Club America and Chivas Guadalajara joined Toronto FC and New York Red Bulls in the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals with wins on Wednesday evening.
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Chivas’ win means MLS misses out on a chance to guarantee a finalist in the race for a Club World Cup bid. The semifinal first legs will be held April 3-5, with the second legs April 10-12.
Tauro 1-3 (1-7 agg.) Club America
Tauro will be pleased to not see Henry Martin any time soon, as he bagged a pair of goals to go with his goal and two assists in the first leg. Mexican 22-year-old Alejandro Díaz Liceága also scored in the leg, and Club America set up a massive pair of dates with Toronto FC.
Tauro 1-3 America Highlights | @TauroFC @ClubAmerica #SCCL2018 pic.twitter.com/xnVePy6AvD
— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) March 15, 2018
Chivas Guadalajara 3-0 (3-1 agg.) Seattle Sounders
A pair of first half injuries put the Seattle Sounders’ backs against the proverbial wall in a 3-0 loss to Chivas at the Estadio Akron.
Already down Nicolas Lodeiro, Seattle was forced into using a substitute before the 10-minute mark when Will Bruin suffered an injury. Lamar Neagle took his place. Then Chad Marshall went down, moving Kim Kee-Hee into the match in the 35th.
Down two goals after Oswaldo Alanís and Javier Lopez scored five minutes apart early in the second half, Seattle knew an away goal would be enough to push it into the semifinal.
The Chivas pressure was relentless as the second half wore on, and Stefan Frei was called upon to make a number of saves. But the hosts put it to bed with 10 minutes to play with a slick sweep of the trailing leg of Jesus Godinez.
