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Concacaf Champions League Semifinals: Tigres UANL and LAFC Advance to Final
Tigres UANL and LAFC advanced to the final of the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League after tonight’s semifinals at Exploria Stadium. Tigres ousted CD Olimpia 3-0 in the early match and Club América was sent packing in the nightcap as LAFC came from a goal down while down to 10 men to win the chippiest match here so far, 3-1.
Here’s how the semifinals unfolded:
Tigres UANL 3-0 CD Olimpia
Tigres out of Mexico’s Liga MX took on Honduran side CD Olimpia in the first semifinal. Tigres entered fresh off destroying New York City FC in the quarterfinals, while Olimpia lost the second-leg match to the Montreal Impact, 1-0, but won on the away goals tiebreaker after the two legs ended in a 2-2 aggregate score line.
The Honduran side seemed content to absorb pressure from Tigres, stay organized, and look for opportunities in transition. Leonardo Fernandez saw his long-range effort parried away by goalkeeper Edrick Menjivar in the seventh minute and Andre-Pierre Gignac’s curling free kick sailed just wide two minutes later as Tigres probed for an opening goal. Gignac sent a free kick right at Menjivar in the 24th minute. The first shot from Olimpia that was notable came in the 45th minute from Edwin Rodriguez but it was well wide of goal. If Olimpia had one before that, I didn’t notice it. The plodding first half was played almost entirely in Olimpia’s half but without Tigres threatening the goal much.
Business picked up at the end of the half when Tigres got a late corner kick. The bouncing ball fell for Tigres center back Carlos Salcedo’s bicycle kick attempt, which was blocked, but made it only as far as Luis Quiñones, who fired it back toward goal. Olimpia midfielder Deybi Flores stuck out an arm to keep the ball from crossing the goal line and referee Ivan Barton awarded a penalty and sent Flores off for an intentional handball. Gignac scored from the spot on just about the last kick of the opening half to give Tigres the lead at the break and the Hondurans were a man down for the rest of the match.
¡Gol de @TigresOficial 🇲🇽! @10APG anota del punto penal antes del medio tiempo. #SCCL2020 pic.twitter.com/BwnOe6IgqP
— Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (@TheChampions) December 20, 2020
Tigres led in shots (8-1) and shots on target (7-0), as well as corner kicks (3-0), possession (74%-26%) and passing accuracy (88%-86%) at the break.
Gignac missed a good opportunity to double the Tigres lead five minutes after the restart. His cross into the area was knocked away from its intended target but Gignac continued his run and got to the ball first, firing left of goal from near the penalty spot, wasting a good scoring chance. However, the Frenchman still doubled the lead just moments after Jerry Bengtson got in alone for Olimpia and flubbed his shot in an attempt to tie the game.
Tigres came down to the other end after Bengtson’s muffed shot was saved by Nahuel Guzman and Jorge Alvarez committed Olimpia’s second handball in the box on the night. Gignac sent Menjivar the wrong way and slotted home to make it 2-0 Tigres in the 57th minute.
¡Gol de @10APG!@TigresOficial 🇲🇽 aumenta la ventaja. #SCCL2020 pic.twitter.com/DCx3C5FdOk
— Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (@TheChampions) December 20, 2020
If the game wasn’t already out of reach, an own goal off the head of Elvin Casildo off a ball from Gignac in the 78th minute certainly finished off Olimpia.
⚽️ ¡Gol!@TigresOficial 🇲🇽 vence 3-0 a @CDOlimpia 🇭🇳 al 79'. | #SCCL2020 pic.twitter.com/ZFuZ82zgpl
— Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (@TheChampions) December 20, 2020
Things would have gotten worse for the Honduran side if not for two outstanding set piece saves by Menjivar in the final 15 minutes — first on a header by Hugo Ayala and then another by Salcedo.
Olimpia tried to take something from the game late with a couple of scoring opportunities, but Jorge Alvarez sent a free kick over the bar in the 83rd minute and Eddie Hernandez had his shot deflected out by the defense at the death.
Tigres led at the final whistle in shots (16-4), shots on target (13-2), corners (5-1), possession (74%-26%), and passing accuracy (92%-88%).
LAFC 3-1 Club América
LAFC was on the front foot right away in the second game, buzzing around the América penalty area but not getting an open look at goal. The Liga MX team started coming into the game after a few minutes, and Leo Suarez got the first look for América in the eighth minute, cutting in from the right and firing a left-footed shot that Kenneth Vermeer smothered.
It was América that broke through first, scoring in the 11th minute on its first corner kick of the game. Richard Sanchez delivered a terrific cross on the set piece and Sebastian Caceres flicked a header at the near post that tucked just inside the far post to make it 1-0 to the Mexican side.
