Club América and MLS sides Columbus Crew and New England Revolution all have the advantage heading into the decisive matches of the Concacaf Champions Cup round of 16.
América topped rival Chivas Guadalajara 3-0 in Wednesday’s marquee contest, the first of the two match, total-goals series.
The Crew got a 96th minute winner in Houston against the MLS rival Dynamo in their opener, while New England kicked off the night by beating Costa Rican side Alajuelense 4-0
All three second legs will be played next week. Here are three quick thoughts on Wednesday’s games.
Advantage Columbus
For more than 90 minutes in Texas, the story of the game was the two controversial offside decisions by the video assistant referee that snuffed out an apparent goal for each side.
Houston thought it had scored when defender Ethan Bartlow stroked the ball into the bottom corner of the net early in the second half, only for VAR to nullify it by the slimmest of margins.
Later, another review erased a similar strike by Crew super sub Christian Ramirez on an offside just as tiny. But the visitors got another opportunity deep into stoppage time, when Alexandru Mățan’s shot deflected off the Dynamo’s Adalberto Carrasquilla and past keeper Steve Clark. This time, the goal stood.
The last minute win puts the MLS Cup champs in the driver’s seat was the teams head back to Ohio’s capital for Game 2. Houston will now have to take risks going forward on the road, with Wilfried Nancy’s side is perfectly equipped to exploit that extra space and punish them at the other end. It’s only a one goal deficit, to be sure. But Columbus’ late show on Wednesday makes it the Crew’s series to lose.
Club América dominates Clásico
It’s never dull when Mexico’s two most popular teams meet. Wednesday’s match in Guadalajara was no different, with a near brawl breaking out between the sides as the first half came to a close and Chivas fullback Eduardo Torres sent off for a second yellow card just past the hour mark.
It was the only fight the hosts could muster. It was all América from start to finish at Akron Stadium, with the visitors striking from the penalty spot after just 15 minutes and enjoying an astounding 62-percent possession advantage and ahead 10-4 on shots even before the red card. Afterward, another goal was inevitable. Diego Valdés provided it nine minutes later off a pass by U.S. national team winger Alex Zendejas, and Henry Martin added a third from long range in second half stoppage time.
It’s a nightmare scenario for Chivas, which now would be eliminated even with a two goal win in front of América’s fans in Mexico City next week.
Revs can’t get ahead of themselves
While Wednesday’s other two tilts were close for most of the night, the Revolution’s 4-0 demolition of Alajuelense in Foxborough was anything but. The hosts were up by three early in the second half.
Yet as much as New England has to like its chances of progressing to the quarters given the huge aggregate lead, the ugly scoreline in the opener doesn’t tell the whole story: Alajuelense actually out-shot the hosts, who were simply more efficient in front of goal.
The Revs’ third came from the penalty spot, before 18 year-old recent U.S. national team debutant Esmir Bajraktarevic completed the rout with more than 30 minutes still to play:
It does seem like an unassailable lead. Then again, it is Concacaf, where anything can happen and often does. However, it pans out, be sure that the Ticos won’t go quietly.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
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