Champions League resumes with Crew-Toluca

March 9, 2010

The CONCACAF Champions League returns after a four-month hiatus on Tuesday, with the first of four quarterfinals as the Columbus Crew host Toluca in the opening leg Tuesday night at Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

The second leg will be played at Estadio Nemesio Diez on March 17.

Since becoming the only Major League Soccer squad to advance to the group stage, Columbus re-signed Argentine legend Guillermo Barros Schelotto and also brought in Colombian forward Sergio Herrera from Deportivo Cali.

Schelotto, the Crew’s top player, will miss Tuesday’s home leg, serving a one-game ban because of accumulated yellow cards. He was booked in the 89th minute of the Crew’s final group stage match.

Also serving a one-game suspension is American international fullback Frankie Hejduk, while Columbus central defender Chad Marshall will miss both legs and possibly the Major League Soccer opener against Toronto FC after suffering a hamstring injury in preseason. Also out is defender Jed Zayner with a knee injury.

“It’s a strain, but you could see an area that was torn,” Marshall told the Columbus Dispatch. “Hopefully I’ll be back by the [MLS] opener, but we have [a bye week] after that, so maybe no later than the second game.”

The Crew wrapped up the 2009 Major League Soccer season losing to eventual MLS Cup champion Real Salt Lake on aggregate in the quarterfinals. In Phoenix, Arizona, on Thursday, Columbus tied the Kansas City Wizards 1-1 in its final preseason tune-up before its CONCACAF Champions League tilt.

While the Crew is winding down its preseason, Toluca is in the middle of its Clausura campaign, having won two of its last three games and is unbeaten in four straight. On Saturday, Toluca battled Atlas to a 1-1 draw at Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara. Hector Mancilla put Toluca in front in the 31st minute, but Herbert Alferez equalized with six minutes remaining.

Last Sunday, Mancilla dedicated a goal in a 3-0 victory against Indios to his native Chile and those affected by an 8.8-magnitude earthquake. He lifted up his jersey to display a shirt that read “Animo, Chile.”

“Family members closest to me were fine, thank God,” Mancilla said. “There is no water, food or power, but friends and family a bit more distant lost their houses and that makes me sad. So that’s why I dedicate the goal to them.”

The Diablos Rojos are fourth in Clausura’s Group 1, two points behind third-place Atlas.

Since winning Group B in the CONCACAF Champions League, Toluca, which will be without Edgar Duenas, who will serve a one-game suspension, has added Chilean defender Osvaldo Gonzalez. The 25-year-old previously played for Universidad de Chile after coming up through Universidad de Concepcion’s youth system.

A positive result in the opener at Crew Stadium is critical for Columbus because Major League Soccer clubs have struggled mightily in Mexico over the years. In fact, D.C. United’s group stage draw against Toluca at Estadio Nemesio Diez in October was only the second time an MLS team has earned a point on Mexican soil.

Concacaf

Tags: Argentine, Arizona, Cali, central defender, Chad, Chile, COLUMBUS, columbus dispatch, concacaf champions league, Concepcion, crew stadium, D.C., final group, frankie hejduk, game ban, game suspension, group stage, Guadalajara, guillermo barros schelotto, hector mancilla, home leg, jed zayner, Kansas City, kansas city wizards, Major League Soccer, Marshall, Mexico, mls cup champion, native chile, Ohio, Phoenix, real salt lake, soccer season, soccer squad, toronto fc

D.C. goes from winless to brink of quarterfinals

October 20, 2009

A year ago, D.C. United managed just one point in the CONCACAF Champions League group stage. Now it’s is on the verge of advancing to the knockout stage.

But to do so, it likely will need accomplish what no other Major League Soccer team has been able to – win in Mexico.

Tied with Marathon with nine points heading into the final round of the Group Stage, D.C. United heads to Estadio Nemesio Diez to face Group B leader Toluca on Tuesday. Los Diablos need a mere draw to become the fourth Mexican squad to advance to the quarterfinals.

D.C. could go through as long as it can equal whatever result Marathon gets against San Juan Jabloteh in Trinidad & Tobago.

D.C. United enters the pivotal match coming off a 1-0 win against the league-leading Columbus Crew Saturday at RFK Stadium, a result that kept D.C.’s playoff hopes alive. A few days being acquired on loan from the Portland Timbers of the United Soccer Leagues First Division, goalkeeper Steve Cronin made six saves to earn the shutout.

Luciano Emilio scored the game’s lone goal in the 10th minute for D.C., which is in a four-way tie for the eighth and final MLS Cup playoff berth.

“Steve did a great job. It’s always difficult coming into a new environment,” D.C. United coach Tom Soehn said. “Early in the week I recall him asking, ‘who’s he?’ and ‘who’s he?’ And you wouldn’t have guessed that today, because he really solidified things, made great decisions. He looks like he’s been with us all year.”

Toluca, comfortably atop Group 1 of the Mexican Apertura, played Tigres to a 1-1 draw on Saturday at home. Hector Mancilla put Toluca in front with a 66th-minute penalty kick, but Francisco Fonseca equalized with two minutes remaining.

