Impact 2 Santos 0

Last night in front of a pack house of 55,571 the Montreal Impact and their astroturf were able to defeat Santos Laguna of Mexico 2-0. It was over all a rather ugly game for both teams, but especially Santos seemed to be off all night long. The first goal was a ridiculous blunder by the Mexicans who didn’t really seem to be communicating with each other. The second was an absolute joke, a loooong free kick by the Impact took the Cepero bounce, off what looked liked the worse turf I’ve ever seen, and resulted in a comical header that dribbled into the net. Even with the huge astro-advantage put aside, Montreal was the better side on the night and if they manage to steal a goal down in Mexico they'll be a near lock to advance to the next round.

So far the Concacaf Champions has been a pleasant surprise for me. The games have been hard fought, exciting and actually matter to the teams involved. This model for the future regional tournaments seems like it could be a success. Normally I don't advocate following the Euro's on everything they do, but it seems like following their lead on this was a great call.

Finally here's a link to a story out of the Montreal Gazette that's worth the read.

The Highlights