SANTIAGO DE LOS CABALLEROS – Carlos Mejia’s late strike lifted Honduran club Motagua to a 1-0 victory over Cibao FC of the Dominican Republic in the first leg of the 2022 Scotiabank Concacaf League Round of 16 on Wednesday night at the Estadio Cibao in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic.

It was all Motagua from the outset and they almost opened the scoring in the 19’ through Fabricio Brener, who slipped past three defenders and swung a right-footed shot that sailed wide. 

Four minutes later, it was Ivan Lopez with a good crack at goal after a lapse from the Cibao defense, only for the effort to miss as well.

Cibao withstood the pressure and mounted a few chances of their own toward the end of the half. In the 39’ there was a Lihue Prichoda shot that required a save from Motagua GK Jonathan Rougier, and then moments before the halftime whistle, Yohan Parra missed wide of the target.

Motagua looked to regain the momentum in the second half and looked set to do it on the hour mark, but Raul Santos could not finish off the one-two combination with Diego Rodriguez.

Instead, that duty fell to Mejia, who ran onto a slick backheel from Angel Tejeda and sent a left-footed rocket into net for a 1-0 Motagua lead in the 79’.

The Motagua defense held things down from there to secure the clean sheet victory and carry a solid advantage into next week’s return leg in Honduras.