Friday, March 6, 2009

Champions League Recap

Well, the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions Leage wrapped up yesterday, and there were definately some suprises in the games.
The all mexican quartefinal between Cruz Azul and Pumas ended with Cruz Azul winning 2-0 with the goal aggregate.
The lone MLS squad, Houston, lost to Atlante 3-0 in the second leg after drawing in Houston, and they were eliminated 4-1.
USL squad Puerto Rico Islanders continued their suprise run in the Champions League by knocking of Maraton to advance to the semis
The game that I want to talk about was between the Montreal Impact and Santos Laguna. Montreal had a great home game, winning 2-0, and putting themselves in a great position to advance to the semi-finals. In Mexico, they gave up a quick goal in the 15th minute, but they still led 2-1 in goal aggregate. Following a huge defensive mistake by Santos, Montreal was able to equalize, and go up 3-1 aggregate, and they got an away goal. (With away goals, even if the game is tied at the end of the two games, whoever scores the most away goals will win.) This meant that Santos had to win this game, as a tie would cause them to lose on away goals. Well, Montreal bettered their position by scoring another goal before the half, leading 4-1 on aggregate. All they needed to do was not allow Santos to score 4 goals in the second half, and they would be in the Semis.
Well, Santos was able to get two goals back to make it 4-3 going into the 90th minute. They continued to press, and scored the two goals they needed, winning the series 5-4 on aggregate, and shocking the Montreal Impact.
Now, being an RSL fan, I have had many let downs as our team has given away leads late in the game, but I have never seen anything like this, and I cannot imagine what the fans and players must have felt like following the loss.

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