Pre/PBP/Post: CCL Quarterfinals, Houston Dynamo v. Santos Laguna, Tuesday, March 5

When: Tuesday, March 5 @ 7:00 PM CST
Where: BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, TX
League Records : Santos Laguna (4-2-3) 15 PTS, 6th place in Liga MX
Houston Dynamo (1-0-0) 3 PTS, 3rd in EAST
TV: Fox Soccer Channel/Galavision
Radio: 1560/850

Last fall in CCL group stage play Santos won Group 1 winning all 4 games. They scored 13 goals and only allowed 1. In Santo's most recent game on March 1 they defeated Jaguares 3-1. They play again on Friday, March 8 when they host Atlante.

Houston won Group 3 without a loss winning twice and drawing twice. The Dynamo scored 9 goals and allowed 3. Houston opened the MLS season with a 2-0 home win over DC United. The Dynamo have now went 31 straight home games in all competitions without a loss.

The return leg will be in Torreón, Mexico on Wednesday, March 13.

Santos Laguna is heading to the game riding high on a 3-1 away victory over Jaguares. Gomez scored a brace, and Peralta scored the other goal. In the league they're in sixth with a 4-2-3 record following nine games. They have scored 11 goals in 9 games and have only given up 6. Peralta is their leading scorer with 5 goals in 7 games played. Gomez has 3 goals in 9 games played. He's their second highest goal scorer.

Their 3 players to watch:

Herc Gomez
Peralta
Darwin

Two players that may be sleepers and surprise us:

Calderon
Cejas

Their one-two punch in defense are Baloy and Osmar Mares whom alongside Oswaldo Sanchez (GK) have played every single minute of the Mexican League.

As you see I practically mentioned a starting line-up. They may be doing average in the league, but that doesn't mean they aren't dangerous. They are a complete team. They have that trio of attacking players, and a defensive wall that may be hard to penetrate. I'm going to just name one player that y'all should REALLY keep an eye on, Darwin.

They will have rested Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Other than their goalkeeper we may see their best line-up.

Prediction: 2-0 Dynamo.*







*Realistic Prediction: 0-0 draw or 1-0 either way.

I agree, Darwin is scary good. He's always either scoring, almost scoring or setting up goals. He just comes out of no where with blinding speed and is past everybody before they know what happened.

On the tv during the Jaguares game the announcers said that they wouldn't be playing their starters for this game since the league games are more important. However, I'm sure that didn't come from the team. They are at a point in their season where they are starting to look at standings and playoffs and the like, and they do have games both weekends around this game, unlike the Dynamo. But like Hérculez said, when they play their second team there isn't the drop off that you get when MLS teams play their second string.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ig8Ryv0GNKA#t=11s

Santos Laguna's starting line-up for the first leg of their series against Seattle last year:

- Oswaldo Sanchez
- Aaron Galindo
- Santiago Hoyos
- "Guti" Estrada
- Osmar Mares
- Daniel Luduenia
- Juan Pablo Rodriguez
- Marc Crosas
- Herculez Gomez
- Oribe Peralta
- Cristian Suarez

Other than rotating Darwin and Baloy out of the line-up, that was practically the first team.

As for Mexican clubs: because league games are admittedly tougher, they tend to send out teams that are good enough to win in the Champions League, from reserves against group-stage opponents to the best 11 when they're playing each other. Only once have I seen a Mexican club deliberately send out an inadequate team: Pumas in the 2008-09 quarterfinals against Cruz Azul. Since then, not even Tuca "a la ch%&*#%# con torneos internacionales" Ferreti has eschewed sending out starters when necessary (e.g. the second leg of Pumas' 2009-10 quarterfinal against Marathon).

