Lake team that will be anything but courteous hosts. If Tauro put up a fight and keep the match close RSL will become my slim favorites to advance out of this group.

Group 7
Moterrey v. Municipal

Municipal have everything to play for and will need a convincing victory. Strange things will need to happen for Monterry not to advance from this group. Monterrey and Municipal enter the match tied on points but Monterrey hold a +5 goal differential advantage and also have a game in hand against cellar dwellars Chorillo.