Aidan_morris_-_asn_top_-_crew_vs._monterrey_-_4-24-24
Morning update

Crew take first leg vs. Monterrey, Richards & Palace stay hot, LaLiga to the USA, & more

ASN's Brian Sciaretta breaks down the Crew vs. Monterrey game, covers the busy midweek for Americans aborad, talks LaLiga, and looks at a 15 year old kid making the bench for Wolves. 
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
April 25, 2024
9:00 AM

HAPPY THURSDAY to all the ASN readers out there and it is a busy, busy day to start to unpack. First you have the CONCACAF Champions Cup which saw the Columbus Crew draw first blood against Monterrey. Then you have a busy day with Americans abroad. Finally, you have LaLiga potentially coming to the states.

Let’s just start digging

 

Columbus takes Leg One vs. Monterrey

 

Good enough?
 

The Columbus Crew opened the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinal with a 2-1 first leg win over Monterrey on Wednesday night in Columbus. It was a very good performance from the Crew but it wasn’t great. There were still chances they could have taken to have a multigoal lead into Mexico.

The question is whether it was good enough? That remains to be seen.

Some of the takeaways from the game were pretty obvious. The first is that Cucho Hernandez is a special player. He’s one of the very best players in the league and he is the type of player who can win big games and carry a team.

The movement on the opening goal was a thing of beauty.



But the problem for Columbus was missed chances. They finished with 12 shots, 8 on frame, but two goals. The biggest miss came from Diego Rossi who sent a golden chance wide that would have opened the scoring.

In the CONCACAF Champions Cup, MLS teams need to have a combination of being ultra clinical and sometimes pulling magic out of nothing. In what should have been a multigoal lead was even after Monterrey equalized in the 58th when Maximiliano Meza got on the end of a Jesus Gallardo cross where two Crew players were beaten.

Then minutes after that, Cucho saw a great chance saved.

Columbus ended up pulling ahead for good in the 72nd when a Rossi corner was flicked on by Sean Zawadzki and then headed home by Canadian Jacen Russell-Rowe who also assisted on the opener.



For the rest of the way, there were some nervy moments and it required Patrick Schulte to make five saves on the day.

 

Americans contribute to win

 

From an American perspective, it was a good day. Schulte had 5 saves, Zawadzki had an assist, and Darlington Nagbe was his steady self. Even for Monterrey, Brandon Vazquez missed a good chance but was still very effective in his hold-up play.

Aidan Morris, however, continues to put up solid numbers in central midfield.

  • 90 minutes
  • 85 touches
  • 65/70 passing
  • 5/6 long balls
  • 11 passes into the final third
  • 2/3 dribbles
  • 9 recoveries
  • 7/14 ground duels
  • 1/1 aerials

 

Nancy’s creation

 

Wilfried Nancy has created something special in Columbus. The team believes in him and he is getting the most out of his team. It doesn’t come without tough decisions either. Last year he benched Eloy Room for Schulte. This year he benched Cucho Hernandez for the first leg against Tigres in the quarterfinal.



In just his second season, he already has an MLS Cup win and a ongoing run in CONCACAF into the second leg of the semifinal. Prior to this, he brought Montreal to one of their best seasons ever.

 

Americans abroad on Wednesday

The best performer from Americans in Europe on the day was Chris Richards who went the distance for Crystal Palace in a 2-0 win over Newcastle. Place is on a terrific three-game run right now with a big win over Liverpool away, a 5-2 thumping over West Ham, and now the win over Newcastle. Richards has started and gone the distance in the last two games.

Richards put in a strong shift both defensively and in his distribution out of the back. He is in great form heading into the Copa America, which is a relief as not many American players are.

Staying in the Premier League, Auston Trusty went 90 minutes for Sheffield United in a 4-2 loss away to Manchester United. Sheffield United held the lead twice in this game (until the 61st minute) and then were even until the 81st minute when Manchester United pulled away.