🔉🔉🔉
Así se escuchó el gol de @ClubAmerica desde el campo del juego #SCCL2020 pic.twitter.com/PjnOGct0S8
— Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (@TheChampions) December 20, 2020
Jose Cifuentes headed over the bar off a nice cross from Diego Palacios in the 24th minute on one of the rare instances the MLS side was able to get a look in a decent scoring area. Carlos Vela had a go from distance in the 37th minute but Memo Ochoa was able to make a comfortable save.
LAFC’s best chance of the half came in the 40th off a set piece, when the ball pinged around in traffic and fell for Eddie Segura, who fired a shot through traffic that Ochoa stopped.
The end of the half was a wild one. Eduard Atuesta went down after some contact in the area on an LAFC set piece. No foul was called and Atuesta stayed down for a while as the ball was cleared away. Ochoa came and got into Atuesta’s face and the LAFC midfielder lunged at the América goalkeeper, who went down as if he’d been shot. The teams came together with lots of pushing and shoving and eventually referee Juan Gabriel Calderon showed a straight red to Atuesta. So, both matches involved a red card in first-half stoppage time.
There was more pushing and shoving after the final whistle as play ended near the LAFC bench and tempers flared again and Club América manager Miguel Herrera was tossed from the game. His team took its 1-0 lead into the locker room.
LAFC led in shots (6-5), shots on goal (5-3), and possession (62%-38%), while Club América had more corners (3-1) and a higher passing rate (86%-82%).
Despite LAFC being down a man, Carlos Vela turned the game on its head inside the first two minutes of the second half. Just seconds after the restart, Vela picked off a terrible pass from Caceres at the top of the area and beat Ochoa inside the far post to make it 1-1 in the 46th minute.
Goal @LAFC!@11carlosV scores the equalizer in the beginning of the second half! | #SCCL2020 pic.twitter.com/FOni7QQeJl
— Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (@TheChampions) December 20, 2020
Just one minute later, Segura sent a long ball over the top from his own end that fell perfectly for Vela to run onto and the LAFC Designated Player beat Ochoa on a similar left-footed shot to make it 2-1.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!? @11carlosV scores 2-1 for @LAFC! 🤯 #SCCL2020 pic.twitter.com/C6HtcXskA6
— Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (@TheChampions) December 20, 2020
“Carlos is such a special player, special leader, captain, and man what a night for him,” LAFC Head Coach Bob Bradley said after the game. “There’s so many things that Carlos brings to our team, so, you know, we’re lucky to have him around and you can tell he’s really committed right now.”
No longer able to sit back and protect the lead, América went back on the attack immediately, looking to equalize. A shot missed just wide of the goal after being deflected by a defender and Vermeer watched helplessly as the ball skipped wide. Moments later, Suarez sent a shot just wide and high of the target. Suarez got another decent look in the 67th minute but sent his effort into the outside netting.
Ten minutes later, Luis Reyes had a chance to level things with a free kick that he smashed through traffic but it hit Vermeer, who made a save that I’m not sure he knew too much about. If he’d hit that anywhere else on frame it likely would have gone in.
Reyes was sent off moments later after a horror tackle in his own defensive end near the corner in the 79th minute. América lost its manpower advantage and the sides were even with 10 men apiece.
The Mexican side couldn’t muster more than a half chance and a few set pieces after that and the MLS team advanced to the final match. Second-half sub Latif Blessing put the finishing touches on the match with a goal on just about the last kick of the game.
Goal @LAFC!
Latif Blessing scores the 3-1! | #SCCL2020 pic.twitter.com/0hmwU6Tafj— Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (@TheChampions) December 20, 2020
América had more shots (13-11) but LAFC got more on target (10-8). The Liga MX side led in corners (6-4) and passing accuracy (91%-78%), while possession was split 50/50. Most importantly, LAFC had the larger number on the scoreboard and advanced despite playing down a man for 34 minutes.
LAFC became just the fourth MLS side in the modern era to reach the final and the first to eliminate three Liga MX sides in one Concacaf Champions League season.
“Amazing effort by the guys,” Bradley said. “At halftime we thought that we would still win the game. Just a team effort where commitment and intensity was just awesome.”
Tigres UANL and LAFC will meet in the final on Tuesday night at 10 p.m. as the competition comes to a close at Exploria Stadium.
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Reflecting on Eight Years with The Mane Land
A look back over my time with The Mane Land (so far).
