🏆 Liga MX clubs send reminder, MLS v. Liga MX final set & more: Three thoughts from CCL QFs
Three thoughts from this week's quarterfinal deciders
Getting CONCACAFed is a newsletter sharing stories and analysis from the Concacaf region.
I write and report on stories other soccer outlets overlook from CCL, World Cup qualification and more:
Like New York’s hottest club, the second legs of the Concacaf Champions League had everything.
There was an MLS team collapsing, a Central American squad making its highly favored opponent extremely nervous, Liga MX teams dominating and, for balance, a Liga MX team collapsing.
But when the dust cleared, it was clear we’ll have a final with some interest in it for the neutrals, with an MLS team meeting a Mexico City grande no matter who comes out of the ties. That’s a good thing for this tournament, which (like in the semis) too often bogs down with repeats of domestic ties we’ve all seen before.
Here are three thoughts from the week:
This still may be the best chance for an MLS team to win CCL in quite some time - and it would mean more…
The New England Revolution’s embarrassing collapse to Pumas landed in a rare category: Completely shocking despite being entirely predictable.
Only one team in this competition ever had thrown away a 3-0 first leg lead in a knockout tie. I haven’t looked around, but I doubt it happens much in other regions. (Edit: Austin Miller writes in reminding of the 2017 Copa Libertadores quarterfinal in which Bolivian side Jorge Wilstermann secured a famous 3-0 win in the first leg against River Plate and lost the second leg…8-0. This was before commenter JY brought up Herediano losing 6-3 to América in the 2014-15 CCL semifinals after winning 3-0 in the first leg. I guess this happens more than we thought…I regret the error).
“Common sense would tell you our approach will be different,” Revs head coach Bruce Arena said before the match. “We don’t need to score. They do.”
Except the Revs did need to score. An away goal would’ve killed off the tie, but you could see in the body language the Revs put on the field after Juan Dinenno’s first goal, after his second goal and after Sebastian Saucedo’s critical third that was probably never going to happen.
Adam Buksa was wasteful, the Revs couldn’t convert a late chance for an away goal and, unsurprisingly, Pumas got the shootout win with the extremely experienced Alfredo Talavera in net, a chanting crowd at the CU behind him.
The Revs were definitely hurt by having to roll with a center-back pairing of Omar Gonzalez and Jon Bell instead of having Andrew Farrell and Henry Kessler. But also…they started with a three goal lead.
Even though the Revs fell flat, though, the idea that an MLS team could win the tournament this year shouldn’t lose any strength. The “four MLS teams in the semifinals” idea a few pundits floated and no doubt plenty in MLS’ New York City offices were dreaming of didn’t materialize, but there still will be one MLS team in the final.
The Sounders showed what it is to put in a professional performance after an impressive first-leg romp. NYCFC survived and advanced. Now, one of them will go up against a team from Mexico City.
And let’s face it. If an MLS team does win the trophy, it will be all the more magical doing it having to overcome the test a team like Pumas will pose on the UNAM campus or that Cruz Azul will put forward at the Azteca.
Any way an MLS team wins the trophy for the first time, it will be ‘legitimate’, but there will be a little something special if it happens this year beating an historic Liga MX grande.
…but neither Liga MX team will cede the crown easily
Of course, there’s still no guarantee an MLS team will win.
It’s tough to see Pumas making the same type of mistakes they did in the first leg again, especially with less of a trip, less snow and less artificial turf to deal with in the semis.
With a finisher as competent as Juan Ignacio Dinenno, a goalkeeper as experienced as Talavera and a manager as adaptable as Andres Lillini, the comeback specialists are as much of a candidate of any of the remaining four teams to lift the title.
They surprise me. I told them before the penalties, kick them like you played because honestly I’ve seen few examples of a team like this,” Lillini said. “They pay attention to me and perfectly executed the game plan we hoped. It really fills me with pride.”
And Cruz Azul remains, for my money, the most talented team remaining in the tournament. There have been absences for various reasons, but now four games away from a continental championship, Juan Reynoso may be able to put his best group on the field.
Reynoso was almost deferential to MLS, underlining the league’s growth in his pre-match news conference ahead of his team executing his game plan to choke Montreal off from opportunities to put a big number on the scoreboard and move on.
Whichever team ends up flying the flag for Mexico and defending Liga MX’s hegemony, it will be a good, focused team - and it likely will follow tradition and have the deeper roster of the two teams. Either team will fight to add another trophy to their case.
Comunicaciones fall, but land a blow for the little guys
Whether it’s the (failed) European Super League, potential Nations League play between UEFA and CONMEBOL or the Leagues Cup, the trend in ‘modern football’ is to cut out the little guy.
People want the big names. The star players. We serve the casual observer who definitely has heard of Cristiano and never Jose Manuel Contreras. Who wants to watch a team from Guatemala?
Well, we do. The fightback from the Central Americans was exactly the type of thing that makes fellow knockout tournament March Madness so fun to watch. You never know who is going to show up, exploit a tactical advantage or simply put the type of effort on the field needed to fell a team with a bigger budget, with more fame and renown, and who should really win the tie without much difficulty.
Look, I’m obviously a bit of a romantic. You’ve read the newsletter. But I think people want to watch games and hear stories that involve teams like this one, with Comunicaciones falling a goal short of going through even after losing 3-1 in the first leg.
Comunicaciones showed why the CCL’s new format, which includes separate routes for Caribbean and Central American squads, is a good one. These teams belong in the competition and can hang with the big boys in the region. Cremas themselves won the Concacaf League and were able to ride some of that momentum to a first-round victory over an MLS team and push the reigning MLS Cup champ to the limit.
“We played a great opponent and my players showed they were up to the level, so I’m very happy with their performance, the team’s performance and it helps us grow a lot,” Comunicaciones manager Willy Olivera said after the match. “We’ll set the bar high in the other tournament and do everything possible to get back.”
The other thing that gets lost in these discussions is that Cremas aren’t exactly a rag-tag group of villagers. One of Guatemala City’s two giants, the club has 151K followers on Insta and 121K on Twitter, numbers that put it among the ranks of Round of 16 opponent Colorado Rapids or lesser-followed Liga MX squads like Juarez or Atletico San Luis.
These clubs, like MLS teams, have ambitions to win for the first time in the current format - even if they’d have to overcome that much more to do it.
Their presence makes the tournament richer, more interesting and flat-out better than anything that cuts them off.
Herediano actually did blow a 3-0 lead in 2015 semifinals, amigo, losing 6-0 in 2nd leg, but that's my only quibble. Always enjoy your coverage!
Thank you. Appreciate your work and your advocacy for the important role the smaller Central American teams play in this tournament.