A year after all but one MLS team failed to reach the knockout round of the CONCACAF Champions League, the defending MLS champion Columbus Crew has become the first Major League Soccer team to earn a place in the quarterfinals.
The Crew tied the Puerto Rico Islanders, 1-1, on Tuesday night to lock up a quarterfinal berth. D.C. United fell short in its quest to also secure a quarterfinal spot on Tuesday, but did manage an impressive 1-1 tie vs. Toluca in Mexico. Chris Pontius opened the scoring but a second-half penalty kick helped Toluca salvage a point.
Now D.C. United needs San Juan Jabloteh to tie or beat CD Marathon on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals. That is a tall order considering San Juan Jabloteh has yet to win a match in group play.
The Houston Dynamo takes the field on Wednesday with a chance of reaching the quarters. Dom Kinnear's men need a win against Metapan, but also need Pachuca to beat Arabe Unido. Pachuca has already clinched its quarterfinal place.
What did you think of the MLS teams' performances on Tuesday? Happy to see the Crew reach the quarters? Impressed with D.C. United's showing vs. Toluca?
Share your thoughts below.
Madmax, that is very correct. Not sure why MLS did that.
Completely Off-Topic….. but is anyone here considering buying season tickets to the redbulls next year…. I would love to be part of or start an SBI Mafia section at the stadium.
You can BBM me @ 24b96db6
Or shot me an email @ nelsonortizjr@gmail.com
Soehn deserves props and the DCU players definitely deserve their propers for representing themselves, their supporters and the league well last night.
Very good result when you look at what the hand that they were dealt.
Congratulations to the Colombus Crew and it’s supporters for moving on in the CCL.
I was hoping that my Puerto Rico Islanders would win last night just to try and even the score for the frustrating loss in Columbus but it wasn’t menat to be.
Good luck in thwe next stage.
Because of roster sizes MLS has unfairly placed an albatross around the neck of their teams.
I hate this really asinine attempt to disregard all the tournament’s history before it switched names and formats last year. Just like ESPN likes to pretend there was no NFL before the Super Bowl.
Look, DC and LA have WON THE TOURNAMENT. So talking about the “first/second team to advance to the knockout rounds” is so dumb it is hard to overstate. And it’s intentionally misleading, and demeans (ignores) the entire history of the tournament and the accomplishments of previous MLS squads.
For the love of God, stop repeating such stupidity.
VERY happy with the result. The team Sohen took down there was very weak. Pontius is our MVP this year. Hopefully Marathon sucks tonight.
very unfair the games aren’t played simultaneously, but I think at home San Juan Jabloteh has a chance to pull off the tie, either way DC at least represented well the MLS, now they have to make the playoffs
(BTW, I love the new comments.)
I’m glad that there is an American team that got a draw in Mexico – but is this tournament helping strengthen MLS or does it hurt with the lack of depth in MLS rosters?
DC played their guts out last night. Hell of a game. And it is entirely messed up that the Marathon game was not played at the same time.
And yes, Tim, Wicks is insane and becoming something of a joke.
Cronin is playing really well for D.C. since the callup. They need to keep him around, Wicks is a joke.
Not often that an American team can get a draw in Mexico and that DC did it with a very weakened squad is a credit to them. Good work and brilliant goal from Pontius.
I have to say that I really don’t like the fact that all of the group games are not played simultaneously. Maybe it doesn’t end up mattering, but since Marathon of Jabloteh didn’t play at the same time as DC and Toluca I can’t help but feeling like the results of the DC game will influence the tactics and team the Marathon manager uses. I just don’t think that’s ok.
Still, I watched the game last night and DC looked alright. I mean, Toluca’s a better team, but DC played feisty. Good job to them.
just noticed the twitter and facebook stuff
I like this new setup for comments… my twitter did something funny, though, and I had to sign out.
I will be pulling for all MLS teams.
But xtra happy that the Crew has made it to the next round.
… at least all of the MLS teams were competitive this year. I think this is a sign that MLS is taking the competition seriously now. The gap between Mexican and MLS teams is very large, but that’s OK. I’ll take progress.
Very cool stuff indeed. CLB didn’t really need that point, though.
And with a timely fix, good job by Columbus for booking passage. Hopefully the cards will fall in the right direction for Houston and DC United as well.
I’m sure the Dynamo would like to be told they didn’t make the knockout round in last years tournament, Ives.
For that matter, somebody should have told the boys at Concacaf too.
😛
(SBI-Yes, Houston did reach the quarterfinals. It was easy to forget given the bloodbath among the rest of the MLS teams in last year’s tournament.)