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It was about as ugly a night as Major League Soccer fans could have expected in CONCACAF Champions League action on Wednesday night, with two MLS teams suffering multi-goal losses to Mexican clubs while a third squandered a lead in the 90th minute of a red card-filled affair.
D.C. United dropped a 3-1 decisionat RFK Stadium to Toluca while the Columbus Crew walked away thoroughly embarrassed following a 5-0 loss to Cruz Azul in Mexico. The Houston Dynamo salvaged a point from its road tilt vs. Panamanian side Arabe Unido, but had to settle for that point after Arabe Unido scored a 90th minute equalizer in a 1-1 draw that saw five red cards.
D.C. United dropped to 0-2 in group play after it's 3-1 loss. Chris Pontius netted a second-half equalizer, but Toluca found a pair of goals from Hector Mancilla to improve to 2-0 in group play.
The Crew couldn't build on its opening-round win vs. Puerto Rico Islanders as MLS defender of the year Chad Marshall had a night he'd rather forget. Marshall scored an own goal and saw another goal deflect off him in a match that saw Jaime Lozano score a hat-trick for Cruz Azul.
Houston got re-acquainted with Trinidadian referee Neil Brizan, who issued five red cards, including three to the Dynamo, in the 1-1 draw. Kei Kamara scored Houston's goal, but an Orlando Rodriguez equalizer in stoppage time denied the Dynamo a victory. Houston improved to 1-0-1 after two group stage matches.
What did you think of last night's CONCACAF Champions League results? Shocked to see the Crew beaten so badly? Starting to think D.C. United's season is doomed to collapse? Still have faith in Houston being able to represent MLS with a long run in the tournament?
Share your thoughts below.
CONCACAF will do nothing about the abortion that was the Houston/Arabe match.
MLS should just refuse to participate in this mickey mouse tourney from now on. It’s just a waste of time, and these banana republic refs are nothing more than a joke.
Concacaf region is in serious trouble. In most games serious fan can predict what the officials will do and how they will call the game. Both Azteca and Telemundo TV were perplexed at how Mexico received no cards or fouls from four dangerous challenges that could have drawn red. They replayed the events in slow motion and asked ” No hay falta? ”