Okay, time for Wednesday's matches in the CONCACAF Champions League:
Marathón 2-0 Cruz Azul
Santos Laguna 3-2 Municipal
Montreal Impact 2-0 Joe Public
2100: Well that's it from here. Tomorrow night the first matchday of the group stage concludes with Atlante-Olimpia (Houston vs. Firpo cancelled due to Ike). I won't be able to liveblog it, unfortunately. I hope you enjoyed the first week.
2059: FULL TIME Marathón 2-0 Cruz Azul
Marathón start their Champions League campaign in style with a well-deserved win against a powerful Mexican side.
2058: Two down. Cruz Azul are just about out of gas, and Municipal is passing the ball among themselves.
2057: One down...
2056: Into stoppage time now. Three minutes to be added.
2053: Cruz Azul still trying, but Marathón's defensive midfielders are doing an excellent job of disrupting possession. Another Marathón counter. Finally Chávez sends in a good pass! The interchanges are beautiful, but one pass too many.
2049: Telefutura's signal has returned. Seven minutes of normal time left. Cruz Azul trying to put something together.
2044: Okay, I found one of the Honduran papers that has live updates. With fifteen minutes to go, still 2-0 Marathón.
2037: Now Telefutura's video signal has gone out, and they can't do commentary on the match since they're in studio.
2034: Marathón were pressing very high up, but with about 20 minutes left they've started to draw themselves in their own area. Cruz Azul had their first attacking free kick in quite a while, but the cross goes to the Marathón 'keeper who starts a lightning quick counter. The cross from Chávez is a little too deep, but that was a great run.
2029: The commentator on Telefutura just made a good point. It's good for Marathón to have the lead at this point, but now they have to manage the game properly so as not to give away their advantage.
2027: The Central American sides have given a strong accounting of themselves in these opening matches of the group stage. Still a long way to go...
2021: GOAL Marathón 2-0 Cruz Azul
After a Marathón corner, Cruz Azul head out but the ball finds a Marathón player on the left. The cross into the box is headed by Mario Beata -- with his back to the goal! -- and he lobs the ball over Valdivia's head into the far corner of the net. Great goal!
2014: They're attending to an injury to Edgar Andrade. The commentators said that it looked like a knee injury rather than a cramp, and the bench is looking for a substitute. Bad luck for Cruz Azul, as they made a substitution at the start of the second half.
2011: Second half is now underway in San Pedro Sula.
1956: Looking at the highlights of the first half, I can see quite a few Real España shirts in the crowd. It's amazing because Real España and Marathón form the San Pedro Sula derby, so it's cool that fans are putting aside their allegiances for a match like this.
1955: HALFTIME Marathón 1-0 Cruz Azul
1954: Into the second minute now...
1953: Now playing the first of two minutes of stoppage time.
1951: From what I've seen in this match, DC United does not have an easy match against either Marathón or Cruz Azul. If they don't show improvement or get their key players back from injury, they could easily finish bottom of the group.
1949: Another dangerous Marathón counter. Marvin Chávez takes the ball on the right side, but he ruins everything by dragging a long-distance shot toward goal, and it harmlessly goes wide. Such promise, and such ignominious failure.
1945: Once again, it's that speed of the Marathón strikers and flank players that is giving the Cruz Azul defenders fits.
1941: GOAL Marathón 1-0 Cruz Azul
Just as I was talking about counterattacks, Marathón executes one of their own, off the right side to Pompilio Mejía who slots it past the 'keeper.
1940: I'm also watching a replay of the Santos-Municipal match with the sound off. Santos' second goal was a beautiful counterattack goal -- run up the middle, lay off to the right, cross back left for a side-footed finish past the 'keeper. Gorgeous.
1932: A close one for La Máquina! Off the corner kick, Roberto Juárez connects with a beautiful downward header, but the Marathon 'keeper is well positioned and the ball rebounds off his body.
1930: Cruz Azul have been playing better in the center of the field, but they keep on ballooning balls into the penalty area, and missing badly. Marathón have speed to burn on the flanks and always look dangerous on the break.
1924: Okay it's back on now.
1921: And I just lost my connection to the match telecast. Looking for audio broadcasts...
1920: I hope CONCACAF or one of the networks puts together a Champions League highlights show -- there have been some interesting matches so far!
1918: The commentators are saying that the stadium is half full, which would make the attendance around 20,000.
1917: Marathón catch Cruz Azul on the counter on the left side, the cross flies across the face of goal but no other Marathón players in support. It's cleared away.
1915: And now I found a telecast of Marathón-Cruz Azul. I don't know how big the crowd is in San Pedro Sula, but it sure is noisy.
1911: I turned on Telefutura and they're showing the Santos-Municipal match on tape delay. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHY DO THEY INSIST ON THE TIGHT ANGLE CAMERA SHOTS??? CONCACAF needs to install some quality control in the match broadcasting pronto!
1907: I was looking around to find out whether the Santos-Municipal match was still in progress, and it just ended. Santos won 3-2, and just looking at the scoring summary it seemed like quite a game.
1858: FULL TIME Montreal Impact 2-0 Joe Public
1856: Now playing two minutes of stoppage time. Montreal has possession and will try to run out the clock.
1855: Mr. Cameraman, wide angle shots, PLEASE!!
1854: Peter Byars(?) wins the ball from a JP defender about fifty yards from goal and bores in. But he chooses to shoot from outside the area rather than take the goalkeeper on, and the shot goes wide.
1853: Joe Public has had all the possession in the Montreal end during the final ten minutes.
1850: Just after I said that, one of the Montreal defensive midfielders is dispossessed of the ball in the opposing third, and the ball falls to Thomas on the right, but his fierce shot is parried away the Impact's Matt Jordan for a corner.
1848: After the 4-0 demolition of New England, I was wondering if Joe Public really were that good. It sounds like Montreal were able to frustrate the speed of the Joe Public attack with good positioning.
1846: USL is continuing its near-perfect run in the Champions League. It won't last, but it's worth asking why USL sides have succeeded where MLS's have failed. Has it been fewer matches? A shorter injury list? Does it just mean more to the USL teams?
1845: Just got home in time for the final ten minutes of the Montreal Impact-Joe Public match.
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