Cruz Azul's Mario Pavone scored a hat trick as Azul demolished Sporting KC.
Remember last week when there was a little more than cautious optimism about MLS sides in CONCACAF Champions League play? Reigning MLS Cup champs Sporting Kansas City took down Cruz Azul at home, and the LA Galaxy managed to hold off the Xolos of Tijuana. Even San Jose managed to fight back late to earn a home draw against Toluca. Things looked fairly bright. If all three MLS clubs could pull a sweep in Mexico, it would guarantee that an MLS club would make the CCL final and have a chance to play for the trophy and a spot in the FIFA Club World Cup.
Then reality set in starting on Tuesday night, really harsh reality.
That night the LA Galaxy took on the Xolos at Estadio Caliente in Tijuana, and things went rotten quite quickly. The 1-0 lead they had from winning at home evaporated in less than a minute. The Galaxy couldn't clear their own box and the ball finally managed to fall to Xolo Jaime Ayovi, who easily knocked in the first goal of the match on 57 seconds, equalizing the aggregate. By halftime, the Galaxy found themselves down 3-1. Oops. Still, the Xolos didn't have a road goal, and the Galaxy scored one through Robbie Keane out of halftime to make it 3-2. One more goal and the Galaxy could take the series on road goals. However, things fell apart in the last ten minutes Richard Ruiz scored for Tijuana in the 82nd, which put the Galaxy into full kitchen sink mode. Keane managed his brace in the 85th, but they Galaxy were never able to tally the last needed goal and fell to the Xolos by a 4-3 aggregate. The Galaxy fought hard, but just could not overcome the dreadful first half.
The first of two ties on Wednesday night involved Toluca hosting the San Jose Earthquakes, who came into the match tied 1-1 after yet another Goonie style comeback at Buck Shaw last week. As an MLS fan, you have to hand it to the Quakes who were playing at 9,000 ft, much higher than Rio Tinto Stadium or even Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado. The Quakes actually took the lead in the tie in the 56h minute through Ty Harden, but Toluca equalized 13 minutes later, sending the tie into extra time. In the 96th minute Alan Gordon appeared to tally his second of the tie, but the goal was ruled out for offside. It was really close call, but if you freeze fame the replay, he certainly looked even. At any rate, the match ended up going into penalties, where Toluca picked up the victory 5-4. The Quakes might feel a bit hard done by, but they certainly represented the league well.
That was certainly not the case for defending MLS Cup Champs Sporting Kansas City. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I'm still a little bitter over the MLS Cup final, and Cruz Azul is my favorite Liga MX side, so this probably isn't unbiased, but SKC laid a total egg at Estadio Azul. Backup 'keeper Erick Kronberg got hammered and Azul blew up the the KC defense who suffered while Aurelien Collin sat on the bench. They did their best keystone cop impression and Mario Pavone scored a hat trick on the way to a 5-1 victory in the match and 5-2 on aggregate. It was a clueless performance from the champs, who from what I managed to see, didn't really look all that interested. That's nice, because the supposed "best team in MLS" got obliterated on Mexican soil. It was a result that I think sets the league back 2 or 3 years in CCL play. Thanks Peter Vermes. Why don't you let somebody who wants to play in next time, say, Seattle or RSL?
At any rate, MLS bows out yet again without even getting a team into the semis, let alone into the finals. Both Houston and Canadian Champions Montreal were eliminated in the group stage. For us RSL fans, we can continue to hold on to "we're the only ones to make the final," which stings a little as Portland was handed our spot when the qualification rules were changed AFTER the MLS season and playoffs last year, which doesn't seem fair, but whatever. Next year we'll have the Timbers. the Red Bulls, and Sporting KC in as well as DC United (thanks to RSL's own massive egg laid in the US Open Cup final, and probably Vancouver, TFC, or Montreal provided they win the Canadian Championship. I don't expect anything from DC United barring a massive improvement, Portland still has issues on the road and has only managed draws in it's first two home matches this season, Thierry Henry will probably come up with a reason not to play, and I really can't see Sporting KC doing any better. So uh, maybe we hope TFC wins and goes in? That's the ticket.
Another year, another disappointment for MLS fans.
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