By AVI CREDITOR
Monterrey punched its ticket to the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals with a second straight 1-0 victory over Toluca to take their quarterfinal tie on a 2-0 aggregate.
Neri Cardozo's 88th-minute goal clinched the victory for Monterrey, which had carried an away goal into the second leg.
Monterrey will go up against two-time CCL runner-up Cruz Azul in an all-Mexican semifinal. On the other side of the bracket, Real Salt Lake awaits the winner of the Saprissa-Olimpia quarterfinal, which will be decided tonight.
Here are highlights from Monterrey's victory along with a few more stories from around the soccer world:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LLpwcQJfiM]
NOBODY TAKEN IN WAIVER DRAFT
Wednesday's MLS Waiver Draft went by without anybody being selected, meaning that the 22 players who were up for grabs are technically free agents.
It certainly doesn't bode well for any of the players involved that every team passed on every player when given the chance to make a selection; however, those 22 players, which includes former New York Red Bulls Irving Garcia and Sinisa Ubiparipovic, Real Salt Lake reserve forward Pablo Campos and San Jose Earthquakes forward Cornell Glen, are all free to sign with any team.
CANADA TO HOST 2015 WOMEN'S WORLD CUP
FIFA announced that Canada will host the 2015 Women's World Cup, which was essentially a formality after the other challenger, Zimbabwe, pulled out of the running on Wednesday.
FIFA also awarded the hosting rights to the 2013 and 2015 Under-20 men's World Cup to Turkey and New Zealand, respectively.
CARROLL NEARS LIVERPOOL DEBUT
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish said that Andy Carroll is nearing his debut for his new club and he left open the possibility that the team's new striker could be in contention to make the squad for this weekend's match against Manchester United at Anfield.
Carroll, acquired for a £35 million transfer fee from Newcastle on the final day of the winter transfer window, has been out for more than two months with a thigh injury.
Should he play against United, it'd be an intriguing matchup considering that starting centerbacks Nemanja Vidic (suspension) and Rio Ferdinand (injury) will not be in action.
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Who do you think will win the Monterrey-Cruz Azul semifinal? Surprised that nobody was selected in the waiver draft? Excited for Canada to host the women's World Cup? Hope to see Carroll play against Manchester United?
Share your thoughts below.
Chinn and Garcia…And Glen and Campos are better than guys like Chad Barrett.
Can’t believe nobody will take a chance on this talent…Maybe it’s the injury problems
Good Point…But this guy wouldn’t even have to be a DP.
Baloy is the problem for RSL, he’s a massive, massive defender, much like Olave.
cant agree more although it was grosso (06 WC left back) he was giving fits to. kid has was it takes to be a winger in this league or the next.
i predict cruz azul going to the final and losing to saprissa or real salt lake. i should know fraca azul always losing in finals or semi or quarter finals. last time everyone thought they will win the championship in mexico but end up losing to pumas 2-1 away and lose in home 2-0.
What? The only way to for Mexican teams to reach the CWC is through the CCL. That’s why the league winners and runners up go to CCLwhile the next best 3 teams go to Libertadores as guest since as non-Conmebol teams they don’t go to the CWC if they win the Libertadores. Mexico in Copa America has nothing to do with any of this.
Neri Cardozo is exactly the sort of player MLS should be signing.
He left Boca at 22 to play for Jaguares de Chiapas in Tuxtla Gutierrez, for God’s sake, when the guy could’ve been playing as a DP at NYRB, Galaxy, Chicago, Houston, etc.
If MLS could offer 80%-90% of what Mexico does, I think we could poach the South Americans who aren’t ready for top European leagues and usually head to Mexico. There’s nothing inherently desirable about living in Mexico these days and we should be taking better advantage of that fact when it comes to top talent.
Playing great! This is the team that should be representing Mexico in Libertadores, but CCL allows participation in World Cup of Clubs and therefore an invite into Copa America for the National Team if I’m not mistaken. It”s something convoluted like that.
You’re talking about the Re-Entry draft. Completely different draft.
Haven’t seen them play but I’ll be pulling for RSL.
For “shure” eh? I hope Campos finds some place to play. Poor guy.
+1, Monterrey are the ish.
Ya I know. I was messin around above, and I feel as you do. I thiought he showed enough to get a shot somewhere else. Maybe he still will.
Monterrey is winning the CCL for shure. They play in a completely different level compared to either RSL or Saprissa.
I hope Garcia finds a home he is an exciting player to watch his performance against Juventus still gives me the chills. A 50th selection in the Superdraft giving Italy’s WC Champion Rightback more than he could handle. One off my favorite games at RBA last year.
Would of thought Chinn would of been taken at least – young so he’s cheap, lots of upside, and proved himself in a couple matches. He may not be starter quality yet, but with the reserve league rolling in, he’d get time to improve.
I think this draft was one of the provisions of the new CBA, allowing more freedom of movement for players not wanted by their current teams. Not sure if it can be done away with until the end of the CBA.
I guess that I’m a little surprised that Philly or the expansion teams didn’t try to claim anyone, given their short rosters. On the other hand, negotiating with the players outside of the raft probably puts the teams in a stronger position to insist on minimum wage and it also helps ensure that the player is willing to go there.
Will MLS reconsider this draft? Not even clear to me what the eligibility rules were. How was someone like Julius James allowed to sign with the Crew in advance of the draft? If the draft is just for players that no one wanted badly enough to sign when they were released, there’s no real point to it.
Is it safe to say that Chinn is no longer nationally ranked?