Much has been made over the past week about Santos Laguna coach Pedro Caixinha's quotes following their 1-0 loss to the Houston Dynamo in the first leg. Specifically causing a ruckus was his assertion that "there was only one team on the pitch and that team was Santos Laguna." It seemed an absurdly arrogant quote from a losing coach, whose team did not score.
Santos Laguna vs. Houston Dynamo: Final score 3-0, Los Guerreros storm into semis
Dynamo rarely threaten as Santos Laguna scores a pair of first-half goals to take the lead and one more in the second half to book ticket to CONCACAF Champions League semifinals.
David Becker
Arrogant or not, it appears that confidence was well deserved. Santos Laguna dominated the second leg and cruised to a 3-0 victory that put them into the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals for the second straight year. They'll face the Seattle Sounders on April 2-4 and April 9-11.
Despite the Dynamo coming into the match with a 1-0 lead, the result was not in doubt for very long. Juan Rodriguez opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, putting in a rebound off his own penalty. Dynamo goalkeeper Tally Hall was able to get enough of the penalty to send it off the crossbar, but Rodriguez was able to beat the defense to the ball and get it into the back of the net.
It only took five more minutes for Santos Laguna to take their first lead of the quarterfinal. That's when there was some miscommunication between Hall and Dynamo defender Bobby Boswell, allowing Herculez Gomez to get to a ball at the edge of the penalty area first. Gomez needed just one touch to put it just inside the far post.
The Dynamo managed to settle down after that but were never able to generate much offense. Their only real good chance was an open header from about 6 yards out that Boswell hit right at the goalkeeper in the sixth minute.
Santos Laguna put the Dynamo out of their misery in the 77th minute when Marc Crosas inexplicably got open at the far post and banged a shot past Hall.
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