CONCACAF 2018/19 Champions League Final - Monterrey Wins 2-1

[Eco]

1-0 Monterrey

[Eco]

Monterrey almost double their lead. Guzan is really having an awful go of it as of late. He absolutely just missed that one, but luckily is just went straight out of bounds. 

[Eco]

Monterrey up 1-0 at half-time. 

Pretty crappy game, both teams don't seem to be able to get any real rhythm, but they are definitely the better side thus far. 

[Eco]

What a train wreck this is. 

We lose 3-0 to Monterrey.

We get no pressure, but don't make any changes until the 89th minute already down by 3. After 4 games this year, we have been destroyed in 3 of them, so De Boer needs to get his head on straight and make some tactical changes or he might as well pack his bags.

[Dr. Gonzo]

Not a great showing by any MLS side. Only saw the highlights of the Monterrey - Atlanta match and it looked very one sided.

Pretty poor from KC as well.

[Eco]

6 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Not a great showing by any MLS side. Only saw the highlights of the Monterrey - Atlanta match and it looked very one sided.

Yeah - it was. 

So we are 4 matches into the new season, and Atlanta have been thrashed in 3 of them. Not a good start for De Boer. 

A few things about last night that absolutely boggle my mind - 

1. Why not start Gressel? He's a top class player that didn't start this weekend, instead going with a very mediocre Mikey Ambrose. 
2. Why sub in Villaba, one of our best attacking players, in the 89th minute. What the hell do you expect him to do in 3-5 minutes? 
3. Why are we still playing with a back 3, when we have been exposed over and over again playing like this. 
4. Why is Robinson starting? He'll be good one day, but not today. 
5. Pitty may be the "South American Player of the Year' last year, but damnit he needs to learn to use Josef. Martinez was the MVP of the league so feed him instead of trying to taking everyone on 1 on 1. 
6. Barco sucks. I mean really, really, sucks. Wished we could get our money back on that one. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Eco said:

Yeah - it was. 

So we are 4 matches into the new season, and Atlanta have been thrashed in 3 of them. Not a good start for De Boer. 

A few things about last night that absolutely boggle my mind - 

1. Why not start Gressel? He's a top class player that didn't start this weekend, instead going with a very mediocre Mikey Ambrose. 
2. Why sub in Villaba, one of our best attacking players, in the 89th minute. What the hell do you expect him to do in 3-5 minutes? 
3. Why are we still playing with a back 3, when we have been exposed over and over again playing like this. 
4. Why is Robinson starting? He'll be good one day, but not today. 
5. Pitty may be the "South American Player of the Year' last year, but damnit he needs to learn to use Josef. Martinez was the MVP of the league so feed him instead of trying to taking everyone on 1 on 1. 
6. Barco sucks. I mean really, really, sucks. Wished we could get our money back on that one. 

I'm sorry to be that guy, but you said Mexico wasn't going to have a winner this year because America and Chivas aren't in it. Tigres and Monterrey have been the most effective teams in the last 10 years. Even if the latter hasn't got as many titles as America, they always build good squads and are amongst the best teams in the continent. Tigres may have their ups and downs but they have internationals who have had prime times in Europe, like Eduardo Vargas, Enner Valencia and Gignac.

I'm not having a pop at you, as the MLS showed last year they are capable of knocking out some very good Liga MX teams and aren't far off. However, the Mexicans still have much better squads and they need to put in at least 90% to get a result against the top teams. 

I see the MLS in the same light as the A-League: they have the talent but their undoing is always defensively. Western Sydney Wanderers won the Champions League in Asia in 2014 because they have a defensively sound manager like Popovic. That's the result of it and I see the MLS the same way. Since that win, the Australians have only rolled over in continental competitions. As they say, attack wins you games, defence wins you championships-

Personally I hope Kansas wins it. Something different for a change. My money is on Tigres though.

