WVHooligan - Soccer Blog

The first round of preliminaries are nearly over, one match is left to be played today (Pumas v Harbor View). You can thank the oncoming Hurricane for the delay. But let’s recap the first round of games.

Deportivo Jalapa (Guatemala) 1 - 0 San Fransisco (Panama)
Joe Republic (Trinidad and Tobago) 2 - 1 New England Revolution (USA)
LD Alajuelense (Costa Rica) 1 - 1 Puerto Rico Islanders
Cruz Azul (Mexico) 6 - 0 Hankook Verdes (Belize)
Tauro (Panama) 2 - 0 Chivas USA (USA)
Montreal Impact (Canada) 1 - 0 Real Esteli (Nicaragua)
Metapán (El Salvador) 2 - 2 Marathón (Honduras)

Obviously we have one club that is easily through to the group stages at this point. Mexican side Cruz Azul had little trouble with Hankook Verdes. In fact they could pretty much not show up for the return leg next week and still go through.

The two USL sides (Puerto Rico and Montreal) played well. Montreal narrowly scored a home victory in front of a packed Saputo Stadium. The Islanders may have gotten the best result though of any USL/MLS club, the 1-1 draw on the road sets them up nicely to advance to the group stages. Think about that for a moment, a USL side in the group stages. The possibility of two USL sides in the group stages would be pretty cool. Then again so would four MLS sides.

New England is still safe to advance despite the loss. They should be able to bounce back in the return leg next week.

Chivas will struggle to advance to the group stages. Which is sad really. Their depth just isn’t up to par and losing on the road in Panama definitely hurt this club.

I will admit I am trying my best to get into this tournament. Maybe once the group stages begin it will be a bit easier. What did you make of the first round of games here? Anything stand out to you?