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Gomez, Santos Laguna look to dethrone Monterrey as CCL final kicks off

Gomez (Getty Images)

MLS might no longer have a rooting interest in the CONCACAF Champions League, but that doesn't mean U.S. Soccer fans don't have a reason to pay close attention to what transpires in Mexico over the next week.

Monterrey and Santos Laguna kick off their CCL final with the first leg Wednesday night at Estadio Tecnologico (10 p.m., Fox Soccer Channel/Telefutura), with Los Rayados trying to repeat as champions and Herculez Gomez & Co. looking for their first regional title.

For the in-form Gomez, he'll be looking to head to the FIFA Club World Cup for the second time, after doing so with Pachuca in 2010. Gomez' scoring streak remains at eight games (with 11 goals in that time), as he has sat out the club's last two matches with minor injury woes, but he is reportedly set to return for the final. (Read more about Gomez and his quest for the CCL crown in Fox Soccer's preview of the series).

Considering the overall firepower that both teams boast, the third all-Mexican CCL final in four years has the potential to be an epic series. Monterrey and Santos lead the Mexican Clausura with 28 and 27 goals through 15 games, respectively, and both have an arsenal of attacking talent.

For Monterrey, it starts with Chilean Humberto Suazo, but he's far from the only capable scorer. Mexican internationals Aldo de Nigris and Angel Reyna and Argentine veteran Cesar Delgado complement Suazo, who broke Real Salt Lake's heart with a goal at Rio Tinto Stadium in the second leg of last year's intense final.

For Santos Laguna, Gomez is joined by Oribe Peralta, Cristian Suarez and Darwin Quintero, a group that gave the Seattle Sounders and Toronto FC all they could handle in the knockout rounds and has combined for 21 goals in this season's CCL competition.

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Do you think Gomez will keep his scoring streak going tonight? Which team do you think will win the CCL title?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. that’s awesome, hopefully we see more of that on the ESPN main station soon. i find it quite sad that they call themselves the “worldwide leader in sports” but don’t know the first thing about soccer, the world’s most popular sport.

    more accurately, the “worldwide leader” in football, basketball, and baseball. note to ESPN, there’s lots of other sports out there, get your s**t together

    Reply
  2. Our local ESPN station (ESPN 700) shows RSL a lot of love. I use their iPhone app after games to listen to their post-game show while I walk to my car. They have a show called “OnFrame” and that’s available as a podcast (my preferred method of consumption). They just had John Busch on as a guest as RSL is headed to San Jose and they had Kai Kamara on ahead of the RSLvSKC matchup. Quality show.

    For anyone that wants to listen:
    http://espn.kall700sports.com/

    Reply
  3. I am totally rooting for Herculez tonight!

    Imagine Gomez scoring against Barca!

    Even though it sounds funny, this is a rare time when all USMNT fans should fervently root for a Mexican club!

    Go Santos!

    Reply
  4. thats fantastic. Here in the NY market we are lucky if the red bulls get their score mentioned on the AM news stations, and almost never is there a mention on the local TV news- forget about actual in depth team coverage.

    Reply
  5. Kind of random, but, any RSL fans out there, how awesome is your local espn radio station? I found it the other day and it seems like your main guy (Bill Riley) seems to give almost equal time to RSL as he does the Jazz. I doubt many other markets in the US are interviewing Grant Wahl, having weekly interviews with their MLS team’s GM, coach, multiple players, owner, etc. Seems awesome.

    Local TV deal seems pretty great too(all games broadcast on local ABC or CW stations).

    Confirm?

    Reply
  6. With no more MLS clubs in the tournament, I have to pull for Herculez Gomez. It would be cool to see Santos go up against the likes of a Barcelona or Bayern Munich. Go Santos!

    Reply

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