[Eco]

11 minutes ago, Blue said:

I'm sorry to be that guy, but you said Mexico wasn't going to have a winner this year because America and Chivas aren't in it. Tigres and Monterrey have been the most effective teams in the last 10 years. Even if the latter hasn't got as many titles as America, they always build good squads and are amongst the best teams in the continent. Tigres may have their ups and downs but they have internationals who have had prime times in Europe, like Eduardo Vargas, Enner Valencia and Gignac.

I'm not having a pop at you, as the MLS showed last year they are capable of knocking out some very good Liga MX teams and aren't far off. However, the Mexicans still have much better squads and they need to put in at least 90% to get a result against the top teams. 

I see the MLS in the same light as the A-League: they have the talent but their undoing is always defensively. Western Sydney Wanderers won the Champions League in Asia in 2014 because they have a defensively sound manager like Popovic. That's the result of it and I see the MLS the same way. Since that win, the Australians have only rolled over in continental competitions. As they say, attack wins you games, defence wins you championships-

Personally I hope Kansas wins it. Something different for a change. My money is on Tigres though.

Never believe anyone who says, "I'm sorry, but', you aren't sorry, you rather enjoy this. Very predictable. 

Certainly if you watched the games, you can tell that the Red Bulls were very unlucky as they were the better team, but couldn't find the back of the net. 

Sporting KC still have a chance to progress, but it's like the 3 Liga MX teams will progress. 

I'm trying to figure out if it's because our season JUST started whereas the rest of the competition is in mid season form. This certainly hurts a team like Atlanta that was a new manager, and a few new pieces they are trying. De Boer is always having an absolute nightmare in terms team selection and subs. 

With that being the case, I'm not going to expect anything, but there is still a chance that there is a shock and 2+ MLS teams progress. We shall see though. Atlanta beating Monterrey at home by 3 isn't a far fetched idea...but it's a huge mountain to climb. 

I know you love pounding your chest and talking about all the research and knowledge you have, but the MLS is NOT the A-League, and I honestly think a majority of the poor performances can go down as being in preseason form, not mid-season form. 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Eco said:

Never believe anyone who says, "I'm sorry, but', you aren't sorry, you rather enjoy this. Very predictable. 

Certainly if you watched the games, you can tell that the Red Bulls were very unlucky as they were the better team, but couldn't find the back of the net. 

Sporting KC still have a chance to progress, but it's like the 3 Liga MX teams will progress. 

I'm trying to figure out if it's because our season JUST started whereas the rest of the competition is in mid season form. This certainly hurts a team like Atlanta that was a new manager, and a few new pieces they are trying. De Boer is always having an absolute nightmare in terms team selection and subs. 

With that being the case, I'm not going to expect anything, but there is still a chance that there is a shock and 2+ MLS teams progress. We shall see though. Atlanta beating Monterrey at home by 3 isn't a far fetched idea...but it's a huge mountain to climb. 

I know you love pounding your chest and talking about all the research and knowledge you have, but the MLS is NOT the A-League, and I honestly think a majority of the poor performances can go down as being in preseason form, not mid-season form. 

I know the MLS is not the A-League, but they have similar issues at the back. Hence the comparison, it's uncanny how similar they look in continental competitions. The difference is in Asia, there are more leagues that are powerful than North America in which it's only 2.

And contrary to your belief, while I do enjoy debating, I don't enjoy seeing you be wrong. I am just pointing out that I never agreed with your point that a Liga MX side had no chance to win this, which to me is a bold claim.

I understand your frustration with Atlanta at the moment as I've been hearing the same thing all over Twitter that the team needs to gel without Almiron, so that's fair. However Monterrey is one of the best teams in the continent, so even in that case it was never going to be easy.

[Eco]

1 minute ago, Blue said:

I know the MLS is not the A-League, but they have similar issues at the back. Hence the comparison, it's uncanny how similar they look in continental competitions. The difference is in Asia, there are more leagues that are powerful than North America in which it's only 2.

And contrary to your belief, while I do enjoy debating, I don't enjoy seeing you be wrong. I am just pointing out that I never agreed with your point that a Liga MX side had no chance to win this, which to me is a bold claim.

I understand your frustration with Atlanta at the moment as I've been hearing the same thing all over Twitter that the team needs to gel without Almiron, so that's fair. However Monterrey is one of the best teams in the continent, so even in that case it was never going to be easy.