As of last week, I have been a contributor at The Mane Land for eight years. That’s longer than I’ve ever been at any of my actual jobs in my life. There are literally only a couple of people who have been with the site longer, but I’m still amazed at how long it’s been. This is not to say I’m going anywhere, but rather I wanted to take the opportunity to look back at the past eight years, and look ahead to the future.
Unlike some, I didn’t come to be a supporter of Orlando City until it was announced that the club was joining MLS. At the time, I was contemplating picking a club to follow in MLS, but being in Tallahassee, there were no nearby options at that time. I considered FC Dallas and D.C. United, given the two were geographically closer in proximity to me than any others. Fortunately, it was literally while I was considering my options that the announcement was made regarding Orlando City’s jump to MLS. It was an easy decision.
As I do in many aspects of my life, I immediately started researching my new club, which led me to the content being produced by The Mane Land. There was also an article on the site titled “Join The Mane Land Staff.” I had often over the years internally bemoaned that I rarely used my Bachelor’s degree in English, and the desire to write welled up in me so much that I emailed the staff.
In response, one of our former editors, Andrew Marcinko, contacted me and said “I think your voice would be a great fit on TML.” He asked me to submit a Fan Post (those went away with our presence on SBN), and then another piece for review. Following that, our founder and managing editor, Michael Citro, emailed me to welcome me to the staff. I had no idea at the time how big a part of my life this blog would become.
I started out writing Monday’s Lions Links — often one of the more difficult days to write — and a feature piece. It’s been many years gone by now, but there was a time when the feature piece was “Pride Pub,” an ongoing series that paired craft beer and good food based on Orlando City’s opponent. I can tell you that the research for that was very enjoyable, and I still use some of the recipes I found to this day.
Eventually, I started contributing more match coverage and analytical pieces. Staff came and went, but I never thought to leave since I was enjoying myself. Sometime after that, I was promoted to senior columnist, for which I’m grateful. I can without reservation say that I’m a better writer thanks to my time with the site, and from working with such excellent staff.
In November of 2016, Michael asked if I wanted to give co-hosting The Mane Land PawedCast a try. My first recording was for Episode 71. We just recorded Episode 354, and with the exception of maybe two or three episodes, I have been on every single one of 283 episodes over the last six plus years. Michael and I have spent a lot of time talking on and off the podcast over the years, and I’m proud of what we have produced and to call him my friend.
We recently added an Orlando Pride-specific podcast called Skopurp: An Orlando Pride PawedCast. For years we wanted to give the Pride the time and attention the club deserves. Now, it is a reality, but one that I ask you to listen to and share. I’ll even put out that although Michael and I are the current hosts, we merely consider ourselves stewards and are hoping to get others to come onboard and eventually take it to the next level.
When I started with The Mane Land, the site had just made the move from a free WordPress site to the SBNation network. It was a big deal, and for many years it was a good partnership. Of course that all came to an end not too long ago, and our blog went the independent route thanks to the incredibly generous support of our readers and listeners. In fact, if you want to be one of those supporting our efforts, please go to our Buy Me A Coffee site to become a member. The move has allowed a flexibility we didn’t have before, but I really want others to have the same sense of joy and accomplishment that I have as a member of our staff.
At one point we had nearly twice the staff that we do now, and as you know, many hands make light work. The opposite of that is also true. I genuinely believe that there must be others out there with the same passion for Orlando City as I have — with the same desire to have their voice heard, whether through the written word or on a podcast. I promise you there is an opportunity to contribute here with us. Our internal discussions are informative, engaging, and often funny. Please consider joining us, as I did eight years ago. I haven’t regretted it and I know you won’t either.
I want to thank all of those who contributed to The Mane Land over the years. There are many that I am still in touch with, though they are no longer a part of the staff. Of course, the current staff are a pleasure to work with, and I appreciate their dedication to what we are trying to do.
Finally, I want to thank the readers and listeners over the years. From those who regularly comment on our articles, to those that I’ve personally met at matches or even randomly on the street, you are a big reason that we do all of this. You are a big reason why I’ve been doing this for the better part of a decade. it is always a genuine pleasure hearing your thoughts or simply sharing a moment of joy together — U.S. Open Cup final, anyone?
So, thank you. I look forward to many more years of this journey together.
Orlando City
The Mane Land Announces Membership Program
Maximize your Mane Land experience with our new TML membership program while supporting our independent efforts.
Hello, readers of The Mane Land and listeners of our podcasts. Before you start reading this, please note that the most important part of this post is at the end. So, don’t stop until you get to the bottom.
You may recall that when we left SBNation to become independent, we really weren’t sure the best way to go about that. Many of our readers and listeners generously offered to help us make that transition, but we still weren’t sure the best path forward, so we took a poll.
