Both DC United and Houston Dynamo played their first legs in the quarterfinals of the 2008 CONCACAF Champions cup yesterday. Thanks to my DVR and the FSC schedule I had to go to bed at 2AM not knowing what happened in the last 10 or so minutes of the Houston Dynamo game. I also was able to miss the DC United goal. That goal was scored at the end of the first half by Devon McTavish. It was his first goal for DC United.
Both of the MLS teams were away so the draws are not a bad deal. They should both be able to secure wins on the return home 2nd legs. From what I did see of the Houston Dynamo game, they were very lucky to not give up several goals. I still think both MLS teams will advance.
Houston Dynamo and DC United are set for another CONCACAF Champions Cup campaign. Both teams begin the tournament on Wednesday March 12th on the road. DC United will be in Jamaica playing Harbour View FC while Houston may have a tougher opponent in Guatemala when they play CSD Municipal. This is how the whole brackets look.
Pachuca CF (Mexico)
CD Motagua (Honduras)
DC United (USA)
Harbour View (Jamaica)
Atlante FC (Mexico)
Deportivo Saprissa (Costa Rica)
Houston Dynamo (USA)
CSD Municipal (Guatemala)
I would so much love to see an MLS vs MLS final but with tough competition like this I know that will be a tough task. Although DC United have the easier first round match I think they potentially have the toughest semi-final pairing if Pachuca are able to get past CD Motagua. Pachuca are the defending CONCACAF Champions Cup winners. Deportivo Saprissa are also recent winners and multiple times champions, most recently they won it in 2005.
Major League Soccer has not won this tournament since the LA Galaxy did it back in 2000. DC United is the only other MLS team to win this tournament - they did it in 1998. Besides those 2 years the tournament has been dominated by Mexico and Costa Rica. No other country has produced a winner since 1988 when CD Olimpia of Honduras won it.
Two MLS teams recently found out who they will be facing in next year’s CONCACAF Champions Cup. Two time defending MLS Cup winners Houston Dynamo will meet Municipal of Guatemala. The Supporters’ Shield winners DC United will face Harbour View (Jamaica). Here is the whole list of match ups.
Houston Dynamo
Municipal (Guatemala)
Pachuca (Mexico)
Motagua (Honduras)
Atlante FC (Mexico)
Saprissa (Costa Rica)
DC United
Harbour (Jamaica)
While watching the CCC game tointe between Chivas and DC United at one point I thought to myself “Where the hell is Christian Gomez?”. He didn’t seem too involved during the 2nd half.
Around the 80th minute there were a couple minutes where DC didn’t even get a touch on the ball. I thought for sure the game was going to end with a 10 minute game of keep away that was dominated by Chivas. The weird thing about it was that it seemed DC didn’t really care. I guess maybe the altitude was getting to them at the end, you think?
I’m pretty sure I have never been so mad to see DC United lose. As long as the Dynamo advance to the final, I’ll get over it.
What a goal scored by Jamie Moreno! How long is that guy gonna keep up a high level of performance? Probably until he’s about 50 years old!
I guess I’ll just be looking forward to Thursday nite. Go DYNAMO!
DC United has been in Mexico training for a week now leading up to tonites Concacaf Champions Cup semi-final 2nd leg with Chivas. Brazilian star and former A-league MVP Fred has recently joined the team and is available to play tonite. The DC United coach would not say weather Fred would start the game or if he would be on the bench, but he will be on the roster of available players one way or the other.
No MLS team has ever defeated a Mexican club at their home turf. I hope we are about to witness some history tonite. Although an MLS vs Mexico final would make it more exciting, I can’t cheer against any MLS team now and it looks like Houston Dynamo should go through to the final on Thursday night when they take their 2-0 lead into Mexico.
I predict a 2-1 victory for DC United, and a trip to the CCC final!
The Houston Dynamo home leg of the CCC semi-finals was postponed yesterday due to lack of electricity at their stadium. The game will be taking place today at 5pm (central time). Along with that rescheduled game DC United is hosting Chivas (the Mexican Chivas) in the other semi-final.
According to the Fox Soccer Channel online TV schedule they will be showing the Dynamo game 5pm and the DC United game directly afterwards at 7pm (both times are central time).
Hopefully we got 2 MLS victories tonight!
We are down to the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup and it is 2 MLS vs Mexico semi-finals. Both of my predictions were right!
I didn’t get to see a lot of the DC game, but watched the whole Houston game. I was impressed with the chanting Dynamo fans throughout the game, but more impressed with the 2-0 victory. The Dynamo came out and got exactly what they needed to advance.
The Dynamo now will face Pachuca (Mexico) on March 14th in Houston and travel to Pachuca on April 5th.
DC United will go up against Chivas (Mexico) on March 15th at RFK and go to Chivas on April 3rd.
See the official bracket at the official CONCACAF website.
DC United and Houston Dynamo continue action in the CONCACAF Champions Cup tonite both in the 2nd leg of the quarterfinals. My predictions - DC United gets anoter convincing win to cruise into the semis. Houston wins a hard fought game to squeak into the semis.
Catch both games on Fox Soccer Channel tonite at 6pm and 8pm. DC is up first.
I had to DVR both the DC United and Houston Dynamo Champions Cup games earlier this week. That in itself was not a problem, but:
Before watching the Dynamo game, I had Fox Soccer Channel on watching FA Cup highlights I think. I see on the bottom of the screen ticker that the Dynamo lost. Dammit, but I watched anyway. I fell asleep and missed most of the 2nd half. What was up with the red cards there, anyone? And was that PK one of the least deserved PK’s you’ve seen in a long time?
Then last nite I was online playing some poker and my dad rang me up on IM. I sent him the message that I was about to watch the DC United game and to not tell me the results at almost exactly the same time his message showed up “good win for DC huh!”. Dammit dammit dammit, but I watched still. Good job DC. They didn’t look overly great, but I guess scoring 4 goals on the road is pretty damm good. I wish I could place shots like Gomez was, those were quite nice!
Overall I think both teams will advance to the semi-finals. I’m not sure if they could possibly play each other in the semi’s, but that would really be great if both MLS teams went to the final. DC would really have to screw up to not get into the semi’s.
Oh, and FYI those of you who did not see the games:
DC United 4 - 1 CD Olimpia
Houston Dynamo 0 - 1 Puntarenas
DC United and Houston Dynamo have important games tomorrow in the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup. DC United travel to Honduras to take on Club Deportivo Olimpia while Houston Dynamo travel to Costa Rica to take on Puntarenas Fútbol Club, a young club with goals of winning by a big margin. Both of the MLS teams will have tough games, but have the advantage of finishing the home and away series at home. Last year the Galaxy and the Revolution both lost out at this stage of the tournament, hopefully that is changed this year. It is time the MLS starts to show some CONCACAF dominance!
