Seattle Sounders star de la Vega out with hamstring injury
Seattle Sounders FC winger Pedro de la Vega is out 6-8 weeks with a right hamstring injury, head coach Brian Schemtzer confirmed at Tuesday's training session. The 23-year-old Argentine was Seattle's marquee offseason signing, arriving as a Young DP from Lanús for a reported $7.5 million transfer fee. He filled the DP spot club legend Nicolás Lodeiro occupied before joining Orlando City SC in free agency.
Inter Miami transfer Mota to Brazil's Vitória
Inter Miami CF have transferred midfielder Jean Mota to Brazilian top-flight side Vitória. The 30-year-old departs after two-plus seasons with the Herons, having joined in December 2021 from Santos FC in his native Brazil.
Two CCC matches tonight
The night starts when the New England Revolution meet Costa Rican powerhouse Alajuelense in the Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16. Kickoff is set for 6 pm ET on FS2 and ViX. Then, Houston Dynamo FC host the Columbus Crew in an all-MLS CCC battle at 8 pm ET.
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Orlando City and Philadelphia might be in trouble, New England have potentially caught a break, and Columbus are ready to join the party in Houston. Let’s talk it out.
Typically this is the point where we’d break down the night’s action and describe a goal or two before looking ahead to what’s next. Unfortunately for you and me, I watched 180 minutes of goalless soccer last night and woke up in a bad mood because of it. Fortunately for me, I can just combine both games and call it a day.
Philando played relatively well against Tigchuca. Yeah, there were moments where Orlandelphia looked a bit overmatched. That’s expected at this point in the year against top-tier Liga MX teams. But they created a handful of big chances and had opportunities to take the lead. They were definitely up to the task even if they didn’t break through. Honestly, you could easily argue they were the better team here. Gallant efforts were made.
In a vacuum, a 0-0 result for Philando isn’t bad at all. However, you have to think they might rue a few of those missed chances in the end. It would have been nice to take a lead back to Pachugres. You have to take advantage of the opportunity when you find yourself outplaying a major opponent in Concacaf. Now, they have to go on the road and, very likely, hang on for dear life.
There is a silver lining, though. Philando have a clear idea of what they need to do on the road. Even better, Concacaf still uses the away goals rule. By keeping Tigchuca off the board, they’ve made an away goal in leg two incredibly valuable. A tie at anything but 0-0 gets the job done. All the pressure will be on Pachugres, and they’ll stay under pressure as long as Orlandelphia are within a goal. There are far worse positions to be in.
Three MLS teams take the field tonight. A perk of this new format is every CCC night has an MLS side to pay attention to. At least for the next couple of rounds.
New England are open in front of goal
There are times when you can tell an attacking player has lost confidence. Often things tend to snowball from there. One tough miss leads to another and by the end of it, you’re almost expecting the next open shot to sky over the crossbar. Well, folks, the Revs are looking at a ball heading toward them in the middle of the 18 with no one but the keeper in front and I have no idea if they’re going to put it in the back of the net.
Seasoned Concacaf watchers should be aware of Alajuelense at this point. They show up in Concacaf every other year or so, and every other year or so they harass an MLS side into having to work much harder than said MLS side wanted to. Last year, they took a 3-0 loss to LAFC in leg one, but scored twice on the road in leg two before LAFC finally put them away for good late in the game. This isn’t a cakewalk for New England.
They’re still going to be heavily favored, though. There are significantly different financial profiles here. New England should win. However…
It hasn’t been an ideal start for the Revs. They made it past CA Independiente in Round One, but their MLS appearances have left a lot to be desired. They began the year with a miserable 3-1 loss to D.C. United that ignited with a bizarre second yellow from striker Giacomo Vrioni. They followed that up with a home loss to a Toronto side that’s playing well to start the year, but still has plenty of flaws. They don’t look sharp. And that’s not a good place to be heading into this kind of matchup.
There’s no reason to panic yet. There is reason to worry about the near future, though. The crowd isn’t going to be surprised if this shot sails into the stands.
The Crew look prepared
We’ll start here: Columbus are good enough to win the whole thing.
They have enough firepower and enough confidence to compete with the best Concacaf has to offer. Few teams have looked as assured on the ball in the early goings of the MLS season.
Houston… do not look like that. They’ve started the year dealing with an injury to Héctor Herrera and have looked like a team missing their most critical player. They haven’t looked bad, and have still been able to put together some of the beautiful team moves we grew accustomed to last season. But they haven’t looked like a team ready to compete at the top of the Western Conference, let alone Concacaf. They got the job done against St. Louis in Round One, but they’ve taken one point from their first two home games in MLS.
Well, now they’re about to face what might be the best team in MLS. There’s no way around it, they’re going to need something special to get through here. Anyone going up against Columbus is going to have to be at their best. Houston may need to be a little more than that.
Minnesota United sign defender Bacharach: Minnesota United FC have signed defender Hugo Bacharach through the 2024 MLS season with options spanning 2025-27. This winter, the 22-year-old Spaniard was picked No. 9 overall (first round) by Minnesota in the MLS SuperDraft presented by adidas.
CF Montréal sign defender Doody: CF Montréal have signed defender Grayson Doody through the 2024 MLS season with options from 2025-27. This winter, Montréal picked Doody No. 10 overall (first round) in the MLS SuperDraft presented by adidas. Doody played four years at UCLA.
Columbus Crew sign homegrown midfielder Mrowka: The Columbus Crew have signed homegrown midfielder Cole Mrowka through the 2026 MLS season with options for 2027-28. Mrowka, 17, previously played for Columbus Crew 2 in MLS NEXT Pro. He’s tallied 2g/5a in 25 matches for the development-focused club, helping them reach back-to-back league finals.
- Inter Miami's Luis Suárez is your Player of the Matchday.
- Federico Redondo said that it's a "dream" to join Lionel Messi at Inter Miami.
- DeAndre Yedlin is set to play a key role for FC Cincinnati.
- Charles Boehm and Casey Dunau ranked the remaining MLS teams in CCC.
- Joe Lowery explained
- Minnesota’s Tani Oluwaseyi provided the Energy Moment of the Matchday presented by Celsius.
- Power Rankings.
Good luck out there. Listen to the right people.