“The team remains strong and is always looking to play good football and score goals,” Toluca coach Jose Manuel de la Torre said. “It was not easy against a team like Tigres, which also came to do their job.”

Marathon’s task is seemingly easier as it heads to Port-of-Spain on Thursday to face a Jabloteh side that is winless in the group stage. Marathon has enjoyed recent success in the Honduran Apertura, beating Real Juventud 3-2 on October 4 and winning 3-0 at home against Victoria three days later.

Jabloteh enter the match coming off a wild 5-4 win against Defence Force in the TT Pro League’s Big Six at Larry Gomes Stadium on Thursday.

Noel Williams, who opened his team’s scoring with a 14th-minute penalty kick, scored three more times in the last half hour – twice in the last five minutes, as Jabloteh rallied from a 4-2 deficit.

The top two teams from Group B will advance to the quarterfinals. The knockout stage draw will take place on November 17 at CONCACAF’s headquarters in New York.

By Dylan Butler

Tags: champions league group, columbus crew, concacaf champions league, d c united, D.C., Dylan Butler, francisco fonseca, group stage, hector mancilla, jose manuel, knockout stage, Larry Gomes, lone goal, Major League Soccer, manuel de la torre, mexican apertura, Mexico, mls cup, Nemesio Diez, New York, Noel Williams, playoff berth, port of spain, Portland, portland timbers, rfk stadium, san juan, san juan jabloteh, score goals, Stage, steve cronin, Tobago, Tom Soehn, Trinidad, united soccer leagues, Victoria

Toluca, Marathon battle for Group B lead

September 15, 2009

It’s still early in the CONCACAF Champions League group stage, but a battle for Group B supremacy will take place at Nemesio Diaz as Toluca host Marathon on Thursday night.

Both teams have won their first two matches and are two of four teams among the final 16 to have secured the full six points from their first two matches.

Toluca comes into the match off a 1-0 victory against Indios in Ciudad Juarez in the Mexican Apertura on Saturday. Chilean Hector Mancilla scored the game’s lone goal, heading in Antonio Naelson’s cross two minutes before halftime.
Indios, which was reduced to 10 men in the 63rd minute when Juan Ramon Curbelo was sent off for a late challenge on Naelson, had an equalizer disallowed by the referee in the second half.

Toluca is eight points clear of San Luis in Apertura’s Group 1 and is atop the entire league with six wins in its first eight matches.

But Los Choriceros also received a bit of bad news Saturday when goalkeeper Hernan Cristante was replaced in the final quarter hour after suffering a dislocated patella in his left knee.

Marathon also sits atop the Honduran Apertura, two points clear of rival Olimpia after 10 rounds. Mitchell Brown struck for a pair to lift Marathon to a 2-0 win at Hispano on Saturday, stretching his team’s league unbeaten streak to four straight.

In what is essentially an elimination match, D.C. United travels to Trinidad & Tobago to take on San Juan Jabloteh in a meeting of winless teams in Group B at Hasley Crawford Stadium Tuesday night in Port-of-Spain.

D.C., which secured just one point in last year’s group stage, will be playing its third match in six days. On Wednesday, United defeated the Kansas City Wizards 1-0 with Luciano Emilio scoring his ninth goal of the year.

On Saturday,however , D.C. fell to the Seattle Sounders FC for the second time in 10 days at RFK Stadium with Colombian Fredy Montero striking the decisive goal six minutes from full time. Montero also scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final, a win that clinched the Sounders FC berth in next year’s CONCACAF Champions League.

It was D.C.’s first Major League Soccer home loss of the season.

Jabloteh is currently second in the Digicel Pro League, two points behind Joe Public. The two sides played to a goalless draw on Tuesday. Jabloteh bolstered its defense by adding Glenton Wolfe from W Connection, where he was used mostly for the Savonetta Boys reserves.

However, having been listed on W Connection’s roster as far back as the Preliminary Round, he is ineligible to play for Jabloteh in the Champions League this season.

“I want to be more active,” Wolfe told the Digicel Pro League website. “I wasn’t getting that at Connection.”

By Dylan Butler

Tags: Antonio Naelson, champions league group, ciudad juarez, concacaf champions league, Crawford Stadium, curbelo, decisive goal, dislocated patella, Dylan Butler, entire league, group stage, hasley crawford, hector mancilla, joe public, juan ramon, Juan Ramon Curbelo, Kansas City, kansas city wizards, Lamar Hunt, lone goal, luciano emilio, mexican apertura, mitchell brown, nemesio, Nemesio Diaz, ninth goal, port of spain, rfk stadium, san juan, san juan jabloteh, seattle sounders, Tobago, Trinidad, U.S., W. Connection

Toluca tops D.C. United

August 27, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Hector Mancilla scored a pair of goals in the final 11 minutes to lift Toluca to a 3-1 win against D.C. United in a CONCACAF Champions League Group B match at RFK Stadium on Wednesday night.

