Pachuca became the first club to book a place in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions League with a nail-biting 2-1 win over nine-man Comunicaciones at Estadio Hidalgo on Tuesday night. With the victory, los Tuzos won the two-leg series 3-2 on aggregate and snapped a six-game winless streak in all competitions in the process.
Substitute Luis Montes was the unlikely hero for Pachuca. With the score even at 1-1 in the 88th minute, “Chapo” found himself alone with the ball after a long rebound and sent a 25-yard rocket past Comunicaciones keeper David Guerra to bag the decisive goal.
The Guatemalans had fought back in the 74th minute through a penalty kick by captain and Costa Rica international Rolando Fonseca after Pachuca defender Leobardo López handled the ball in the box. Pachuca wasted a handful of good scoring chances in the first half, mostly by Ajax loanee Darío Cvitanich. But Montes’ winner ended los Cremas’ hopes of pulling the upset and becoming the first Guatemalan club to reach the semis in the CONCACAF tournament in 14 years.
U.S. international José Francisco Torres went the entire 90 minutes for Pachuca, but didn’t figure into the scoring. He did pick up a yellow card in the 55th minute for a bad challenge on Comunicaciones attacker Fredy Thompson. The American refereeing crew was busy Tuesday night. Lead official Terry Vaughn booked five players, including two red cards to Comunicaciones, who were down to nine men after Thompson was ejected in the 66th minute.
Torres and three-time CONCACAF champions Pachuca will now await the winner of Wednesday night’s second leg between the Columbus Crew and Toluca at Estadio Nemesio Díez. That tie is even at 2-2 after Steven Lenhart scored twice to pull the Crew even in Ohio in last week’s first leg.
