The Montreal Impact, up two goals coming into the second game of the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals, had the series in the bag when they scored their first away goal, despite the Santos Laguna attacking threat.  It seemed so unlikely Santos could come back and score enough goals that the Montreal players on the pitch appeared to be distracted working out how they were going to get time off work to play in the Semi Finals.  It was not something they needed to worry about.  Santos had always planned to win and go forward.

Surviving only a goal down after the 90 minutes of play, who can blame the Impact for thinking it was over?  Santos would have needed two more goals to prevail due to the away goal rule, and no team scores two goals in stoppage time, do they?

Santos occasionally looked half asleep defending, but they knew when to wake.

In some ways it was a football tale of two Americas.  To their credit, the Impact played pleasing football, and Santos allowed them the room to do so, giving the impression that they were teams of a similar caliber.  It was not so.  Santos had far superior skill on the ball, passing, and striking.  Santos has the kind of players that you can not afford to give 2 feet of space to in your own half.

It has been suggested that the Impact were not really match fit as they are still in preseason; perhaps they were too tired by the end of the match to play well.  Perhaps.  Whether they were tired or just sloppy, slack defending was suicidal against Santos skill.

It made for a tremendously exciting game, especially if you are a Santos fan.

Take Aways

The Montreal Impact should go home proud with how far they made it, farther than any team in the MLS or the USA for that matter, far exceeding anyone’s expectations.

There are also lessons here about the price of a moment’s inattention or defending imperfection, and about the very high standard of quality in Mexico’s football culture.  The Santos passes, crosses, and strikes on goal were of such sublime precision, the result was always on a knife’s edge.