🏆 Three questions ahead of the Concacaf Champions League quarterfinals
MLS teams need good first legs, Liga MX teams need to get in gear
GETTING CONCACAFED is a newsletter telling stories from the Concacaf region.
I cover the club game and the international game, searching for stories and providing analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
The most important men’s club tournament in the region resumes tonight with the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Champions League kicking off.
Let’s take a look at three questions we’ll soon have answered in the second round of this tournament:
What will MLS teams do with first-leg home games?
There are MLS teams in all four of the quarterfinals. One of them, CF Montreal (#BringBackImpact) is hosting the second leg of their tie.
The others need to do their damage this week.
You may have heard MLS teams generally don’t do that well in this competition when playing in Mexico. The record? 5-38-10 on Mexican soil, according to my back of the envelope calculations:
That puts the onus on the trio of American teams to win big on home soil.
"I think we're in a very good place," New York City FC manager Ronny Deila said in a virtual news conference Monday. "It's impossible to say that you don't have challenges with traveling like we have done. There's no other countries in the world that have that kind of traveling, but I think we've adapted very well to it.”
His trip to Guatemala is likely the least intimidating of MLS teams hitting the road, not just because of the atmosphere but because Comunicaciones is the least deep team left in the competition…on paper. The second leg of the Colorado is the Cremas’ only defeat in eight games since a rivalry loss Feb. 2 to Municipal. The team is in good form and planning to do more than just sit back and let NYCFC beat them tonight.
“We have the hope and desire to move on. In these games, it goes beyond closing the tie at home. The important thing is to have a good game, win if possible and, if not, be able to score,” goalkeeper Kevin Moscoso said before the team traveled to the U.S.
New England is, I think, at a disadvantage in that it has to open this tournament without playing the Round of 16. Sure, getting a win by forfeit can be nice, but Revs manager Bruce Arena said last week his team didn’t have the preseason it needed because of Cavaly’s withdrawal.
The Revs have a better roster than Saprissa and should challenge Pumas, but it’s a rude welcome to the competition.
Are the Sounders up for this?
Just two weeks ago, I declared the Seattle Sounders the favorite for MLS team to break through and finally win this tournament.
Then the Sounders went out and lost not one but two MLS games, falling to Nashville at home and Real Salt Lake on the road. They didn’t look particularly sharp in either game and didn’t score
And, just to complicate things, forward Raul Ruidiaz will miss out with the hamstring injury suffered in the second leg of the Round of 16 win over Motagua.
“I wouldn’t say morale is low, just the two games haven’t been as good,” Alex Roldan told reporters after the RSL match. “One of the benefits of being part of this club is we’re notorious for bouncing back. We know how to show up when we need to.
“I’m sure you’ll see that, and we expect to do that. I’m sure you’ll see better performances and hopefully get back to winning ways you’re used to.”
The success the Sounders had last season and their continuity headed into this year made them feel like a team to contend with in CCL. It’s fair to question that status heading into tonight’s match. If the Sounders don’t show up as Roldan says they will, they’ll have one less trophy to worry about competing for this season.
Which Mexican squad will flex its muscle?
In a competition in which a Liga MX side has won every edition, there’s always been one squad that ends up emerging victorious. Often, they establish themselves as serious contenders at this stage of the tournament.
In the first round, Cruz Azul made the (correct) calculus it could use a largely alternate side to get past Forge FC.
What manager Juan Reynoso did not expect is to lose the next three league games, with the home victory against Forge the most recent win for La Maquina, which still sits fifth in Liga MX after a strong start (but has a game in hand on many teams after Sunday’s matches were postponed).
Cruz Azul has the best roster remaining, but just how engaged they’ll be Wednesday against Montreal is up in the air.
Pumas may be a much more engaged team, and certainly no Saprissa player was able to stop Juan Ignacio Dinenno in the first two legs, as the Argentine scored three to take an early lead for the Golden Boot.
The Revolution, however, are much more likely to take advantage of the spaces Pumas’ defenders, particularly right back Alan Mozo, often leave behind when they surge into the attack.
León is getting healthy at the right time, with Angel Mena’s return and Gary Kagelmacher’s integration at center back helping the team to four matches undefeated in the league. They passed their straight-forward Round of 16 test with flying colors and now face a much stronger side as we addressed above.
I expect plenty to still be in the balance after the matches tonight and tomorrow: We’ll talk about it later this week and next!