Meanwhile, Columbus made due with a single goal (and a very nice goal at that) in beating Municipal, meaning that through 3 of the 4 MLS teams in the tournament have taken 3 points at home. As they should. Anything else would be asking for trouble.
I'm happy enough to see the effort and execution (such as it was) that I'm not even going to bother grousing about attendance in Columbus and Sandy; MLS fans have proven time and time again that they're resistant to non-league games in mid-week, so pointing out the small crowds it hardly worth the effort. Perhaps when an MLS club finally wins this competition, the fans will come out in numbers to support the effort.
It doesn't get any easier for the three teams sitting on their three points; all three go on the road next week. Toronto takes the longer trip to Panama, while RSL gets the daunting task of Mexico City and Cruz Azul. Columbus goes Mexico as well, to take on Santos Laguna. A Toronto win is the most likely of the three, of course, but if the MLS sides can get anything out of those matches, they'll have done themselves and the league proud.
The last MLS team to kick off their CCL campaign is Seattle; the Sounders are in Honduras to take on Marathon. The Sounder recent form (unbeaten in 9) gives hope that they can get MLS to 4-4 and a possible 12 of 12 points by the end of today. For a league with the track record of MLS in this competition, we couldn't ask for a better start.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves, and we have to keep in mind that all four teams are juggling their league stretch runs at the same time as the Champions League, but there's reason for some quiet optimism.
