Monterrey Vs. Santos Laguna, CCL Final: Rayados Take The First Leg

Well, we didn’t see the fireworks between Monterrey and Santos Laguna in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League Final Wednesday, but Humberto Suazo’s second half brace was the difference as the hosts will take a 2-0 win into the second leg. After a physical first half that the teams played to a stalemate, the best player on the field, Suazo, was able to take over and get the result for his team.

The scoring opened in the 60th minute when Monterrey took the ball following a chance from Santos. After a cross headed by Herculez Gomez in front of goal went just over the top corner of the goalpost, Monterrey flipped the play in a hurry and Aldo de Nigris sent an angled pass from the right flank back to Suazo in the middle of the box, who ran onto it easily and beat Santos keeper Oswaldo Sanchez. Many will question whether Suazo should have been in the game at that point, as he was on an early yellow card and collided with Sanchez studs up in the box on a breakaway three minutes before the goal. Although the foul was dangerous and could very well have merited a second yellow card, the fact is that his yellow card in the first half was on a rather-soft call, and the non-call probably evened out the earlier card.

From there, Monterrey marched down the other end of the field, de Nigris made a run with the ball toward the end line on the right flank, and sent an angled pass back toward Suazo in the center of the box. Suazo ran onto the ball and made no mistake with the shot. Although Santos keeper Oswaldo Sánchez had gotten the best of Suazo to that point, even taking physical punishment when Suazo slid into him with his studs up, Suazo took care of business to put the home team in the lead. Now, the next goal will be pivotal in seeing how these teams will play over the rest of the final.

Well, it seemed the goals would come easily in this match, but there was no scoring between Monterrey and Santos Laguna in the first half of the CONCACAF Champions League Final opening leg. These teams know each other well, and they obviously studied the habits of their opponents to get a good defensive game plan.

Somewhat surprisingly, both teams are following their respective strategies in the first 45 minutes. That means Monterrey have held most possession and tried to create a sustained buildup in their attack. While the Rayados have looked more likely to open the scoring so far, that fits well in Santos’ pattern, as they have played well on the counterattack in the past two rounds of the CCL and stayed back until their opponent is tired out and confident of a result. They have executed the early stage of that game plan perfectly to this point, soaking up pressure and reversing the run of play when they get an opening.

The first leg of the 2012 CONCACAF Champions League Final is here. Monterrey host Santos Laguna in an all-Mexico final. Monterrey are the defending champions, while Santos Laguna are trying to win a major title after coming close in their domestic league several times in the past few years. Needless to say, this should be an exciting final. These teams have pretty good defenses, but both have even better attacks, so a high-scoring match is a very real possibility tonight.

On to the lineups:

A Mexican team will be champions of CONCACAF again, but will it be Monterrey or Santos Laguna? That question will be answered, at least half-answered, tonight. The CONCACAF Champions League final gets underway tonight with the first leg at Estadio Tecnologico in Monterrey, where the home side are looking to win their second consecutive confederation championship.

The one thing that this match is sure to bring is goals. Santos Laguna lead the Mexican Primera in goals and Oribe Peralta not only has seven in the Clausura there, but he and teammate Herculez Gomez are the joint-top scorers in the Champions League. Then there is Monterrey, who have Humberto Suazo and Aldo de Nigris up top, giving them the best strike partnership not just in Mexico or CONCACAF, but in all of the Americas.

Mexico has been dominant in CONCACAF, and specifically, in the CONCACAF Champions League. They have basically made the competition their own. Never before has a Mexican club been eliminated from the competition over two legs by a non-Mexican club. Not once. The Champions League is Mexico’s domain and that is true again this season, as Monterrey and Santos Laguna square off in the final.

To just look at the dominance of Mexico in the competition is not looking deep enough, though. This isn’t just a matter of Mexican dominance, but really, the dominance of two of Mexico’s northern cities, Monterrey and Torreon. As Eben Lehman from FMF State of Mind points put, teams from those two cities have taken over the competition, making this far more than Mexican domination of the Champions League. It’s a two-city domination

Monterrey will attempt to defend their CONCACAF Champions League title when they host Santos Laguna Wednesday evening in the first leg of the 2012 final. Although they failed to impress in the Club World Cup after winning last season’s Champions League, the Rayados have an opportunity to win the tournament again and get another chance against the best clubs in the world in the next edition.

Meanwhile, they are comfortably in the playoff mix in the domestic league, and have to be considered among the favorites in the upcoming Liguilla. They have recent success in the Mexican Primera, as they won the 2009 and 2010 Apertura tournaments. In fact, it could be argued that the last few years have been the most successful in the club’s history.

Some things never change. Others do. In the case of Mexican clubs in the CONCACAF Champions League, it’s both. Like always, the teams from the Mexican Primera have dominated the competition, to nobody’s surprise, but what has shocked some is how seriously the teams have taken the competition. Now, the Champions League is a priority for many Mexican clubs.

On Wednesday, when Monterrey and Santos Laguna square of at Estadio Tecnologico on Wednesday for the first leg of the tournament final, they will do so with fresh squads after both rested players in league over the weekend to have them ready for Wednesday’s tilt. Humberto Suazo, Darvin Chavez and Angel Reyna were among the Monterrey players who did not starts against Atlas on Saturday, while Santos sat Felipe Baloy, Jorge Ivan Estrada and Juan Pablo Rodriguez against America. Both teams lost, and while upsetting, they knew they were risking it when they made the choice. The Champions League is the priority.