CCL: Central American Weekend Review
It was a busy weekend of domestic action for Central America´s CONCACAF Champions League participants, ahead of what promises to be a tense week of matches at the regional level.
Teams with the quality to find themselves still alive at this stage of CONCACAF play are also largely among the leaders in their national leagues, with several batting over the weekend to take or maintain leads atop their domestic tables headed into the final Group Stage matches.
In Honduras, Olimpia did just that, coming away with a convincing 2-0 win over Motagua in the Honduran Superclasico, to further add to the merengues´ advantage at the top of the Apertura table.
Two goals from Honduran national teamer Roger Rojas (32´, 51´) gave the Lions the win, extending their lead to six points over second-place Victoria, which tied visiting Platense in La Ceiba. Olimpia carries considerable momentum into its Tuesday CCL away match against the Houston Dynamo.
Elsewhere in Honduras, Marathon, which travels to Seattle midweek to close out Group 4, maintained third place in the standings with a 2-2 tie against cross town rival Real España.Marco Vega and Mariano Acevedo scored for the Green Monster.
Guatemalan champion Xelaju also played to a derby draw over the weekend, knotting Suchitepequez, 1-1. The Super Chivos scored an own goal, failed to take advantage of two penalty kicks, and hit the crossbar four times. Hernan Medford´s side will hope for more luck on its visit to Guadalajara scheduled for Thursday, when the Guatemalan side needs only to avoid a 1-0 loss or any other loss by two goals or more to advance.
Costa Rica´s CCL entrants also found the going less than smooth at the national level ahead of their crucial midweek games. First-place Alajuelense fell, 1-0, in its visit to Limon, on a spectacular first half free kick goal by Henry Cooper. La Liga now travels to Tigres for a Wednesday night match, needing only a tie to advance to the quarterfinals.
Fellow Costa Rican side Herediano went to Carmelita and came away with one point from a scoreless draw, moving the club to within one point of Alajuelense. Herediano now heads north to Salt Lake City, where Tuesday night´s late game with Real Salt Lake will decide which of the two teams moves on from Group 2.
In El Salvador, it was a big day for Isidro Metapan, as the northwestern side climbed to the summit of the table with a 2-0 win over Alianza. The Salvadorans host the LA Galaxy on Thursday, though Metapan´s defeat away to the Puerto Rico Islanders on Matchday 5 means the Major League Soccer side is already through from Group 5.
Finally, in Panama, Chorrillo rallied for a remarkable 3-2 victory over Alianza on Saturday, ahead of Tuesday´s CCL visit by two-time defending champion Monterrey. After falling behind 2-0, Amilcar James halved the deficit two minutes before the interval. Alfredo Phillips equalized one minute into second-half injury time, setting the stage for James to tally the game-winner just one minute later.
Brasil: Flamengo, Vasco, Fluminense, Botafogo (100% Carioca) Rio > Säo Paulo
MENGÃO TRI DA AMÈRICA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RlVt8zJhXQ