CONCACAF Champions Cup round-up, March 13-14 (plus USL Championship round-up, March 13)

Wednesday and Thursday saw the final games in the "round of 16" of this year's CONCACAF Champions Cup, with at least one MLS side guaranteed to go through to the quarter-finals. Columbus Crew were already through after their aggregate win over Houston Dynamo, but heavy defeats for Orlando City and Philadelphia Union on Tuesday didn't augur well for the league's remaining aspirants. Wednesday's sole game with an MLS angle was an all-MLS tie between Inter Miami and Nashville SC, carefully balanced after a 2-2 draw in Tennessee last week. Sergio Busquets, Leo Messi, and bitey racist Luis Suarez all returned to the Herons' starting line-up and it didn't take long for their class to show, Suarez given the benefit of a very close offside check to give Miami an eighth minute lead. Messi added a second on 23 minutes but had to go off injured just after the half-time break, a worrying sign that he will not be a full-season player this year. Still, that didn't stop Robert Taylor adding a third for the home side and putting the tue beyond the Coyotes, for whom Sam Surridge's 93rd minute strike was a mere consolation.


The final two games in the round took place last night, with two MLS sides away from home and with vastly different chances of going through. FC Cincinnati lost 1-0 at home to Monterrey last week, courtesy of former striker Brandon Vazquez, and travelled to Mexico more in hope than expectation, finding themselves a further goal behind after forty minutes. Still, Lucho Acosta pulled one back just after the break to leave the Garys needing just one moreto go through on away goals. There was another goal but it was Vazquez again on target, sending Cincinnati out of their first continental campaign. New England Revolution had swept Costa Rican side Alajuense aside 4-0 last week and took the opportunity to rest a number of players, including talismanic captain Carles Gil. A 1-1 draw was probably a fair result on the night, with Giacomo Vrioni's 81st minute equaliser cancelling out the home side's fourth minute lead. All three remaining MLS clubs face Liga MX opposition in the next round, with the Revs playing Club America, Inter Miami facing Monterrey, and Columbus taking on UANL Tigres (who have already knocked out two MLS sides on their way to thois stage).


There was just the one midweek game in the USL Championship this week as El Paso Locomotive staged their second home game in five days, this time welcoming Monterey Bay to west Texas. Monterey didn't play at the weekend, when Locomotive lost at home to a reshaped Hartford Athletic side, and the slight match-fitness advantage looked to be telling when Amando Moreno put the home side ahead after just three minutes, delighting the near-5,000 crowd in attendance at South West University Park. Still, this is El Paso at home and it inevitably couldn't last, and so few could have been surprised when Tristan Traeger fired into the top corner with three minutes left to play.

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