Club America will be looking to claim its seventh CONCACAF Champions League title, but a familiar foe in Tigres UANL stands in the way.
Tigres will host America at the Estadio Universitario in Wednesday’s first leg of the CCL final (9:45 p.m., Fox Sport 2, Univision Deportes, UniMas). Tigres has won the last two meetings between them, and has arguably looked the better side throughout the competition.
America has done well thus far in league play, amassing 27 points through 14 games to sit comfortably in second place in the Clausura standings, but it did just lose to Queretaro on the road over the weekend.
The strong centerback duo of Paolo Goltz and Pablo Aguilar will have the toughest of tasks in the two legs. Tigres striker Andre-Pierre Gignac has been exceptional in 2016, and his form has seen him earn a call-up to France’s national team ahead of Euro 2016 this summer. He currently leads Liga MX in goals scored (11), but America has talented and potent attackers as well.
Mexican international Oribe Peralta has scored nine goals in league play — good enough for second — while Darwin Quintero is just as capable of scoring when needed. The Colombian forward has netted six times in league play this year, but unfortunately for America, he will not be available for selection due to suspension. Michael Arroyo will also be unable to play due to accumulated yellow cards.
The second leg will take place on April 27.
Which team do you think will win the first leg of the CCL final? Think America will repeat as title-winners?
Share your thoughts below.
I have to air on the side of its MLS’s job to do better than CONCACAF’s job to hurt Liga MX teams. If you change the schedule to March to November you just make Mexican teams play the knockout stage at the beginning of the season instead of MLS. Plus MLS teams don’t want meaningful CL games in the middle of the playoff push.
Two years ago all Portland needed was to not lose by two goals in Honduras to make the knockout stage and they gave up 2 in the first four minutes with a mostly reserve side. Bottom line is most MLS teams don’t care about the CL,
Or they are just not good enough. Difficult to play in two sometimes three touraments at the same time.
Good win for VA and Club America !
Go Jurgen Damm!
No comments so far for the biggest Concacaf Club tournament..
Could be because there is absolutely zero interest for the rank and file soccer fans in the US.
Whe the Impact made their fairy-tale run to the Championship two years ago, it was covered heavily in Canada and had great coverage in the US and overseas.
Sadly, only Liga MX fans have a passing interest in the final.
Concacaf settled on this terrible calendar that put the MLS in a big hole about 5 years ago. It’s coincidental that a lot of the officials in Concacaf at that time are all under indictment via the DOJ as part of the FIFA scandal.
A first order for the new Concacaf administration is to task the technical committee to come up with a schedule more amenable to teams north of the 28th parallel to add a bit more equality to the quarter-finals on.
Concacaf is losing Millions of dollars from media rights in the US and Canada every year teams from those countries do not do well because of the built-in calendar favorability.
Sounds about right to me, Americans tend to focus on themselves, in all things.
Too bad because the best Liga MX clubs play fantastic entertaining soccer. Clearly the best league in the region. The atmosphere there for big matches is always epic too, in a unique way that you don’t see in other parts of the world, including Europe. I love the hazy air, and the slow roar crowds make that seems to have a second delay and then last longer than normal as if in an echo chamber.
If I could watch I would, but these matches aren’t broadcast where I live.
WTF?!!! are you off your meds again?
Completely agree. Had it not been for Chuck Blazer, MLS teams would be cruising to the finals every year. Right? If those Concacaf clowns were American this wouldn’t happen. Oh wait. Isn’t Chuck American?
How about MLS changes its schedule to reflect that of every other league in the region? The US team is willing to play Costa Rica in ankle deep snow for a WC qualifier even after the Costa Rican team objected to those conditions, so why not play a few games in the cold? Colorado just played a game in the snow last week.
All that aside, why should the whole region have to bend to the position of MLS? And there are more viewers that tune in to watch LigaMX in the US than MLS so “losing millions” is probably not gonna happen. I’m sure a lot of people who follow LigaMX are interested in watching two of the most in-form teams battle it out for the throne of Concacaf champion to have a chance to play the Club World Cup. I know I am. But leave it to an MLS fan to discount every other country in the region since, if it isn’t American, it might as well not exist. Great message in keeping with how the rest of the region sees MLS fans, buddy