To be 100% clear, if I said that Liga MX had no chance, it's to get under Teso's skin. 

I know the talent in the league, but I seriously thought the MLS teams were more talented than the Mexican representatives. 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Eco said:

To be 100% clear, if I said that Liga MX had no chance, it's to get under Teso's skin. 

I know the talent in the league, but I seriously thought the MLS teams were more talented than the Mexican representatives. 

Fair enough on the first sentence. You are now within my best books 

Some MLS teams can be, like Toronto FC last year (at the start of it anyways). Atlanta could be another, but Tigres is the most talented team in North America. Aside from their defence which is OK at best, they are the only Mexican team that can stand up to Brazilian and Argentinian sides.

I know Teso loved to babble that Club America was the best team in the America's, but he's very wrong. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

6 hours ago, Eco said:

Yeah - it was. 

So we are 4 matches into the new season, and Atlanta have been thrashed in 3 of them. Not a good start for De Boer. 

A few things about last night that absolutely boggle my mind - 

1. Why not start Gressel? He's a top class player that didn't start this weekend, instead going with a very mediocre Mikey Ambrose. 
2. Why sub in Villaba, one of our best attacking players, in the 89th minute. What the hell do you expect him to do in 3-5 minutes? 
3. Why are we still playing with a back 3, when we have been exposed over and over again playing like this. 
4. Why is Robinson starting? He'll be good one day, but not today. 
5. Pitty may be the "South American Player of the Year' last year, but damnit he needs to learn to use Josef. Martinez was the MVP of the league so feed him instead of trying to taking everyone on 1 on 1. 
6. Barco sucks. I mean really, really, sucks. Wished we could get our money back on that one. 

So take my comment with a grain of salt, because as you know... I'm new to being a fan of the MLS... and you're the actual Atlanta fan lol... so maybe a handful of salt. But I've got 2 friends who are into MLS (and really they're pretty much into whatever football they can watch that it's on - they're absolutely football obsessed), one's from Atlanta - he's never actually been to one of their matches because he's been out here since the team started up - but he loves the club.

He expects Atlanta to struggle for a few weeks to a month. You've lost your manager, who for the league, had a lot more pedigree than the average manager and you've got De Boer coming in trying to establish his own side - there's going to be some growing pains there. Also he says Almiron wasn't just your best player, he was also your engine. And then there's the fact you've barely had any full training days lately with fixture congestion from being in the CONCACAF CL and the start of the MLS season and all the traveling your players have had to go through. No idea if this is right, but he said Atlanta's only had 5 days of full training in the last 2 weeks - I don't know what "full" training as opposed to "not full" training means either in this context. But I know traveling takes a lot out of people and it would make sense to adjust training with the amount of traveling Atlanta's done recently.

I think De Boer's biggest mistake yesterday was not trying to keep it tight as fuck in the last 20 minutes or so of the game and play conservative, take space away from Monterrey. It's a two legged tie and a 1-0 loss to take back home isn't the worst result. If you can snag an away goal on a counter, that's obviously great, away goals are soooo valuable in 2 legged ties like this... but if you can't, you want to keep the deficit low. I was told at around 70 minutes he was urging the side on though and the side opened up to try to grab that precious away goal... giving Monterrey lots and lots of space to work with. Yeah obviously everyone wants to see their side play good football, but in the first leg of a two legged tie where you're away the most important thing is keeping the home team's deficit from being difficult to get through when you're at home. Especially with Atlanta, since they've got really good support.

Your lad Pity's also been called up to the Argentina squad - first MLS player to be called up to Argentina. I think that's big news for the league... but for Atlanta that might extend this period of growing pains. He's only played a handful of matches for you, so he's probably getting called up more for his time at River than Atlanta... but it's still big news for the league and a bit irritating for Atlanta getting him settled in and in form.

