Wednesday's CONCACAF Champions League results - Matchday 3:
(Grp C) Olimpia 1-2 Montreal Impact
(Grp B) LA Firpo 1-0 San Francisco
(Grp D) Municipal 2-2 Puerto Rico Islanders
(Grp A) DC United 0-1 Cruz Azul
Commentaries after the jump.
Well tonight started slow, but it was The Late Show everywhere with dramatic goals and incidents. Hopefully tomorrow's matches are more of the same. See you!
2100: FULL TIME LA Firpo 1-0 San Francisco
FULL TIME Municipal 2-2 Puerto Rico Islanders
FULL TIME Olimpia 1-2 Montreal Impact
2058: RED CARD Municipal
I didn't get the name of the player sent off, but that expulsion was well deserved. It was a shocking elbow thrust into the Impact player's face. Now Municipal are down to nine. Way to hit the self-destruct button.
2057: GOAL LA Firpo 1-0 San Francisco
Ramón Avila puts the Salvadoran side in front, right at the end!
2057: GOAL Municipal 2-2 Puerto Rico Islanders
Municipal's old soldier Juan Carlos Plata scores a dramatic equalizer almost immediately after the restart.
2056: Into stoppage time in tonight's matches.
2055: GOAL Municipal 1-2 Puerto Rico Islanders
Sandy Gbany puts the Islanders in front in the dying minutes!!
2055: Municipal are still going forward, they can still win this. They have a corner now. The corner comes out wide, headed down, and the Montreal 'keeper has to block it away.
2053: RED CARD Municipal
Danilo Turcios has been sent off for a hard tackle on Montreal's #10 or #17. I think that ruling was harsh; at worst it was a yellow.
2050: I totally missed the expulsion of Firpo's Francisco Medrano. It happened very early in the match -- the fourth minute of play.
2048: That goal has been a shot of adrenalin to Municipal, and now the Reds are surging forward for the winner.
2046: GOAL Municipal 1-1 Puerto Rico Islanders (80')
Carlos Leguizamón levels the score for the Guatemalans against Puerto Rico.
2044: A great opportunity by Montreal to secure all three points -- Gjertsen is found alone on the left side of the penalty area and strikes a fine volley across his body, but his shot is wide of the far post.
2041: Almost a goal by San Francisco as Firpo's Salvador Morales clears the ball of his goal line.
2038: GOAL Olimpia 1-2 Montreal Impact (72')
So nearly a penalty save by Noel Valladares! Roberto Brown strikes it hard to Valladares' left, and the 'keeper gets a paw to it, but the ball spins off his glove, hits the near post, and rolls over the goal line. Brown follows the ball to make sure, and the Impact are back in front.
2037: Referee called it immediately for a push in the back of one of the Impact players. It didn't look obvious from the replay.
2036: PENALTY TO MONTREAL IMPACT!
2035: Almost a goal for Montreal! A cross from the left falls to Rivero, but his shot is blocked by the legs of an Olimpia defender and the 'keeper for a corner.
2033: I just came across the Municipal website that has live commentary of the match, but Fredy García was sent off. So Municipal are now down to ten men.
2030: Scratch that comment about the Municipal game. Puerto Rico are winning very well, and they are pinning Municipal deep in their own half.
2028: Half an hour to go everywhere. The momentum is ebbing between San Francisco and Firpo. Olimpia is pressing for the winner. And I have no idea what Puerto Rico and Municipal are doing, but the Islanders are still winning.
2021: Olimpia has almost all of the initiative so far and they look more likely to score than the Impact.
2020: Now Firpo have retaken the initiative and have drawn a couple of corners. The match appears to be on a knife-edge.
2015: San Francisco has started out on the offensive, with a fierce shot on goal deflected away for a corner.
2011: Second half is now underway.
1956: A bland night after yesterday's action. The two USL clubs took early leads, but only one was able to hold it by the end of the first half.
1954: HALFTIME LA Firpo 0-0 San Francisco
HALFTIME Municipal 0-1 Puerto Rico Islanders
1954: HALFTIME Olimpia 1-1 Montreal Impact
1954: Into stoppage time at Cuscatlán, and everywhere else I think.
1947: Still no score in Cuscatlán. Firpo have already made a substitution, not sure if it was an injury or tactical substitution.
1942: Olimpia were really searching for that goal, and it was a bit early for Montreal to drop back in a defensive shell. What will happen now?
1940: GOAL Olimpia 1-1 Montreal Impact
Danilo Turcios strikes a wonderful free kick over the Montreal wall and underneath the far corner of the goal. Golazo!
1937: Half an hour gone. That early goal has given the Impact the luxury of sitting back and waiting to break on a counter. Olimpia is searching intently for a goal opportunity, but the Montreal center back is doing a very good job.
1935: A long free kick for San Francisco yields to a swift counterattack by Firpo. Almost a goal but still goalless.
1930: Olimpia have settled down and and now are driving well into the Montreal half.
1927: Almost a chance for San Francisco after a bad defensive error by Firpo's Jorge Sánchez. A goal would have been against the run of play as San Francisco had advanced very little into Firpo territory.
1923: GOAL Municipal 0-1 Puerto Rico Islanders (9')
The USL strikes again! Patrice Noel opens the scoring for the Islanders in Guatemala.
1917: Apparently Firpo are drawing a very small crowd at Cuscatlán. Olimpia are playing at Estadio Tiburcio Andino in Teguicigalpa, and it appears to be half full at most.
1914: Geez, can't CONCACAF secure a stable video link for these matches?
1910: GOAL Olimpia 0-1 Montreal Impact (3')
On a free kick, Valladares leaves his line late and Roberto Brown heads the ball into the unguarded net. Great start after just three minutes!
1910: Olimpia and Montreal have kicked off. I haven't verified, but all of the others should have kicked off as well.
1856: FULL TIME DC United 0-1 Cruz Azul
Christopher Sullivan is saying that DCU played well enough given the injuries and what not...yeah, yeah, yeah. The bottom line is that this was an awful performance and DCU are practically out of the Champions League for the next ten months.
1853: Three minutes of stoppage time left.
1852: Cruz Azul are going to win this game. They look fresher at the end of 90 minutes and have played the better football. DCU is really spent.
1851: Nearly curtains for DCU, and Cruz Azul are flying. Zeballos springs free on the left, eludes Wells and slides the ball past him, but Burch makes a great sliding effort to deflect the ball off the goal line.
1846: This is odd. The CONCACAF website says that Municipal-PR kicks off at 8pm ET, but Wikipedia and the Guatemalan sites say that it will kick off at 10pm ET (8pm local time). I don't think it's kicked off yet.
1844: Ten minutes to go. The match is just as boring on TV as it sounded on the radio.
1840: And I'm looking for an update for the Municipal-PR match.
1839: Looks like Soehn is playing a number of players who haven't seen much action in MLS. DCU might draw some comments from CONCACAF for doing so, but in light of the injury situation they don't have much of a choice.
1838: The result? A poorly executed freekick. Moreno rolled the ball to Burch, but his plant foot slipped and the ball hit the three-man wall.
1837: DCU just won a free kick a yard or two outside the Cruz Azul penalty area. Let's see if they can get something out of it.
1833: While I was entering the front door and turning my computer on, Pablo Zevallos scored the opening goal just before the hour mark. "Boyzzz" Khumalo struck the post about seven or eight minutes later.
1832: I was listening to the DCU-Cruz Azul match in my car on the drive home. The ESPN Deportes commentators were saying that it was a really poor match, with Cruz Azul looking more likely to score.
Comments