As for Trusty, he had his moments but was guilty of conceding a penalty for a foul on Harry Maguire in the 61st minute. That resulted in Manchester United’s equalizing goal.

With the loss, Sheffield United can be formally relegated as early as this weekend.

In the Championship, Hull defeated Coventry City 3-2. With the result, Coventry aren’t mathematically eliminated from the promotional playoffs, any hope is now unrealistic (they would need to win their three remaining games, Norwich lose their remaining two, and need Hull City to slip up at least once.

Haji Wright played the second half for Coventry just three days after playing 120 minutes in the FA Cup semifinal loss to Manchester United on penalties. Wright will finish the season with at least 15 Championship goals. The question is whether he gets offers, and whether or not Coventry are willing to sell? If Coventry wants to shoot for promotion next season, they might have to turn down some great offers. Then how would Wright feel about that?

In Ligue 1, Folarin Balogun went 68 minutes for Monaco in a 1-0 win over Lille. He created some chances but failed to score. He’s under more pressure now as Breel Embolo has finally returned from his ACL injury he suffered in August. His injury is what promoted Monaco to be more aggressive in their pursuit of Balogun.

In Belgium, a red-hot Genk team were brought back to reality in a harsh way with a 4-0 away loss to Club Brugge. This loss likely eliminates Genk from contending for the Belgian title. Genk now sit fourth, in the Conference League position. But they are just one point out of third place and the Europa League. There is still a lot of time with five games left to play. Mark McKenzie went 90 minutes for Genk in the loss and none of the Genk players will want to remember this game.

In the Austrian Bundesliga, Sebastian Soto played the final eight minutes for Austria Klagenfurt in a huge 4-3 upset win over Salzburg. The result knocked Salzburg out of first place. Soto did not do much in his time on the field, but it was a great game for him to be part of.

 

Staying in Austria, LASK are firmly set in third place after Tuesday’s 2-1 away win over Hartberg. George Bello went 90 minutes for LASK in the win. After a tough start, he has done a great job resetting his career after a tough stint in Germany after his move from Atlanta.

In the Greek Super League, it appeared as if Lamia was going to pull off a big upset over PAOK having a 1-0 lead heading into stoppage time. But PAOK scored an equalizer in the 10th minute of stoppage time for a 1-1 draw. Caleb Stanko played the entire second half for Lamia.

In South America, Matias Fracchia played the entire game for Uruguay’s Danubio in a 1-0 loss at home to Athletico Paranaense in the Copa Sudamericana. In the Copa Libertadoes, Michael Hoyos played 55 minutes and scored a goal, but saw his Independiente del Valle squander a 2-0 lead and fall to Palmeiras 3-2.

 

Wesley Okoduwa: Worth following

 

For the last two games, Wesley Okoduwa has made the bench for Wolves. The young right back is just 15 years old and is helping to fill the void on the club’s first team which is hit by a number of injuries. Okoduwa is just 15-years-old and is considered a good prospect for Wolves. His father played for Nigeria and he has played for England’s U-16 team. The wrinkle in the whole thing is that I’ve heard he was born in the Bronx and holds a U.S. passport.

 

We’ll pay attention to his progress, but at this age, it would be worth investigating if he would be interesting in a U.S. U-17 call-up.

 

LA Liga to the USA?

 

In an interview with Expansion, LaLiga president Javier Tebas send he believes the league could host official league games in the USA starting in the 2025-26 season. He said that the USA is the second biggest market for LaLiga outside of Spain and that other leagues are looking to do the same thing, so he doesn't want LaLiga to fall behind.

 

Initially this was not allowed by FIFA as their policy said league matches must be played in the country of the league. But Relevent, a partner with LaLiga, sued U.S. Soccer and FIFA on antitrust grounds and the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear the appeal that allowed the case to go forward.

FIFA has since agreed to accept any injunction preventing its initial policy.

Anyway, this is a move to follow money. It is likely to draw big crowds but the likely reaction in Spain (and in the other countries whose leagues follow a similar path) is likely going to be met negatively.

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