[Eco]

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

So take my comment with a grain of salt, because as you know... I'm new to being a fan of the MLS... and you're the actual Atlanta fan lol... so maybe a handful of salt. But I've got 2 friends who are into MLS (and really they're pretty much into whatever football they can watch that it's on - they're absolutely football obsessed), one's from Atlanta - he's never actually been to one of their matches because he's been out here since the team started up - but he loves the club.

He expects Atlanta to struggle for a few weeks to a month. You've lost your manager, who for the league, had a lot more pedigree than the average manager and you've got De Boer coming in trying to establish his own side - there's going to be some growing pains there. Also he says Almiron wasn't just your best player, he was also your engine. And then there's the fact you've barely had any full training days lately with fixture congestion from being in the CONCACAF CL and the start of the MLS season and all the traveling your players have had to go through. No idea if this is right, but he said Atlanta's only had 5 days of full training in the last 2 weeks - I don't know what "full" training as opposed to "not full" training means either in this context. But I know traveling takes a lot out of people and it would make sense to adjust training with the amount of traveling Atlanta's done recently.

I think De Boer's biggest mistake yesterday was not trying to keep it tight as fuck in the last 20 minutes or so of the game and play conservative, take space away from Monterrey. It's a two legged tie and a 1-0 loss to take back home isn't the worst result. If you can snag an away goal on a counter, that's obviously great, away goals are soooo valuable in 2 legged ties like this... but if you can't, you want to keep the deficit low. I was told at around 70 minutes he was urging the side on though and the side opened up to try to grab that precious away goal... giving Monterrey lots and lots of space to work with. Yeah obviously everyone wants to see their side play good football, but in the first leg of a two legged tie where you're away the most important thing is keeping the home team's deficit from being difficult to get through when you're at home. Especially with Atlanta, since they've got really good support.

Your lad Pity's also been called up to the Argentina squad - first MLS player to be called up to Argentina. I think that's big news for the league... but for Atlanta that might extend this period of growing pains. He's only played a handful of matches for you, so he's probably getting called up more for his time at River than Atlanta... but it's still big news for the league and a bit irritating for Atlanta getting him settled in and in form.

I have nothing against your post, and your friend's assessment. It's spot on...and I'm hoping this is more of a lack of having the opportunity to grow and learn from one another than it be a serious issue with the club/manager. 

De Boer made some odd changes last night, but he's also new and learning about this team. Really hoping we gel and start to play better in the league, as I'm not giving up on the CL this year, but it's likely we won't be progressing against Monterrey. 

[Eco]

Tuesday - March 12, 2019
Sanots Laguna (2) - (0) New York RB
Tigres (2) - (0) Houston Dynamo

[Eco]

 

Tuesday's Results
Santos Laguna 4-2 New York RB (Santos win 6-2)
Tigres 1-0 Houston Dynamo (Tigres win 3-0)

Wednesday - March 13, 2019
Atlanta United (0) - (3) Monterrey

Thursday - March 14, 2019
Sporting KC (1) vs (2) Independiente 

[Eco]

34 minutes in - still 0-0, but we are looking good. 

I'm not expecting a miracle but damn would it be nice. 

[Eco]

GOAL!

Josef makes it 1-0 in the 77th minute

[Eco]

Well, Atlanta won the match, but lost over the 2 legs. 

Clearly the better team last night and easily the best we've looked all year. Got a standing ovation from ATL fans and those from Mexico, as there seemed to be a lot of respect between these two clubs. 

Currently Sporting KC is playing Independiente, and SKC are down 2-1 over the two legs, but currently are drawn 0-0 at home. A 1-0 win would see them through and mean that it's not a total embarrassment for the MLS. 

[Eco]

GOAL

Nemeth scores to put Sporting KC in the lead 1-0. 

[Eco]

And Sporting KC double their lead in the 82nd minute. 

[Eco]

...and now it's over. 

Sporting KC scores again to make it 3-0. 

[Eco]

Second leg of the Finals are tonight, with Monterrey having a 1-0 advantage. 

Match tonight is played at Monterrey, against Tigres, and should be a fucking mad house. 

[Eco]

 

[Eco]

2 minutes ago, Eco said:

 

 

[Eco]

Clear Penalty in the box for Monterrey.