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MLS enjoys good night in CONCACAF Champions League

AndresMendoza (Getty)

Major League Soccer clubs scored a pair of impressive results against Mexican competition on Tuesday night in CONCACAF Champions League action.

Peruvian striker Andres Mendoza scored an 87th-minute winner to lead the Columbus Crew to a hard-fought 1-0 winagainst Santos Laguna at Crew Stadium. The Crew was able to shake off Saturday's embarrassing 4-0 loss to deliver a strong performance and move into first place in its Champions League group.

Toronto FC followed up it stirring late win against Houston last weekend with a 0-0 tie against Cruz Azul in Mexico City. TFC sat several regulars, including goalkeeper Stefan Frei and Dwayne DeRosario, but still was able to shut down a dangerous Cruz Azul attack.

Here are the highlights from both matches:

CREW 1, SANTOS LAGUNA 0

CRUZ AZUL 0, TORONTO FC 0

What did you think of these matches? Impressed with the Crew's victory? Surprised to see Toronto take a point in Mexico?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. it is impossible for Toronto FC to represent the MLS in this competition as Toronto FC cannot ever qualify for champions league through the MLS. If you looked at the RSL jerseys (I think), they had the concacaf badge on one shoulder and the mls badge on the other…TFC, however had the concacaf and canadian flag.

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  2. Absolutely. It was a great showing for a Columbus team that also played with what, at best, would be termed a B+ line-up(still missing Robbie Rogers, and playing without Schelotto or Moffat and with Lenhart coming off of the bench). The Crew dominated every facet of the game, creating far better chances than Santos. The score easily could have been 3-0 if not for a few inch-close misses…

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  3. Why all the focus on TFC? Yes, they got a point and some Mexican fans didn’t like the approach.

    But Columbus pretty much dominated Santos in terms of chances, shots, and shots on goal.

    Plus, 10 of 14 players that Santos played on the week-end played. Not the A team, but B+. Missing the leading goal scorer in the Mexican league, of course. 🙂

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  4. People keep focusing on TFC bunkering down…

    How bout TFC’s 2-nil win over Cruz Azul at BMO? No MLS team has ever defeated Cruz Azul.

    TFC’s now undefeated in two matches against Cruz Azul, a side that has never lost to an MLS club until TFC’s 2-nil win…

    If Cruz Azul was truly a World Class side, why is it that TFC’s B-team can tie Cruz Azul in there home stadium?

    Why is it, that a TFC missing its top 2 strikers defeated Cruz Azul?

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  5. I agree with you here. FMF clearly can’t beat MLS’s best teams right now. Hell, they can’t even beat Toronto! RSL played way too scared at the end. Just play your game and ignore the cheating tactics and they would have walked away with the win.

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  6. Crew 17 shots/ 9 on goal. Santos Laguna 5 shots/ 2 on goal. Bunker job for Santos in Columbus…..looking to be physical, disruptive, and wanting of a 0-0 result. It is a tactic that all clubs use at times. Understand and get past it, or just shot your collective pie holes about “crap MLS”.

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  7. Really what do you expect? TFC put out a reserve line up with the odd starter. No put that in the context of it being their 6th match of the month with two big league game remaining and you’ll see why they played timid defensive football.

    For all the chances CA had, 95% of them were from outside the box. If they are the class they say they are then they should be able to beat a team of MLS reserves + DeRo, JDG & Cann.

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  8. I feel sorry for the people who are forced to root for the sore losers and dirty players that litter the lineup of every Mexican professional soccer team.

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  9. Why not bunker when you are obvious underdogs in a stadium far from home? I don’t like the strategy, but it’s hard not to respect when teams do it right. I hate Jose Mourinho, but I respect his ability to bunker Barcelona like he did at the Nou Camp.

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  10. The one where RSl was wining 3-1 until the decided to bunker down and ended up losing the game? Perfect example. It shows that if you come out and play you just might win the game, not to mention you can tell people you went to Mexico City and played a football game instead of that MLS soccer crap tfc did yesterday.

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  11. I hate to say it, but I have to agree. The TFC v. Cruz Azul game was the most boring game I’ve ever seen. Sitting back and bunkering isn’t a way to win a competition. It’s also a bad strategy. As we saw with Colubmus in an earlier match, sitting back and defending is a good way of losing a game 1-0 in last 10 minutes. Why not go out and try to win? It’s not like Cruz Azul is Barcelona, after all.

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  12. At this point in time I don’t want MLS teams to go to Mexico and dominate, I just want them to TRY. Last night’s game was an embarrassment for MLS and TFC. I fell sorry for the people that paid for tickets to a football game and instead got that crap MLS calls soccer.

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  13. Mother Teresa would have gotten frustrated playing against this infantile scum. Was Cruz Azul supposed to just sit back and accept dirty challenges and unsportsmanlike conduct from Toronto? MLS mentality, bunker down, bunker down, bunker down. Regardless of what the score was yesterday, if the TFC are to have longevity in these competitions it won’t happen the way they played yesterday. They were lucky CA squandered all the chances they had!

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  14. Massive club gets the win. 1-0 over the cheaters.
    Oh and, while they left it off the highlights like any good mexican team that was about to lose santos tried to start a fight at the end of the game. Why do they always do that??

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  15. I watched the Toronto match and while I look forward to the day when and MLS team can show up in Mexico and dominate a match I thought a point on the road was a very, very good result.

    It was a great match to watch with my 13 year old son. The discipline displayed by Toronto was a great lesson for him.

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  16. They may have been representing the US and Canada, but they were also representing the MLS. The better MLS teams do in these types of compititions the more press and support they will receive from Players/Coaches/Leagues outside the US & Canada. This will potentially help players grow/improve and open opportunities for them to transfer to other leauges.

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  17. Wha? Why…do you think that anybody from any country thinks U.S. and Canada rather than both teams are from the same leagues? Why should we?

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  18. Nane was injured in the early going and then his sub pulled a hamstring and was subbed in the 29th or so. DeRo was that second sub.

    Game was kind of an embarrassment but it’s a valuable road point in a Mexico City stadium. “Scoreboard”

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  19. Great result for TFC,

    the mexicans very getting fustrated, and were playing dirty.

    Note: Dero did play, just didnt start. He got substituted in, literally at the beginning of the game

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