With the game tied 1-1 in the 79th minute, Mancilla shook Marc Burch, cutting first inside and then outside of the D.C. United defender and placing the ball inside the far post for Toluca, which has maximum points from back-to-back road games to move on top of Group B.

The Chilean sealed the game five minutes from full time, tapping home a Nestor Calderon cross that took a deflection off a sliding Julius James at the near post.

Los Choriceros wasted little time taking advantage of yet another D.C. United defensive miscue as Vladimir Marin easily tapped the ball in on five minutes after D.C. goalkeeper Josh Wicks and defender David Habarugira both went for Zinha’s soft through ball a few meters inside the 18-yard box.

Wicks slid and the ball caromed off the two and bounced to Marin, who took it off his chest and easily touched the ball into the net.

In a 3-1 loss to Marathon last week on Matchday 1, all three goals scored by the hosts were off D.C. United gaffes in the defensive third.

Toluca also followed last week’s form, scoring an early goal on the road as Raul Nava struck on eight minutes for the lone goal in a 1-0 win against San Juan Jabloteh.

Marin nearly set up a second goal in the 33rd minute, serving a short corner that an unmarked Edgar Duenas headed off the outside netting.

Frustrated with his team’s inability to get much going in the attacking third, D.C. coach Tommy Soehn made a tactical substitution in the 37th minute, bringing on Brazilian Fred for Ely Allen.

As was the case last week, Santino Quaranta made his presence felt immediately after stepping onto the field as a halftime substitute, tracking down a ball along the touchline, settling and sending a cross back into the box where Chris Pontius split Toluca defenders to head the equalizer past goalkeeper Hernan Cristante from eight meters in the 47th minute.

After Mancilla’s go-ahead goal, Toluca had a pair of chances in quick succession to tack on to their lead, but Julius James knocked the ball away from Carlos Esquivel after Wicks was beaten in the 80th minute and then Calderon forced Wicks to lunge to his left and make an acrobatic save to tap the ball out for a corner kick on a blast from distance one minute later.

But an opportunistic tap by Mancilla at the far post sealed D.C. United’s fate in the 85th minute, putting Toluca in the drivers’ seat to advance. Meanwhile, D.C., which had just one point in last year’s group stage, faces an uphill battle to get into the knockout stage. They head to Trinidad & Tobago to take on San Juan Jabloteh on Sept. 15, while Toluca is home for Marathon on Sept. 17.

Source

Tags: B. The, Carlos Esquivel, caromed, champions league group, chris pontius, concacaf champions league, d c united, D.C., deflection, duenas, Edgar Duenas, Ely, far post, gaffes, hector mancilla, Julius James, matchday, miscue, nava, Raul Nava, rfk stadium, road games, san juan, san juan jabloteh, santino quaranta, Tobago, touchline, Trinidad, Vladimir Marin, Washington, wicks

Can it get any worse for Eriksson in Mexico?

January 27, 2009

Whichever way he turns, Mexico coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, whose team face his native Sweden in a friendly on Wednesday, runs into trouble.

If he looks to Europe for players, Eriksson will find most Mexicans either injured or warming the bench at their respective clubs. Previously seen as a chance to bring a more competitive and professional attitude to the national side, the export of Mexican players has become another headache for the national coach.

That leaves Eriksson with the Mexican championship — but here most of the top players are foreigners. Toluca won the most recent domestic title in December thanks largely to the exploits of their 39-year-old goalkeeper Hernan Cristante, born in Argentina, a stingy defence marshalled by Paraguayan Paulo da Silva and an attack led by Chilean Hector Mancilla, the championship’s top scorer (in previous championships, the topscorers were Humberto Suazo, another Chilean, and Alfredo Moreno, an Argentine).

Many of Mexico’s foreigners have enjoyed their stay so much that they have settled down, raised families and taken out Mexican nationality. But this has brought Eriksson yet another dilemma. Four members of his squad to face Sweden were born outside Mexico, bringing howls of protest from the Mexican media and even members of his own squad.

“I think that if they have quality and a Mexican passport, they have to be in the Mexican national team,” said a bemused Eriksson. “Nobody told me this was prohibited.”

Mexico’s last three competitive games have produced defeats against Honduras and Jamaica and a draw in Canada. In just over two weeks’ time, they kick off the final stage of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers, a six-team mini-league, with a match away to bitter rivals United States, a team they have only beaten once in their last nine outings. Eriksson’s problems have already started with Barcelona’s Rafael Marquez suffering an injury which could keep him out of the tie.

Could Mexico actually miss out on the World Cup? The way things are at the moment, it seems possible.

If they were to lose to the U.S. and draw at home, lose in Costa Rica, Honduras and Trinidad & Tobago (Mexico have an atrocious record in the Caribbean) and drop a couple more points elsewhere, they could easily finish fourth in the six-team group. And that would condemn them to a two-leg play off against the fifth side in South America, when anything could happen.

PHOTO: Sven-Goran Eriksson of Sweden looks during a Mexico practice session in Mexico City Jan. 20, 2009. REUTERS/Felipe Leon

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