The poll was pretty much split down the middle between those who preferred a one-time, Kickstarter-style campaign (which we did, and those of you who stepped up to help completely blew us away!) and those who favored a Patreon-style, subscription-based membership with extra perks. In fact, the member subscriptions option got a few more votes in our poll.
The folks who took part in our GoFundMe fundraiser were fantastic and are now immortalized on this very site on the “Our Founders” page. But we had always planned to give folks the option to choose whichever method of support they preferred and we tried to communicate that throughout the process. It took a little longer than expected to get up and running, but our membership subscription program is now in place! (You may notice the fancy new banner ad about it on the home page, echoed below.)
Part of that delay was thinking up something that didn’t encroach on the benefits we gave our Founders. Those folks helped us get started and deserve the exclusivity of the perks they got. The other part of the delay is that there just aren’t enough hours in the day. (However, for you guys, I’m willing to be cloned.)
We have utilized the popular Buy Me a Coffee platform to run this program. You can find the basics here. The Mane Land premium membership program includes three tiers of membership, as well as the option to click on the “Support” tab for those who just want to help us out whenever, without joining the program or adding any recurring “appointment-based” payments to their budgets. We love that feature of Buy Me a Coffee (or “Buy Us a Beer” in our case…you drink what you like).
For those who do choose to become members, we hope we have provided value and we are planning to add benefits along the way, in addition to providing special giveaways, events, etc. (more on that below). We have also provided subscription options — with monthly or annual memberships. The annual cost essentially gives you 12 months for the price of 10.
Current Benefits
The current membership benefits depend on which level of support you choose — Homegrown Player, TAM Player, or Designated Player level. Each level includes all benefits from the lower tiers, with additional benefits for each higher level.
Homegrown Player: This is a basic set-it-and-forget-it level of support for The Mane Land, providing a way for our readers and podcast listeners to contribute to the success of TML‘s independence goals. We want to compensate our current volunteers, replace lost income of those who previously received small stipends from being part of the SBNation network, add photographers, attract new writers, and expand our coverage. Additionally, each Homegrown Player Level member will be recognized in a Lion Links column, which is still typically our most widely read post of each day and one of the top daily links columns among soccer sites. Homegrown Player Level members will also be included in any future prize drawings we have or events we host and may be subject to future benefits as they are added.
TAM Player: In addition to Homegrown Player benefits, TAM Players will receive a new weekly e-newsletter in their inbox (unless you opt out…some people hate email). These will be informal missives from myself, other TML writers, or a combination, discussing what’s on our mind regarding Orlando City, the Pride, OCB, or soccer in general. Think of it as an extra post from our site that may cover multiple topics. Additionally, you’ll get a 10% discount from our web shop items that we control (presently, that means everything except our listed MLS Shop items). We will definitely have more benefits coming for this level soon and will look for opportunities to include additional benefits as they become available.
Designated Player: This limited availability level of support includes all perks from the Homegrown and TAM levels, but it goes beyond. Your discount at our webshop (for items we control) will be 15% off. Additionally, we’ll send you Zoom links to watch us “make the doughnuts” whenever we record the podcast. This includes when we interview guests. You’ll see how the sausage is made behind the scenes and everything that we say, some of which will end up on the cutting room floor before the final podcast is sent out. This includes both The Mane Land PawedCast and SkoPurp Soccer: An Orlando Pride PawedCast. And after two months of membership you can commission a bonus episode of either podcast simply by letting us know what topic you want us to cover. Think of this as an extended Ask Us Anything. We’ll do a whole show about your topic and you can even join us to discuss it if you wish.
The DP Level will certainly have additional benefits tacked on as we move forward. It is currently limited to 40 members but could be expanded slightly depending on demand and our Zoom attendance.
Future Benefits / Benefits Under Consideration
While we won’t be able to schedule these due to the random nature of items falling into our hands, there will be periodic prize giveaways in drawings that include all of our members, regardless of level. The catch is that you get one entry per level of support, meaning Homegrown Player Level members will get one entry per prize drawing, TAM Player Level members will get two entries per drawing, and Designated Player Level members get three entries for prize drawings. Some of the kinds of items we have come across in the past include match tickets, trinkets, posters, scarves, and so on.
We are planning to add a message board to our website, well…soon-ish is the word that comes to mind. The plan for the message board is to build our community and further the discussion about the club. As part of this, we’re planning an exclusive, members-only area of that message board that TAM and DP members can access. This will be a place our staff can share informational nuggets we can’t necessarily write stories about for various reasons and interact with our members on a daily basis.
