Mexican sides again rising to top of CCL

September 19, 2009

While it’s still too early to talk about a second consecutive all-Mexican CONCACAF Champions League final, the region’s best league appears to be on its way to sending all four of its teams to the knockout stage once again.

Mexico accounted for three of last season’s four semifinalists (Cruz Azul, Santos Laguna and Atlante) and Atlante prevailed over Cruz Azul in an all-Mexican final. Midway through the group stage, Mexican teams lead three of the four groups and Pachuca is one point behind Panama’s Arabe Unido in Group A.

The top two teams from each of the four groups advance to the quarterfinals.

Pachuca defeated the Houston Dynamo 2-0 Wednesday night at Estadio Hidalgo on goals by Edgar Benitez and Paul Nicholas Aguilar. The Tuzos head to El Salvador to take on winless Metapan on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, Houston, which plays two of its final three games at home, hosts Arabe Unido, which remained in first place after a dramatic 1-0 victory against Metapan with Orlando Rodriguez scoring the stoppage-time winner, his fourth goal of the tournament.

Toluca is the only team to earn maximum points from its first three matches after crushing Marathon 7-0 Thursday night at Nemesio Diaz in Group B. Diego de la Torre and Raul Nava had two goals apiece and Vladimir Marin, Isaac Bruzuela and Carlos Esquivel also struck for Los Diablos, who have a three-point lead on the Honduran squad, which suffered just its second defeat of the season in all competitions.

D.C. United remained alive in Group B after beating San Juan Jabloteh 1-0 at Hasley Crawford Stadium Tuesday night on Christian Gomez’s first-half penalty kick. The Major League Soccer squad is three points behind second-place Marathon with the two teams meeting at RFK Stadium Thursday night. Toluca hosts winless Jabloteh on Wednesday.

Cruz Azul remained atop Group C, but needed to rally from two goals down in a wild 3-3 draw with the Puerto Rico Islanders in a rematch of last year’s semifinals on Tuesday in Bayamon.

Pablo Zeballos had two goals and Alejandro Vela added the equalizer four minutes from full time for Cruz Azul, which have seven points from three matches and is one point in front of the second-place Columbus Crew.

Puerto Rico, which received goals from Nicholas Addlery, Fabrice Noel and Cristian Arrieta, are in fourth after earning their first point.

Columbus celebrated a historic victory in San Jose, Costa Rica Wednesday night becoming the first U.S.-based squad to win at Saprissa thanks to Eddie Gaven’s fifth-minute goal. El Monstruo Morado will head to Bayamon to face the Islanders, while Cruz Azul and Columbus clash at Crew Stadium on the next matchday.

Like Cruz Azul, Pumas needed to rally late to earn a road draw as Paco Palencia scored two minutes into second-half stoppage time to forge a 2-2 draw with W Connection at Manny Ramjohn Stadium Wednesday.

Jonathan Frias struck first for the Savonetta Boys in the 21st minute, a goal that seemed like it would hold up until Victor Rosales equalized in the 87th minute. Renato Pereira converted a corner kick two minutes later and W Connection was on the verge of its first Group Stage victory until the veteran Palencia ensured the visitors of a share of the points.

Ronald Fonseca scored in each half to pace Comunicaciones to a 2-0 win against Real Espana Thursday night in Guatemala City, a victory that kept the hosts on Pumas’ heels. One point behind the leaders, Los Cremas host winless W Connection Wednesday, while Pumas is home for Real Espana, which has three points from three matches and is third in Group D.

By Dylan Butler

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