CONCACAF Champions League roundup: Galaxy, Toluca and Herediano all win

Nobody has booked their spot in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League yet, but Toluca basically has thanks to a win on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the LA Galaxy are in the driver’s seat in Group 8 after a win of their own, while Herediano has themselves where a home win on the final matchday may put them through.

So the teams in the knockout stages are still to be determined, but the picture looks awfully clear now, or at least much clearer than it did at the start of the day.

It took Herediano all of three minutes to go in front of Valencia and once they did, they never looked back. Olman Vargas did the honors on the opener, heading home from 10 yards, and Minor Diaz doubled the home side’s lead five minutes later when Frandy Montrevil misplayed a cross to leave the Herediano man with an easy finish.

Valencia had their chances to get back into the match, but they just missed the frame on golden chances twice and Daniel Cambronero made a series of fine saves to keeper Herediano in front. Roody Joseph did finally bring Valencia within one, but three minutes later Jose Sanchez restored Herediano’s two-goal lead. Anllel Porras then added another goal so by the time Andre Amy scored in the waning minutes, Herediano already had the three points locked up.

With the win, Herediano are level atop Group 3 with Cruz Azul, but the Mexicans do have a match in hand. The group will come to an end on October 22, when Herediano host Cruz Azul and potentially, a win will put them through to the quarterfinals. Valencia have been eliminated.

The group stage continues to be a cakewalk for Toluca, who are just about through to the knockout stages after thrashing Caledonia in Trinidad and Tobago. Raul Nava did the honors with two goals, while Edy Brambilla and Sinha added goals of their own. Toss in a Caledonia own goal and it was all golden for the Mexicans. Kithson Bain tried to help the Trinidadians out with a goal of his own, but Caledonia were already 3-0 down at that point.

Toluca now have a perfect nine points from three matches, six points clear of second place Comuicaciones. If the Guatemalan side can’t win against Caledonia on the next matchday, Toluca will be through, but even if they do win, Toluca will host Comunicaciones on the final day needing any results to advance.

With the MLS stretch run upon them and a key match against Seattle coming up, the Galaxy didn’t put out close to a first choice squad against Metapan and it still didn’t matter. Using a squad full of young players and a couple of lesser used veterans, the Galaxy dominated the Salvadoran squad and really could have won by several goals. But in the end, all they got was one goal from Laurent Courtois, who coolly finished a fantastic Jose Villarreal pass to earn LA all three points.

The Galaxy now sit two points clear of Cartagines atop Group 8 with a match in hand. Unfortunately for LA, both of their remaining matches are away, but if they can manage just a draw at Cartagines next week then they will have won the group and that final match will just be a glorified friendly with nothing on the line.

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