Five CCL quarterfinal berths to be decided in last round

October 3, 2009

With three berths already clinched, the final five CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal spots will be decided on the final matchday of the Group Stage.

Joining Cruz Azul in the knockout stage are fellow Mexican squads Pumas and Pachuca, while Toluca missed an opportunity to claim its place by losing 2-0 to Marathon in San Pedro Sula Thursday night.

Pumas, which sits atop Group D, advanced with a 2-1 win against W Connection Wednesday night in Mexico City. Paco Palencia and Oscar Rojas scored second-half goals for Pumas, which has earned a seeded quarterfinal berth as a result of winning the group.
The race for the second berth from Group D is wide open. Comunicaciones and Real Espana are level with six points apiece after five matches and W Connection has four points. On October 21, the Savonetta Boys host Real Espana, which snapped a three-game losing streak by beating Comunicaciones 2-0 on Wednesday night in San Pedro Sula.

Fredy Thompson’s own-goal and Carlos Pavon’s fourth goal of the tournament kept the Honduran side alive. Comunicaciones is home for Pumas on October 22.

In its first win against the Houston Dynamo at Robertson Stadium, Pachuca sealed a knockout stage berth with a 1-0 victory Wednesday night. Edgar Ramirez scored the lone goal for Los Tuzos, which leads Group A with 12 points.

“I am satisfied with my team’s performance tonight,” Pachuca coach Guillermo Rivarola said. “The team was smart and was able to dictate the rhythm of the game and that gave us a chance to take home the three points.”

Arabe Unido thrashed winless Metapan 6-0 Tuesday night to move a step closer to the quarterfinals. Orlando Rodriguez scored three goals and Camilo Aguirre added two for the Panamanian squad, which is three points ahead of the Houston Dynamo heading into the final day of the group stage.

The second berth will be decided on October 21 when Arabe Unido and Pachuca meet in Estadio Hidalgo, while Houston travels to El Salvador to take on Metapan.

“Overall I was happy with the way the guys played,” Houston coach Dominic Kinnear said. “[The loss] puts us in a difficult position. We know what we have to do now, go to El Salvador and win and hope that Pachuca beat Arabe Unido.”

The Columbus Crew was minutes away from clinching a berth in the quarterfinals, but Alexander Robinson scored a dramatic second-half stoppage time equalizer for Deportivo Saprissa in a 1-1 draw at Crew Stadium Tuesday night.

“It was live or die,” Saprissa coach Jeaustin Campos said. “We tried to move forward and made substitutes to try to score and we gave them a lot of space. Sometimes we showed some weakness in the defense but that’s what we had to do to play for the tie.”

The Crew is second in Group C with seven points, two in front of Saprissa while the Puerto Rico Islanders, a surprise semifinalist a year ago, was eliminated from advancement with a 2-0 loss at Estadio Azul Tuesday night.

On Oct.ober20, Columbus can advance with a draw against Puerto Rico in Bayamon, while Saprissa is home for Cruz Azul.

“We still have a chance,” Columbus coach Robert Warzycha said. “It’s going to be an important game in Puerto Rico. The guys know that.”

Toluca is three points clear of both D.C. United and Marathon in Group B, but failed to become the fourth Mexican team to
advance to the knockout stages when Marathon handed Diablos Rojos its first loss of the group stage on Thursday.

Walter Martinez and Carlos Mejia scored first-half goals for Marathon, which travels to Trinidad to take on winless San Juan Jabloteh on October 22. Christian Gomez and Boyzzz Khumalo scored two goals apiece and Fred scored the other goal to lead D.C. United to a 5-1 thumping of Jabloteh on Wednesday night at RFK Stadium.

D.C. heads to Nemesio Diaz to take on Toluca on October 20 and could potentially go through as long as they match Marathon’s result. A year ago, the Major League Soccer team had just one point from six group stage matches.

“This year we’ve treated the game very importantly, no matter who is on the field,” D.C. coach Tommy Soehn said. “We’ve taken the time to make sure we understand what the games are about. It’s never easy with all the travel, but still understanding that we’re looking to qualify and now we’ve put ourselves in a good way to do that.”

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