2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League, Matchday 3: Sounders Thrive, Toronto Falls, Dallas Survives

The second half so a lot of Tauro going forward. They hit the post and forced some tremendous saves from Hartman as Dallas did their best to just hold on. The final whistle was blown and each team split the point, surely more of a relief to Dallas who are happy to be top of Group C on seven points.

This time the defending Mexican Primera took no chances. Brave played all 90 minutes and finished off his hat trick with a 42nd minute goal. Efrain Velarde scored Pumas’ other goal.

The win puts Pumas in second place of Group C after FC Dallas and Tauro tied. Pumas sit three points behind FC Dallas, who leads the group with seven points.

Montero appears to be in one of his goal-scoring runs once again. After going six games without a goal, Montero now has 10 goals across all competitions and his last three goals have come in the U.S. Open Cup, MLS play and CCL.

After the break, Carlos Quintero got i behind the Colorado defense and was not going to make a mistake, cooly slotting home a third Santos goal. That wasn’t it though because Cristian Suarez still had a rip at the far post in him as he fired from the right side for a fourth goal that just further embarrassed the MLS side.

Santos now join Metapan atop Group B on six points, although they are in front on goal difference. The Rapids are two points back and surely regretting their inability to get full points from their trip to play Real Espana, the group’s cellar dweller.

As a referee, you hope that nobody knows your name after the match. You hope that nobody notices you. You want the focus on the players and the play, not the guy running around with the whistle. The referee for the CONCACAF Champions League match between Monarcas Morelia and the LA Galaxy is named Gilberto Alacal Pineda and the final score was Pineda two, Galaxy one. Okay, the scoreboard said Morelia two, Galaxy one, but the referee allowed a Morelia goal that in no way should have been allowed then disallowed a perfectly good Galaxy goal, taking a win away from LA and completely changed the landscape of Group A.

In the final moments of the match, LA got a corner kick. The ball was swung in and headed down, forcing a save from Federico Vilar. He couldn’t hold onto the ball though and Keane pounced, knocking the free ball home for the go-ahead goal. The problem is the referee didn’t allow the goal. He waved it off, saying that Keane was offside on the header, only replays showed him not just to be onside, but onside by at least a yard, if not two. Legitimately LA goal waved off. Well done, Mr. Pineda.

Keane gathered a long ball that was played in from the left and got it 18 yards from goal at the corner of the box. With just one defender there, he pushed the ball past the defender, ran onto it and smashed it home for the go-ahead goal. It was a good goal, showing off the skill that made him one of the Premier League’s top goal scorers and also the type of finishing that the Galaxy have lacked from their strikers for much of the season.

Morelia lineup: Vilar, Silva, Marquet Lugo, Kalu, Rojas, Sandoval, Aldrete, Manso, Jimenez, Cabrera, Leao

Galaxy lineup: Saunders, Hedjuk, Gonzalez, DeLaGarza, Dunivant, Stephens, Birchall, Donovan, Magee, Keane, Cristman. subs: Kirovski, Barrett, Perk, Keat, Lopez, Jordan, Cardozo

Mexican dominance has been an accepted part of the CONCACAF Champions League, just as it was in the Champions Cup of the past. If anything, allowing more Mexican clubs into the competition only underlined the gap between the region’s richest (in terms of wealth and history) and everyone else. MLS clubs were right there with the strongest Central American clubs, doggedly trying to pick up whatever scraps could be found.

In the 2011-2012 edition, however, there is evidence that Mexican dominion over the CCL might not be such a foregone conclusion. A quick look at the standings reveals an American club at the top of each group, while presumptive favorites like Pumas UNAM and Santos Laguna languish in the bottom halves of theirs. The Los Angeles Galaxy, FC Dallas, and the Seattle Sounders have all managed two straight wins to open the competition; the Colorado Rapids, meanwhile, were only three minutes and stoppage time from joining them before Julio “Palomo” Rodriguez scored an equalizer for Real Espana down in Honduras. Even Toronto FC, often mocked in MLS circles, sits in 2nd behind Dallas in Group B.