MIAMI, Florida – Two-time Scotiabank Concacaf League finalists Motagua of Honduras will begin a new quest for a first title with a difficult test against Universitario of Panama in the 2021 SCL Round of 16 first leg on Thursday night at the Estadio Agustin Muquita Sanchez in La Chorrera, Panama.
After reaching the Final in both the 2018 and 2019 editions, Motagua’s title bid came up short in 2020 with a 2-0 loss to rivals Olimpia in the quarterfinals.
But after qualifying as the non-champions with the best aggregate record in Honduran football during the 2020-21 season, Motagua will be primed and ready for another deep run.
However, in the first leg in Panama, Motagua will be without the all-time leader in SCL assists (6), MF Matias Galvaliz.
Nevertheless, there is still plenty of firepower in attack, with FW Marco Tulio Vega, who has three goals this season in the Honduran Liga Nacional, and Gonzalo Klusener, who featured in three SCL matches last season and has two Liga Nacional goals thus far.
Universitario are back in the SCL for the first time since 2018 and will participate in their third edition overall.
The Canalero club had quarterfinal finishes in both 2017 and 2018, so there will be a desire to improve upon that to try to qualify for the 2022 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League.
Universitario can count on Concacaf experience as well, including FW Joseph Cox, who had two goals for Arabe Unido during the 2016-17 SCCL.
Meanwhile, in defense, there is veteran and Panamanian National Team hero Roman Torres, who last appeared in Concacaf club competition in the 2018 SCCL with the Seattle Sounders.