To be fair, we have yet to see how new coach Pedro Caixinha will approach the tournament.

big task ahead. we lose 0-1, or hope to at least tie 0-0, 1-1.
We need to "thug" them up a bit in our house.. u know, break their spirits.
Hope for the best, 1-0 win or dare i say 2-0 weaver brace..... or... NO.. wait for it! ...
Mr Glass Hat Trick!!! 3-0 dynamo!!
...or it goes the way of the corey hat trick predictions..

either way, i think el guti is class. corey needs some of what that guy has.

Wonder how much Dom will change the lineup. It's a short turnaround, but at least we had most of the possession on Sat, instead of chasing the ball all game. We'll see. Of course, the real key is whether Cam Weaver, which means "King of Concacaf" in Spanish, plays.

Either way it's going to be a good game and may be a bit chippy early on.

Herculez tweeted:

Maybe they're prepping for Carr.

I assumed that's the only reason he didn't play. Let the king claim
Back his seven kingdoms

Cam Weaver, the King of CONCACAF, Duke of the Reserve League, Scourge of the MLS goal posts, and wearer of the royal head bandage.

I can't figure out if I'm the bigger nerd for instantly recognizing the seven kingdoms reference, or if you are for mentioning it.

Game of Thrones is too mainstream. I haven't seen it or read the book. I've played the board game, though. Don't bother this nerd with petty references like that. Get back to me when y'all start quoting MTG books.

Cam Weaver: "I don’t play in tournaments because when I play a man for real, I don’t want him to know what I can do."

When Cam Weaver buys his trophies, he pays the iron price.

Sorry Leo, didn't know you weren't allowed to watch HBO after 8

You can probably eliminate the words "Maybe" and "early on" from your post. Every CONCACAF game I've ever seen in Houston has been chippy, start to finish.

Zing!

1) This will be a tough test. A really tough match but I'm hoping for a top drawer atmosphere.

2) This player Darwin. Should we keep an eye on him because of his talent or should we keep and eye on him in terms of a potential Dynamo DP, or both?

3) I'd be happy just to get a point out of this to be honest.

4) I hope we have a fairly packed stadium.

5) For those of you who support BOTH Santos and Dynamo, where do your loyalties lie this match? (I cannot lie, if Everton were to play Houston in a meaningful match or even a friendly, I'd want Everton to wipe the floor with us.)

2) Darwin is my fantasy pick for a DP. If Tim still has the "Think big" mentality, he fits the bill perfectly and would be worth the price to buy him.

Of course AEG doesn't care about us and, good or no, ignores us almost completely. Therefor if Dom and Chris approached Tim about this, it'd probably go down like this.

Chris: Hey, Tim, how are you?
Tim: Who are you?


Anywho, nice of C'CAF to schedule this awesome game on my birthday. Probably the first, and last, nice thing they've ever done. #BringCopaAm16toUSA!

This is a good post. I agree with most of 1) - 3) although I think the Dynamo need to come out with a win to have any real chance of advancing.

On 4), I'd be surprised if it is a strong crowd. Tuesday night is tough, especially for a tournament many still don't get or grasp. My guess is they have a bunch of seats still available for this one and no-shows will be high for STH.

on 5), I won't even touch that one.

I was raised a Pachuca fan, but if the Dynamo face Pachuca again, I'd want Dynamo to beat Pachuca. I live here, not over there, I see the Dynamo play everyday and feel a part of their family, I haven't seen Pachuca in their own stadium since 2009 due to danger.

Dynamo > EVERY OTHER ********ING TEAM INCLUDING THE USA.

I'm just glad I CAN go to this game. Last time I saw Santos L against an orange team it was the PR Islanders giving them a 3-1 L. Hope HD gets a 3-1 too.

Fixed

Traitor!!11111111oneoneoneoneone

I know Baloy can't muscle Weaver off of the ball.

The one game all year i REALLY wanted to see, and I'm stuck in Venezuela having to try and find it in Spanish through crappy internet. For all you 15,000 fans that don't fill those empty seats, this is the BEST GAME OF THE SEASON! Get your arse there!
Dale - remembering watching at Robertson in garbage bags through the rain . . .