D.C. United knocked out of regional competition

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Oct 23, 2009

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Three second-half goals by Jerry Nelson Palacios helped give Honduran club Marathon a 4-2 win at Trinidad & Tobago's San Juan Jabloteh on Thursday night and claim a berth in the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Champions League at D.C. United's expense. Thursday's action completed the eight-team field that once again includes only one MLS representative: the Columbus Crew.

D.C. United, which earned a 1-1 tie at Mexico's Toluca on Tuesday, would have advanced if Marathon had not beaten pointless San Juan Jabloteh.

For the second year in a row, Marathon reached the quarterfinals, where it will join Mexico's four entrants -- Pachuca, Toluca, Cruz Azul and UNAM -- as well as Comunicaciones of Guatemala, surprise Arabe Unido of Panama and the Crew.

UNAM and Cruz Azul are the only other teams to reach the final eight for the second year in a row.

The Houston Dynamo, also eliminated earlier in the week, was MLS's representative in the 2009 quarterfinals.

Concacaf will conduct the draw for the knockout phase on Nov. 17 in New York. The 2010 quarterfinals will take place in February.

GROUP A
TEAM GP W T L GF GA P
Pachuca 6 5 0 1 15 4 15
Arabe Unido 6 3 1 2 13 9 10
Houston Dynamo 6 2 1 3 9  7
Metapan 6 1 0 5 3 19 3

GROUP B
TEAM GP W T L GF GA P
Toluca 6 4 1 1 15 4 13
Marathon 6 4 0 2 12 14  12
D.C. United 6 3 1 2 12 8  10
San Juan Jabloteh 6 0 0 6 4 17 0

GROUP C
TEAM GP W T L GF GA P
Cruz Azul 6 5 1 0 16 4 16
Columbus Crew 6 2 2 2 5 9 8
Saprissa 6 1 2 3 6 8 5
P.R. Islanders 6 0 3 3 6 12  3

GROUP D
TEAM GP W T L GF GA P
UNAM  6 4 1 1 15 6  13
Comunicaciones 6 3 0 3 6 8 9
W Connection 6 2 1 3 10 9 7
Real Espana 6 2 0 4 6 14 6