I don't know if it is too early to create the thread. Mods, feel free to delete it if you want. Here's a schedule by date: Times are Eastern. First Team is Host First Leg Tuesday, April 2 Seattle Sounders (USA) vs Santos Laguna (MEX) - 10 PM.Wednesday, April 3 LA Galaxy (USA) vs C.F. Monterrey (MEX) - 10 PM Second Leg Tuesday, April 9 Santos Laguna (MEX) vs Seattle Sounders (USA) - 10 PM.Wednesday, April 10 C.F. Monterrey (MEX) vs LA Galaxy (USA) - 10 PM Schedule Link Hoping for awesome semifinals!!, may the best teams wins!
I think an LA/Santos final is possible. LA would have to have a fantastic game and be very, very careful, but they might be able to squeeze past Monterrey (who have already had a couple of turns with this trophy--time to share, kids; that semicolon is there because now I'm just screwing with punctuation). Unless Obaobaoba is ridiculous and a gamebreaker, I do not expect Seattle to find any path past Santos. I think all four teams are going to hit this game totally committed and totally psyched. And that, in truth, is all I really want from these semis. There! My thoughts.
If Landon does start practice next week, depending on his fitness, he may get a cameo in the second semi final.
Why just a cameo? Depending on his fitness, there's no other reason for him not to start both legs of the semifinals. (At least that's what Bruce Arena is likely thinking.)
the only reason why i personally believe there will be two mexican finals is because both of them are closing at home. sounders and galaxy need to win by more than one goal if they want to give themselves a realistic chance. I just hate having to wait so long for the semis
So both MLS teams will be getting major reinforcements for the upcoming matches (Donovan in LA, Martins in Seattle.) No excuses now...if neither team advances it'll be a major disappointment. I'll give LA the better odds of advancing over Seattle, even with the better opposition.
How do you figure Monterrey is better opposition? Santos is currently 4th in Liga MX and Monterrey is 11th.
monterrey has been struggling in league this season but Monterrey has better players in more positions than Santos.
I'd probably agree with that. The second legs being in Mexico will be a big deal, but I think LA can manage in Monterrey to keep the game to a goal. Partially because of how they bossed Herediano in that game at the HDC and partially because they looked really good in MLS week one too. Plus getting Donovan back and (maybe) a healthy Gyasi Zardes will make them significantly better than they are today. As well as Seattle can play when they play well, IMHO, they're screwed. But we'll see what happens.
Yeah, this is Monterrey's game. Struggle though they might in the league and liguilla, the CCL is their prized stomping ground. I get the impression that the team is the most likely out of MLS or MX to truly prioritize CCL play over league play. But then, every time I watch any league Monterrey game, it's in Spanish--and the commentators could be constantly explaining how they loathe the burden of the CCL, for all I know.
Sorry, The link I provided had all times at 10 PM, They changed it after my post. I also thought it was weird that all times were 10 PM EST. I can't edit my post now.
I don't like that both MLS teams have to go to Mexico for the second leg. Is the hosting order decided by seeding or flipping a coin? It seems to me that MLS clubs do better when they have the second leg at home, particularly against Mexican competition.
The knockout round bracket was set up based on seeding. If Seattle had run up the score on Caledonia like Monterrey and Santos did to Chorrillo and Aguila (respectively), then perhaps they could have gotten to host the second leg at home in this round.
Seattle needed to score a couple more goals but the main problem with their goal difference was that they allowed 5 while Monterrey didn't allow any and Santos only allowed 1.
After tonight, these games might be very interesting. I already expected them to be awesome, but boy, did they take on new drama.
So the winner of the 1 v 4 (Monterrey v LAG) semifinal is certain to host the second leg of the final? (Seems like they could/should re-seed that final if the 4th seed advances to face the 2 v 3 winner. Although, I suppose getting past the 1 seed would warrant LA getting some reward in the form of hosting Leg 2 of the final.)
I believe the semifinal leg falls during break and will have the full capacity of the HDC available. The final would not, and would have between 8k-17k or 20k if shuttle service is offered, depending on the day of the week.