Thanks to three assists from Spaniard Carles Gil, the New England Revolution beat Mexican Pumas 3-0 on Wednesday in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final.
American international Sebastian Litegate opened the scoring in the 19th minute and Poland’s Adam Buxa scored the next two goals at 72 and 90 + 2 on snowy ground at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro (Massachusetts).
And so the United States, which aspires to put an end to the dominance of Mexican football in this tournament, saw how its three representatives sealed their quarter-finals with victories.
On Tuesday, New York City FC beat Guatemala Communications 3-1 and Seattle Sounders 3-0 over Mexican Leon.
A fourth team from the North American Football League, Canada’s Montreal, visited Mexico’s Cruz Azul on Wednesday for the first-leg final of the quarter-finals.
Pumas made a bad impression in the frigid Gillette Stadium, with sub-zero temperatures. The home team quickly dominated the match and, led by a talented generation, had plenty of options to make even greater progress in the return leg on March 16th in Mexico City.
Jill, last season’s NBA Most Valuable Player, started his show in the 19th minute when he received the ball in the area and instead of finishing it, gave it to his right for veteran Lilitjit’s shot Alfredo Talavera.
The revolution was not satisfied with the goal difference and maintained the siege of the Mexican goal, but Boksa and Argentine striker Gustavo Bo Sameh Talavera.
Double Box
Pumas’ lines advanced after the break but the only thing they could do was give New England more facilities to counterattack.
On one of the counterattacks, Gil teamed up with Bo, who fired a powerful shot into the crossbar that shook the snow over the Mexican goal.
In the past half hour, Pumas went in search of an equaliser but Higor Meritao and Rogério de Oliveira missed their best chances.
After this embarrassment, Carles Gil was again the protagonist when he hit the ball over Mexico’s defense to break into Boca, who hit first on Talavera’s body and then on the net.
In injury time, Revolution made the draw even more difficult for Pumas by making it 3-0 with another help from Gil Leboksa to decide a showdown against Talavera.
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