This week sees the return of the Concacaf Champions League at the quarterfinals phase. This stage of the tournament offers another MLS vs Liga MX clash as CF Montreal will travel to Mexico City to take on Cruz Azul Wednesday night in the first-leg fixture.
In the Round of 16, Montreal eased past a struggling Liga MX side – Santos Laguna – but Cruz Azul will be a different story. The match will be played in one of the world’s soccer cathedrals, the Estadio Azteca. That normally would be a major advantage for the home team but the Cementeros have lost three straight games in the Azteca. Still, the altitude – 7,200 feet, or 2,240 meters – could be a significant factor.
Cruz Azul find themselves winless in their last three Liga MX fixtures (0-1-2) but the Cementeros still sit fifth in the table.
Carlos Rodriguez could be a player to watch. He joined Cruz Azul in the winter transfer window from Monterrey and hasn’t disappointed. In 10 matches, the midfielder has netted three goals and contributed three assists.
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Desde tu primer día en la Escuela Rayados demostraste tener el Azul y Blanco en el Corazón 🔵⚪
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CF Montreal come into this quarterfinal matchup on a bit of a slide.
They remain winless in their 2022 MLS campaign with two straight losses. Montreal hope they can break their snake-bitten scoring streak as the club has registered 20 total shots and only has produced 1 goal in two MLS games.
Finnish international product Lassi Lappalainen is the lone goal scorer for Montreal so far in the 2022 regular season. On the backend Montreal will want to tidy it up also as they been allowing 2 goals per game in MLS play.
A key player for CF Montreal is American midfielder Djordie Mihailovic, so much so that he is now rumoured to be one of the next MLS players to head overseas to Europe after this season At the age of 23 , the U.S international has had productive seasons in the MLS especially last season where he put up 4 goals and 14 assists.
Huge honor. Thank you to the fans who voted me team mvp 💙🖤 pic.twitter.com/VsIOqYa21r
— Djordje Mihailovic (@DjoMihailovic) November 23, 2021
The game will take place at 10pm Eastern time in Mexico City. Weather can be a factor but there is no rain in the forecast and the afternoon highs of 26 degrees Celsius (79 Fahrenheit) will cool off to 19C (66F) by kick-off..