Puddle's 2012 CCL Quarterfinal Preview

I want to point all of the Puddle's readers that are interested in MLS, Mexico Primera Division, and CONCACAF Champions League to an excellent article on FoxSoccer.com about the Mexican sides that will be participating in the last 8 of CCL. Eben Lehman does a great job hashing out the chances of each side. Check out the article HERE.


Also here's my take on the Quarter-Final matchups:


Morelia vs. Monterrey
The defending CCL Champs will probably be the underdog in this one. However, Humberto Suazo's in form return to the club should help bolster Monterrey and give them a better chance to defend their title. However, Morelia has been in great form and I'll give them the edge in this one. Might be tricky with the 2nd leg being at Monterrey though.

Seattle Sounders FC vs. Santos Laguna
The advantage that Santos is going to have here is that they're in midseason form, and are playing pretty well. Seattle is just coming off the end of preseason. Plus the second leg is in Mexico. I look for Seattle to put a up a great fight, but come up short. They must NOT let Santos secure an away goal, that will be a key. If they can come out of the Clink with a clean sheet, they'll have a much better chance. I'll take Santos though.

Toronto FC vs. LA Galaxy
I look for Toronto to be much improved this year, and to sew up their first MLS playoff spot. However, I just don't see them overcoming the Galaxy here. Tough draw for them, especially with the second leg being in LA. I think TFC is leaps and bounds better than before, but the Galaxy are just too good for this matchup.

UNAM Pumas vs. Isidro Metapan
Remember when the Rapids said Metapan were the weakest team in that group? Oops. Metapan could be a sleeper here. Pumas have not been all that great in league play, and were less than stellar at times in the CCL group stage. The winner of this series gets either Morelia or Monterrey, so while I think Metapan will takes this, I think it will ultimately be the winner of Morelia/Monterrey in the final.

CONCACAF Champions League: Colorado Rapids vs. Isidro Metapan

Last night the defending MLS Cup Champion Colorado Rapids opened their CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage play against Metapan of El Salvador. The Rapids made the mistake of referring to Metapan publicly as "the worst team in the group" and fielded a weaker 11.

It very nearly came back to bite them on the ass. Just a few touches after kickoff, Drew Moor took down Alan Kardeck in the 18 and conceded a PK. For my money, it should have been a red card. However, the ref was lenient and only showed the Rapids defender a yellow. Kardeck iced the PK to make it 0-1 to Metapan. It was just the start of a night full of drama.

Colorado was able to respond though, despite some sloppy play on both sides of the ball. In the 15th minute, Colorado had one of their first good spells of possession and it ended up with a nice goal by Mac Kandji to equalize at 1-1. It was great to see Kandji finally back off an ACL injury and playing footy again.

However, the lead only lasted about 9 minutes for the Rapids, who continued to be plagued by defensive blunders and miscues. The next came from 'keeper Matt Pickens. In the 24th minute, Pickens went down under a challenge, got right back up, and tried to start the Colorado offense with a little roll out. I don't know if he didn't see Rodolfo Suarez lurking for Metapan, but Suarez easily picked off the pass and chipped an embarrassing goal over Pickens to make it 1-2. Ouch.

Then a little later the major drama hit. Drew Moor appeared to take down a Metapan player in the box for a second PK. The foul and PK was called by the far side AR, and the ref pointed to the spot. Replays showed very little, if any, contact on the part of Moor, it was obvious that the "foul" was actually a dive. After a few minutes, the ref reversed the call, but not on the grounds that it was a dive, but that the play was offside, which it certainly wasn't. The ref was Rocky Mountain High if you ask me. Then in the 40th minute, Kardeck was caught with a forearm in the area of Moor's head. I think there was contact, but this time it was the Rapids player who went down in sniper shot fashion. The ref brandished a straight red card and the entire match was changed.

It didn't take the champs long to capitalize on the man advantage. Right before half time, Kandji scored again to equalize at 2-2. At the break, it looked like the only thing standing in the way of the Rapids was themselves.

Colorado didn't waste a ton of time taking the lead in half number 2. In the 49th minute Andre Akpan caught a fortunate bounce in front of goal and slotted it home to give Colorado a 3-2 lead. Despite a game and gutty performance from Metapan down the stretch, they weren't able to equalize and the Champs took home a 3-2 win.