MIAMI — This week in Concacaf is headlined by the Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinals, which have second-leg matches, and the start of the 2024 Concacaf Futsal Championship.
Champions Cup
Tigres UANL will welcome reigning MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew SC on Tuesday at the Estadio Universitario. The two sides tied 1-1 in the first leg, with goals from Andre-Pierre Gignac and Diego Rossi. Crew SC is looking to end a run of three consecutive matches without a win against Mexican clubs. Columbus has also failed to advance in four attempts when drawing in the first leg. In CCC play, Tigres UANL has not lost in five consecutive games and has only lost one of its last 16 matches.
Club America hosts the New England Revolution for the first time at the emblematic Estadio Azteca in Mexico City to close Tuesday’s action. The seven-time CCC winners and 13-time Liga MX champions won the first leg, 4-0, with goals from Henry Martin, Alejandro Zendejas, Cristian Calderon, and Brian Rodriguez. Calderon’s goal marked 100 goals for the club in CCC play, making America the fourth team to surpass the century mark the format change in 2008.
Pachuca opens the Wednesday bouts against CS Herediano at Estadio Hidalgo in Pachuca, Mexico. Salomon Rondon scored a hat-trick in consecutive rounds to help the Tuzos to a 5-0 win in Costa Rica. Rising stars Alexei Dominguez and Alan Bautista scored their first and second respective goals in the competition. CS Herediano has yet to lose in away encounters during the 2024 Champions Cup. The Red and Yellow took a 3-2 win at Mexican side Toluca in Round One.
CF Monterrey welcomes Inter Miami to the Estadio BBVA in Guadalupe, Nuevo Leon on Wednesday. Maxi Meza and Jorge Rodriguez scored to help the Mexican contingent win 2-1 on the road. Tomas Aviles scored the lone goal for the U.S. side. Lionel Messi was a late scratch in the first leg but returned to the field over the weekend in a 2-2 MLS draw with the Colorado Rapids, potentially setting the stage for the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner’s return to CCC play in front of a sold-out crowd at the “Steel Giant.”
Futsal Championship
The 2024 Concacaf Futsal Championship begins on Saturday at the Polideportivo Alexis Arguello in Managua, Nicaragua. Twelve nations will vie for the regional championship in the eighth edition of the tournament. The teams that advance to the semifinals will earn the confederation’s four spots to participate in the FIFA Futsal World Cup Uzbekistan 2024. The group stage will be contested from Saturday to Monday, and the knockout stage will occur next week.
