Columbus Crew shines in CONCACAF Champions Cup Quarterfinals
Monterrey uses strong second half to advance and Club America wins in a walk
The second leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup was supposed to be a landmark moment where the old vets of Inter Miami and the Columbus Crew were going to put on a show and dazzle us with some fantastic soccer to move on toward the Semi-Finals. Unfortunately, one of those teams laid an egg and joined the New England Revolution on the expulsion list. But for the defending MLS Cup Champions, they came to play and pulled off a huge moment to advance into the Semis.
After a poor clearance from Patrick Schulte made a swing and a miss to clear the ball out of his area, he allowed Andre-Pierre Gignac to take advantage of his blunder and converted in the third minute of the match but, the Crew never lost composure, and never fell apart. They continued to attack Tigres even though they had to survive an onslaught in the first half. But the magical moment came when Diego Rossi found the equalizer in the fifty-ninth minute to level the score at one apiece. It also leveled the away goals, and the aggregate a two-all.
After the extra thirty minutes of overtime came and went, this tie was going to be decided in a penalty kick shootout. And this is where Schulte made up for his earlier blunder by stopping the first two penalties on Tigres He stopped Gignac and Guido Pizarro while Diego Rossi, and Jacen Russell-Rowe made their penalties. Both teams converted until Juan Hernandez hit the post.
It all came down to the final round of regulation, and the Crew would advance toward the Semi-Finals as Max Arfsten calmly converted his penalty inside the far post to knock out one of the favorites in Liga MX as the Crew won it on penalties four to three after a one-all draw through regulation and extra time.
After Pachuca took down CS Herediano five goals to nil in the first leg, they hosted the Costa Rican side at the Estadio Hidalgo and just scored the necessary goals to put this tie to bed. Bryan Gonzalez scored the opener and Salomon Rondon continued to add to his totals in the goal-scoring department to make the aggregate seven nothing until Everardo Rubio ripped up the clean sheet. But we all knew Pachuca was going to advance to the Semi-Finals.
After getting spanked by Club America in the first leg, we all knew the New England Revolution wasn't going to survive the second leg at the Estadio Azteca. Club America showed their might and put down another whipping to announce to the entire region, that they weren't playing around. Goals from Diego Valdes, Julian Quinones, Henry Martin, Alejandro Zendejas, and Brian Rodriguez added to the aggregate totals. Even if Giacomo Vrioni did score a brace to rip up the clean sheet, it didn't matter. Club America was going to do a job and make a statement.
Finally, there was the return of Lione Messi as he was ready to take on Monterrey at the Estadio BBVA. You thought there was going to be some fight after the ending of the first leg, and some of the words that were going on from the Monterrey side of things. But sadly Inter Miami had nothing.
Drake Callender coughed up a poor clearance that was intercepted by the former FC Cincinnati Striker Brandon Vazquez who easily mashed it past the Inter Miami keeper and it started to unravel everything for the South Florida club in the thirty-first minute. Then in the second half, Monterrey put on a clinic and scored two big goals to make the score three-nil from German Berterame and Jesus Gallardo. Inter Miami got to score one late in the second half, by Diego Gomez, but this one was over after the second goal was scored.
I honestly don't know what type of game plan Tata Martino had in mind, but Miami had nothing on this nightand they looked old and slow, including their former high-priced FC Barcelona superstars in Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez, and the great Lionel Messi. Monterrey not only talked the talk, but they backed it up. With all of Miami's attempts to be compliant with MLS Roster rules, it goes to show you that what they have is a complete mess.
Has Tata Martino lost his ability to manage? Are the four old Barca horses finally coming to an end? Has the Leagues Cup championship zapped all their energies out of them and can they now make a run in league play? Can the club fix their defensive issues before it's too late? I honestly don't know, but right now the South Florida Super Club looks like a complete hot mess and it's very sad.
But now we will have Pachuca facing Club America and the Columbus Crew as the lone MLS side will take on a scary Monterrey team that is looking to lick its chops and take out the last American club in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
CONCACAF CHAMPIONS CUP QUARTERFINALS 2ND LEG SCORES
COLUMBUS CREW DEFEATS UNAL TIGRES IN PENALTIES 4-3 AFTER A ONE-ALL DRAW THROUGH REGULATION AND EXTRA TIME. THE AGGREGATE ENDED AT TWO-A-PIECE AND AWAY GOALS AT ONE A-PIECE.
CLUB AMERICA 5:2 NE REVOLUTION, CLUB AMERICA ADVANCES ON AGGREGATE 9:2
PACHUCA 2:1 CS HEREDIANO, PACHUCA ADVANCES ON AGGREGATE 7:1
MONTERREY 3:1 INTER MIAMI, MONTERREY ADVANCES ON AGGREGATE 5:2
CONCACAF CHAMPIONS CUP SEMI-FINALS
PACHUCA Vs. CLUB AMERICA
COLUMBUS CREW Vs. MONTERREY
Well Cincy will have to carry the MLS' banner by themselves.
New England has been an embarrassment for the league.
What was not mentioned in the Miami report is they are without too many players. For the old-timers to be able to contribute they have to only play part of the game. If they had a complete team this series would have been competitive.