Houston advances, Real Salt Lake eliminated with draws
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Oct 23, 2012
[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Week 6] The Houston Dynamo rallied from a 1-0 deficit at the half to draw, 1-1, with Olimpia of Honduras on Tuesday and move into
the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Champions League. On the other hand, Real Salt Lake needed to beat Herediano of Costa Rica at home to advance but could only settle for a 0-0 tie.
Honduran Boniek Garcia and Corey Ashe were the only starters from Saturday's 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Union to
start against Olimpia, which went ahead when Douglas Caetano's long-range shot went through the hands of Dynamo goalkeeper Tyler Deric in the 21st minute.
Hainault scored when he flicked a powerful header off Nathan Sturgis' corner toward the near edge of
the six-yard box over Olimpia goalkeeper Donis Escobar.
Real Salt Lake was playing without top scorer Alvaro
Saborio and could not beat Leonel Moreira, who had an excellent game in goal for Herediano.
“It’s a tough one to take," said
RSL's Kyle Beckerman. "We created enough chances to score four or five tonight, but we didn’t and so we’re not moving on.”
RSL,
the Concacaf runner-up in 2011, is the only one of the four U.S. entrants in the reformatted Concacaf Champions League not to reach the quarterfinals. Besides Houston, the Seattle Sounders and Los
Angeles Galaxy have won their groups.
The Sounders, who host Marathon of Honduras on Wednesday, are the only team with a chance to match Monterrey's record of four wins in four games.
Teams will be seeded for the quarterfinals based on their record in group play.
Oct. 23 in Houston
Houston Dynamo 1 Olimpia 1. Goals: Caetano 21; Hainault 65.
Houston -- Hall; Sarkodie, Boswell, Taylor, Ashe; B.Garcia, R.Clark, Moffat (Barnes
56), Davis (Creavalle 85); Carr, Bruin, Kandji (Ching 67).
Olimpia -- Escober; Beckeles, de Souza, Fonseca, J.C. Garcia; Rosano, Garrido, Lopez (Tilguath
70), Portillo (Escalante 72); Caetano (Bruschi 86), Rojas.
Red Card: Olimpia -- Beckeles 79.
Referee: Juan
Carlos Guerra (Guatemala).
Att.: 19,462.
Oct. 23 in Sandy, Utah
Real Salt Lake 0 Herediano 0.
Real Salt Lake -- Rimando, Beltran, Borchers, Wingert, Schuler (Mansally 62), Beckerman, Johnson (Velasquez
73), Morales, Gil (Steele 68), Espindola, Paulo Jr.
Herediano -- Moreira, Montero, Salazar, Francis, Granados, Aguilar (Garro 80), Cubero (Hernandez 87),
Angulo, Alvarado, Ramirez (Sanchez 77), Ruiz.
WEEK 6 SCHEDULE:
Tuesday, October 23
Houston Dynamo (USA) 1 Olimpia (HON) 1
Real Salt Lake (USA) 0 Herediano (CRC) 0.
Chorrillo FC (PAN) 0 Monterrey (MEX) 6.
STANDINGS:
Group 1: Santos 9 points; Toronto FC 6;
Aguila 0.
Group 2: *Herediano 10 points; Real Salt Lake 7; Tauro FC 0.
Group 3: *Houston Dynamo 10 points,
Olimpia 4; FAS 3.
Group 4: *Seattle Sounders 9 points; Marathon 4; Caledonia AIA 1.
Group 5: *Los Angeles
Galaxy 7 points; Puerto Rico Islanders 4; Isidro Metapan 3.
Group 6: Alajuelense 7 points; Tigres 5; Real Esteli 1.
Group 7: *Monterrey 12 points; Municipal 6; Chorrillo 0.
Group 8: Xelaju 7 points; Guadalajara 4; W Connection 2.
*Clinched group
title.
WEEK 6 SCHEDULE:
Wednesday, October 24
Santos (MEX) vs. Toronto FC (CAN), 8 p.m. (Fox
Soccer)
Seattle Sounders (USA) vs. Marathon (HON), 10 p.m. (Fox Soccer)
Tigres (MEX) vs. Alajuelense (CRC), 10 p.m.
Thursday, October 25
Guadalajara (MEX) vs. Xelaju (GUA), 8 p.m.
Isidro Metapan (SLV) vs. LA Galaxy (USA), 10 p.m. (Fox Soccer)
All times ET.
Forget about the seeding for the quarterfinals draw. If CONCACAF want to keep the popular interest in this competition, they have to put all Mexican teams in one bracket to make sure teams from other countries have a chance at playing in the finale. Having all-Mexican semifinal or all-Mexican final doesn't help this region or this competition.
Not the most sporting way to run a competition, but it would make it more interesting throughout the region. I don't think it's likely to happen though given that the Mexican teams would feel justifiably "manipulated".