Club América win CONCACAF Champions League with victory at Montréal Impact
MONTREAL
Club América ended Montréal Impact’s fairytale run through the CONCACAF Champions League and won their sixth continental title with a 4-2 victory at Olympic Stadium on Wednesday.
This pulsating game ticked every box expected from a cup final as the Impact tried to buck all convention one last time with the tie finely poised at 1-1 heading into this second leg.
Andres Romero handed the Impact the perfect start with his opener after eight minutes to stoke those dreams through the interval.
América responded after the break and summoned a devastating riposte to book a place at the FIFA Club World Cup. Dario Benedetto leveled the tie on the night five minutes after the break. Benedetto and Peralta then struck twice within three minutes to tip the tie in América’s favor.
Benedetto completed his hat trick to erase all doubt inside the final 10 minutes, but Impact substitute Jack McInerney grabbed a late consolation goal to confirm the 5-3 defeat on aggregate.
"Give them credit," Impact coach Frank Klopas said. "Their quality showed late in the game. I just think that five to eight minutes changed everything, especially those fast goals."
It proved a difficult end for the Impact on a night that started with so much expectation. Montréal did all of the hard work in that first leg draw at Estadio Azteca, but América eventually produced the swashbuckling display required to subdue the crowd of 61,000 and maintain Mexico’s perfect record of winning this competition in the Champions League era.
All of the energy and the passion inside this crumbling old stadium transferred to the Impact in the early stages. Montréal opened brightly and pushed earnestly in the first few minutes. Those efforts led to another dose of Piatti magic and a precious foothold on the night.
Piatti extricated himself from the attention of a couple of América players in the right corner and sliced into the penalty area along the end line. He shuffled the ball toward Romero as he ran alongside him. Romero slinked around two America defenders and waited patiently before slotting past Moises Muñoz and whipping the Impact supporters into delirium.
The early goal provoked the expected response from América, but Benedetto somehow squandered a chance to produce an immediate response. Pablo Aguilar hit a square header through the goal area. It bounced off the turf and fell to Benedetto at the far post, but Benedetto somehow only managed to turn it onto the underside of the bar from close range.
Benedetto’s miss set the stage for a tense first half as América pushed numbers forward and watched the Impact break often on the counter. The chances never arrived in the numbers Las Aguilas expected in that first half, but Piatti wasted a golden chance to double the advantage.
Once again, the opportunity came on the break as América committed too earnestly and dived in too readily. Piatti collected a square pass with the América defense stretched to create a one-versus-one opportunity with Muñoz. Piatti assessed his options, but Muñoz stood his ground to block after 24 minutes.
At that point, a second goal might have tipped the scales in the Impact’s favor on the night. The inability to claim it ultimately proved costly indeed as América meandered through the muddle of bookings to close out the first half and summoned the fury in time for the start of the second half.
Benedetto atoned for his first half miss by producing the critical equalizer five minutes into the second half. América pounced after the Impact failed to play properly out of the back or clear their lines effectively. Osvaldo Martinez located a bit of space on the edge of the penalty area and clipped a diagonal ball over the line toward the far post. Benedetto leapt to meet it and then thrashed his scissor kick off Kristian Nicht and into the net.
The equalizer on the night and in the tie transformed the dynamic of the game completely. América needed just one more goal to grasp firm control of the proceedings and the Impact knew it. The visitors pressed and pressed until a pair of goals inside three minutes essentially settled the tie.
Quintero featured prominently in both moves with his pace and his intelligence on the right. He latched onto a diagonal toward the end line as the Impact stood static and hoped for the service to drift over the end line. He then turned back across the face of goal for Peralta to nod home from close range. The dynamic winger then used his pace to create a yard and cross for Benedetto to grab his second after 66 minutes to grab América’s third on the night.
The pair of goals sucked the air out of the previously electric venue as the Impact supporters processed their fate. It did not, however, dissuade the players from completing the night with the flourish it deserved.
Benedetto completed his hat trick in precise fashion nine minutes from time. The clever striker found himself in a yard of space and then placed his shot inside the far post to increase the lead and round off his impressive night.
Despite the adverse nature of the situation, the Impact never wavered from the task at hand. Second-half substitute McInerney sent the home supporters away with one last goal as he thumped home from close range. It made no difference on the night or in the tie, but it provided a worthwhile coda for the Impact’s magical run.
In the end, América summoned the necessary performance to dash those dreams.The final whistle confirmed Las Aguilas’ place alongside Cruz Azul atop the CONCACAF pecking order and secured those precious tickets to Japan. It proved no less than they deserved after their second-half display and their persistence throughout the tournament.
