Without a doubt, FC Dallas gave the best account of MLS in the history of the CONCACAF Champions League over the course of their two-legged semifinal with Pachuca. However, it sill wasn’t enough as Hirving Lozano snatched victory for Pachuca at the death when we looked headed for extra time.
21-year-old Pachuca and Mexican international Hirving “Chucky” Lozano has long been a subject of interest for European clubs. The winger has already appeared in over 100 Liga MX matches for his club, and he’s become a regular for El Tri.
Lozano’s form in the 2016 Apertura season, during which he scored seven goals and helped Pachuca finish in second during the regular season, saw him linked with Benfica, Ajax and PSV during the January transfer window.
Aviles Hurtado is awfully coordinated.
The Xolos midfielder got on his bike and scored what will almost certainly end up being the goal of the Liga MX season Sunday against Atlas.
Mexico took hold of the Hex with a controversial 1-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain. Mexico had opportunities to add to their total, but the Soca Warriors will be aggrieved to have had a first half goal incorrectly chalked off for offside.
If everything continues the way it is, the 2018 World Cup will be a 48-team tournament instead of the 32-team format we have now.
Now, how exactly will this expanded world cup tournament work?
Obviously the addition of all of these teams will have to result in reformatting the World Cup process, so the group stage will have 16 groups of three teams each, with the top team moving on from each group. From there on out, the knockout stage will be the same.
Back on October 13, 2013, Panama were on the verge of their first-ever World Cup finals. Needing Costa Rica to defeat Mexico in San Jose was the first part of the equation, but the more daunting task was the one facing them — they’d have to defeat the United States in Panama City.
With the United States having already qualified as Hexagonal winners, a largely second-string American team gave Panama the conviction that history could be made on the day. Panama took an early lead through Gabriel Torres, only to be pegged back by American defender Michael Orozco.
Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez equalled Jared Borgetti’s all-time goalscoring record for Mexico by scoring his 46th goal in his 89th match. Coincidentally, that’s the exact same record as Borgetti.
| #UDEliminatorias: GOOOOOOL. Al 7', 'Chicharito' abre el marcador para México. https://t.co/h92Y13ly9L pic.twitter.com/PpK3ty8Jxn
I don't know what else you were expecting. Xolos manager Miguel Herrera, who is liable to do anything at any moment, could be in hot water because of a video that surfaced showing Herrera appearing to insult and try to fight a fan who was in the stands.
This is not the sort of thing you should do normally, but it's especially the sort of thing you shouldn't do if you got canned from your last job for punching a journalist.
For the United States, injuries to DeAndre Yedlin and Fabian Johnson have severely limited the team’s strength in the wide areas. Meanwhile, Mexico must do without Marco Fabian, Jesus Corona, Giovani dos Santos, Hirving Lozano and Javier Aquino — as well as the continued absence of Paul Aguilar.
But their squad for upcoming qualifiers against Costa Rica and Trinidad and Tobago in the Hex demonstrates their embarrassment of riches when compared to the rest of the region.
Whatever happens in the return leg, this CONCACAF Champions League first leg between FC Dallas and Pachuca is now the benchmark for all MLS clubs. This competition doesn’t favor MLS sides (Dallas are only just beginning their work for the 2017 season), and there’s still obviously a large gap between almost all MLS and Liga MX clubs, but this was the best team in MLS, backed by the best academy, unfortunate to only win 2-1 on the night.