Other things in the works include meet-and-greets/watch parties where you can chat with TML staff members and catch a road match with a bunch of like-minded Orlando City/Pride fans while we all cheer on the team together. There may also be other informal outings with one or more members of the staff, organized fantasy leagues, random Zoom calls for Q&A sessions, and perhaps even some organized group outings for Orlando City / Pride matches, national team games, etc.
The Most Important Part of This Post
Remember at the top of this post, when I said the most important part is at the bottom? Well, that seems like a long time ago, now, so it’s OK if you’ve already forgotten.
The most important part of our membership program is you. We want your feedback so we can make this program something that interests and excites you. We want to know what you like and dislike about this program. We want to know if there are some things we didn’t think of that interest you. If you like what we’re offering, tell us! If you hate what we’re offering, we want to know what you’d prefer instead or in addition. If you want to go drinking with Dave, we can probably arrange that, but it’ll be a unique tier and we’ll have to figure out the cost of that.
No idea is too crazy to suggest, even if it’s too insane for us to actually offer. Let us know what you want from your subscription and we’ll see if that’s something we can do. We’ll make it easy for you by putting the form right here below this post, which is now concluded.
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Welcome Home!
Where do I even start? When we were told in January that SBNation was pulling its support of The Mane Land and other MLS and NHL blogs — and many podcasts — I was devastated. The site had become my new baby in September of 2014 and after eight and a half years, I wasn’t ready to let it go.
I was in a pickle. I couldn’t afford to lose the monthly stipend I had been getting from SBNation to manage the site and provide a steady stream of content. It wasn’t that it was a huge monthly sum, but it mostly covered my car payment. That car was purchased when my salary was higher. The pandemic hit my day job like it did to many, and after a four-month layoff, I got my old job back but not at the same rate. So, imagine taking a pay decrease at work and then, on top of that, losing the amount you spend per month on your car payment. There was simply no way to launch The Mane Land independently, I thought, because I simply couldn’t cover the startup costs. Even with some generous offers from the staff to pitch in, there simply wasn’t a way.
Once we took the news public, there was an outpouring of support on social media. We appreciated both the pledges to help out that we got from the community and the signal boosting that the national media gave blogs like ours. Those national folks rely on local reporting for background.
Encouraged by this outpouring of public support, I met with the TML staff and we threw some ideas around. We polled our Twitter followers to see how our community would prefer to show their support. We got pretty close to a 50/50 split between those who wanted to provide a one-time donation via a Kickstarter or GoFundMe crowdsourcing effort, and those who would prefer some sort of premium subscription add-on service like Patreon or Buy Me a Coffee.
We didn’t get a lot of responses to that poll, but we decided as a group that since the results were so similar, we would offer both and let the public choose one path, the other, or even both. (Stay tuned for news soon-ish on the premium subscription level, but rest assured, everything you’ve been getting for free at TML will remain free!)
I was, admittedly, skeptical that we could raise enough startup money to create a private business, pay for hosting a new site and two podcasts (having long wanted to give the Orlando Pride their own unique show), registering a domain, paying for some design work and consulting, and any unexpected expenses that might come up. However, I thought we’d at least give it a try.
Then the amazing Orlando City, Orlando Pride, and TML community got involved. You guys pushed us past our bare minimum goal in just four and a half hours when our fundraiser went live on March 1. We reset our goal and you met that by midnight. We reset our goal again, to the dream total we discussed on our initial staff Zoom chat and you met that by that first weekend.
Stunned. Humbled. Amazed. Touched. All of these words apply to how that made us feel, but they don’t quite cover it. I think we all felt an enormous responsibility, as well. We felt a mandate to provide you the best site and the best coverage we can.
We got everything we needed to run the site for two years, even if we don’t earn a penny after our launch — and we plan to try, via advertising, a Patreon (or similar) program, an online shop, affiliate links, and anything else we can think of. But we decided to leave the GoFundMe open through the end of March, just in case there were folks who wanted to contribute but needed to wait for payday, or if more people wanted to become founding members of this new site.
Now, here we are. You guys did this. We’re here because of you. And this site isn’t quite what it will become. I’m still learning my way around WordPress, after being away from it for years. There’s more to build, and some of the things you’re seeing on this site now will be improved in the future. We’ll continue to tweak it, add things, and upgrade as we go.
For now, I just want to welcome you to your new online home. On behalf of our entire staff, I thank our founding members, who are now immortalized on this site in our founders section. If you weren’t able to contribute to our transition from SBNation’s network to an autonomous and independent, new version of The Mane Land, you can thank the folks on our founders page, because without them, we wouldn’t be here. And if you still want to help out, we’ve got more things on the way.
Vamos.
Michael Citro
Managing Editor
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