[ad_1]
The last time a Major League Soccer team won the continental CONCACAF club competition, Destiny’s Child topped the Billboard chart with “Independent Women,” Carlos Vela was playing for a youth club in Cancun, and the probability that Andre- Pierre Gignac did it as a professional. in France it was rare.
In other words, MLS has waited a long time to conquer what has become one of the league’s holy grails.
– MLS 2020 season review: Crew SC was worth saving
– MLS: all the latest news, features and results
Since DC United’s victory in 1998 and LA Galaxy’s victory in the 2000 edition (played in early 2001) of what was then known as the Champions Cup, three MLS teams: Toronto FC (2018), Montreal Impact (2015) and Real Salt Lake (2011) – have come up short in the CONCACAF Champions League finals.
Now it’s LAFC’s turn in a one-off match against Tigres UANL on Tuesday night in Orlando. A ticket to the 2021 Club World Cup in Qatar, where players like Bayern Munich await, is up for grabs. Here is what you may have missed and what to look for:
LAFC’s unlikely victories over Liga MX teams
LAFC certainly couldn’t have had a much tougher draw to reach the final, even if the revised format of this tournament has played into their hands.
– LAFC beats America in fiery CCL semifinal
– América defeats Herrera after Liga MX, exit from CCL
Black-and-Gold did not have to travel to Mexico City for the quarterfinals and semifinals of two games against Cruz Azul and Club América. And both teams had key figures through injuries.
But in this year in which so much has been uneven, none of that should diminish what Bob Bradley’s team has accomplished thus far. No MLS team has eliminated three Liga MX teams in a single edition of the CONCACAF Champions League – LAFC defeated reigning Liga MX champion Club León in Round of 16 – and the victories have been deserved. and fascinating, with LAFC trailing in all three draws.
Even in that 3-1 semifinal fight, but totally fascinating, last Saturday over Club América, in which neither team covered themselves with glory with their antics, it was LAFC that played the best football and the who recovered emotionally at halftime. .
It would have been easy to lose the plot at 1-0 down after Eduard Atuesta saw red just before the break for his slight movement on the ground towards América goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, who had provoked him and then exaggerated his reaction as if it turned out badly. injured. Instead, LAFC regrouped in the locker room, Bradley told the team to keep playing their soccer, and Vela took advantage of an amateur defense from Club América to make it 2-1 with 1 minute and 26 seconds into the second half.
The loss was the final act for América coach Miguel Herrera, who was fired Monday morning, likely in part for the loss, but also for his antics during a skirmish between players and benches at halftime. “Piojo” received a red card for his fight with LAFC assistant Ante Razov, but refused to leave the field during the second half, even using a walkie-talkie to speak to his bank.
And despite calls for Atuesta’s warning to be overturned, CONCACAF announced Monday that the Colombian will miss the Tigres game.
play1: 07Should an MLS club roll the dice on Miguel Herrera?
Kasey Keller shares her thoughts on Miguel Herrera’s managerial future after he was fired by Club América.
Figureheads engage in a tempting duel
Bradley and his players often talk about the “idea” of LAFC playing. The intention to bring the game to the rivals, keep the ball and recover it quickly is striking and is surely part of the reason for the strong increase in popularity of the club during its first three years of existence.
But it is when the Vela factor is mixed that the California club goes from being a team that plays attractive and fluid soccer to a unit capable of dodging León, Cruz Azul and América.
Vela is a fan of the statistics in the North American game, being far above anyone else in MLS during his three years in Los Angeles: 54 goals and 32 assists in 70 MLS games. Only Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s season at LA Galaxy is coming up. And even in this edition of the CONCACAF Champions League, it is Vela’s five goals in four games that have been crucial in LAFC’s march to the final. It’s almost as if he had a personal vendetta to prevent a Liga MX club from claiming the title for the 15th time in a row.
2019 MLS MVP and Golden Boot winner Carlos Vela has LAFC on the cusp of glory. AP Photo / John Raoux
But if there is another player in North America who has earned the adulation of a fan base, he has the ability to turn games in a similar way to Vela, it is Gignac, even if the club issued a statement Monday saying he carries an injury.
The 35-year-old former French international and Marseille star has also scored five goals, as well as two assists, en route to the final and is as close to a deity for Tigres fans as any player in club history. as well as one of the best foreigners who has played in the First Division of Mexico.
Vela and Gignac are very different types of forwards, but they also have a lot in common as front men for their teams. Their inspiring qualities rub off on those around them, they both lack an appetite to speak to the press, they love their adopted cities and, again in their own way, share an iron determination to win.
There would also be a great deal of irony if Mexican Vela was the player to lift the CCL and break the Liga MX stronghold on the tournament, but Gignac, a naturalized Mexican citizen who has the Virgin of Guadalupe tattooed on the back of his right. calf, he is desperate not to happen and to wear the Tigres jersey in a Club World Cup.
Pierre-Andre Gignac has taken Tigres to new heights since he arrived in 2015. Alex Menendez / Getty Images
Final Piece of Tuca’s Puzzle
Tigres will provide a tougher test for LAFC than Cruz Azul and Club América. For starters, Tigres has reached reasonable form in games in Orlando, racking up seven unanswered goals against NYCFC and Honduras’s Olimpia en route to the final.
Tigres has been a Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti machine for the last decade. Five Liga MX titles have elevated the Monterrey club’s status to levels never seen before. The constant thorn in the club’s side, however, has been the inability to win a continental title. Tigres reached the CCL final for the fourth time in the last five years and also lost the 2015 Copa Libertadores final to River Plate.
There is a conviction that 2020 will finally be the year, although LAFC has faced every challenge thus far.
play1: 54Does Carlos Vela really want to go to Liga MX?
Herculez Gómez and Sebastián Salazar clash over whether they think Carlos Vela wants to go out at LAFC.
Both sides favor possession
From a style perspective, these are two teams looking to dominate the ball, even if both are perfectly capable of transitions as well. Tigres are famous for their long spells of possession under Ferretti and Bradley’s LAFC also tend to have the majority of possession in most games.
The game is likely to be more like LAFC against León than the MLS team against Club América or Cruz Azul, even if the physicality of Tigres in the spine (Nahuel Guzmán, Carlos Salcedo, Guido Pizarro, Gignac) is a underrated aspect of Liga MX. team.
The talk on social media about Liga MX versus MLS and whether the northern league is “catching” Mexico’s first division is increasingly intense and even scathing at times.
The reality is that in the CCL matches of the last three years, Liga MX teams have won 15, MLS 13, with two draws. But it’s also true that unless MLS can break Liga MX’s dominance and actually lift the trophy, Mexico’s dominance in the tournament will always be the main conclusion.
Source: espn.co.uk
[ad_2]
