CONCACAF Champions League: Favorites dominate Matchday 1

Luis Angel Firpo delivered the first surprise of the CONCACAF Champions League when they held Tijuana to a scoreless draw on Tuesday, but that proved to be the only shocker of the first matchday. The favorites came away victorious in the other seven matches, capped by three expected winners on Thursday.

It took a while for Herediano to find their footing in Haiti, but once they did Valencia stood no chance. Ismael Gomez put the visitors in front after 38 minutes of dominant play and Yendrick Ruiz doubled that lead just before the break to send Herediano into the break with a deserved 2-0 lead.

Club America wasn’t supposed to have much trouble with Sporting San Miguelito in their CONCACAF Champions League opener, but they did. The Panamanians defended well and played physical to frustrate Las Aguilas, but America were able to overcome it thanks to a Christian “Hobbit” Bermudez goal, which earned them a 1-0 win in Panama City.

Bermudez may have scored America’s goal, but it was Andres Andrade who did all the heavy lifting. He won the ball in the midfield and dribbled through the Sporting team, running away from defender after defender before getting to the endline. There, he spotted Hobbit in front of goal and put the ball right on Hobbit’s foot. It was a simple finish and America had themselves a 23rd-minute lead.

It was clear from the start that Real Esteli’s midfield couldn’t handle the pressure Sporting put on them. Whenever they got the ball, they gave it away so quickly that long boots upfield that rolled to Eric Kronberg were upgrades.

For all of their chances, Sporting struggled at add to their lead and their dominance on the ball didn’t result in many chances as the match went on. They couldn’t turn their several good forays forward into actual attempts at goal and allowed an overwhelmed Real Esteli to stick around.

• Suarez doesn’t have a release clause

• Bundesliga season previews

Tijuana was supposed to have no problem in the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League, but Luis Angel Firpo made their Group 7 opener much tougher than anyone expected it would be. The Salvadoran club were physical in the midfield and broke up the Xolos attack, forcing the Mexican favorites to settle for a scoreless draw in San Salvador.

The match was ugly for long stretches, which was exactly what Firpo was aiming for. Their physicality and five-man midfield were designed to make things difficult on Tijuana in the middle and it worked to perfection. They conceded Xolos the ball for stretches, which took away the visitors’ favored counter-attack and without space to operate, Tijuana struggled to create chances.

It took just 23 minutes for Toluca to go in front as a flicked on header found Edy Brambila, who quickly played Benitez in on goal. It was quick play by Toluca and by the time Caledonia could react to what happened, Benitez was slotting the ball past Glenroy Samuel.

Six minutes later, Almazan was hitting a rocket by Samuel to double the lead. The defense couldn’t be beaten on this one because it came on a 30-yard free kick that Almazan hit as well as possible. It got over the wall and made a beeline for the back of the net, where it settled well beyond an outstretched Samuel.

The 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League gets underway without one familiar team: Monterrey. The three-time defending champions did not qualify for the tournament, missing out on their chance at a four-peat when they were eliminated in the semifinals of the Liga MX Clausura Liguilla.

Arabe Unido vs. W Connection- A year ago, W Connection pulled off two massive results when they drew both Xelaju and Chivas at home. The latter came on the penultimate match day, too, and kept the Mexican giants from the knockout stages. But as memorable as those two results were, they were the only two results the club got and they never really challenged for a spot in the knockout stages. If the club is to do better this year, they will need Joevin Jones to have a breakout tournament. The 22-year-old had 10 goals in the TT Pro League last season, but now he has to perform on the continental stage.