The love we have for Concacaf is hard to explain. The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football is unlike any other region in the world. It’s so unique in fact that the name Concacaf can be construed into being a verb, adjective, noun… you get the point.
On Tuesday night the 2023 Concacaf Champions League got underway and didn’t disappoint with some wild results and shenanigans.
Pitch invader pup
Let’s start with the canine pitch invader during the Philadelphia Union’s trip to face El Salvador club Alianza. In the 69th minute (the jokes just keep coming) play had to be stopped when a dog ran on the field and made a B-line for the ball.
The dog got to bite on the ball, Stu Holden got to make a dad joke and it was another reminder why we love Concacaf.
Was this on your bingo card?
Yeah the @PhilaUnion is a good team and all, but this doggo is even better ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/cK882huibw— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) March 8, 2023
#DOOP | #SCCL23 | @TheChampions pic.twitter.com/2OR9LRDY0l
— PhilaUnion (@PhilaUnion) March 8, 2023
A pitch invader was just the thing to spice up a rather sloppy 0-0 draw that only featured three shots on target between the two teams.
Austin FC with atrocious own goal
Austin FC made Major League Soccer a laughingstock on Tuesday with one of the most pathetic results. The team that is supposedly one of the favorites to win the league this season found a way to get battered 3-0 by Haitian side Violette.
With the turmoil taking place off the field in Haiti, Violette haven’t played a competitive game since May 22, 2022. This should’ve been a walk in the park for Austin FC, but instead we saw nonsense like this.
@VACHAITI increases its advantage to 3️⃣ pic.twitter.com/heAzVOM6rC
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) March 8, 2023
Amro Tarek scored the own goal for Austin. He looked like a FIFA character when you press the wrong button and smash it into your own net. Yikes.
Sure, it wasn’t Austin’s ‘A-team’, but that’s still no excuse. The game was played in the Dominican Republic and the fans in attendance had a better performance than Austin did. Seriously though, that crowd was providing some amazing tunes.
Orlando City draws Tigres
MLS was slightly redeemed on Tuesday night when Orlando City managed to get an away draw vs. Tigres. The high-flying Liga MX club had only lost one of their 10 league games coming into the tie and were the clear favorite.
Some heroic goalkeeping from Orlando’s Pedro Gallese kept Tigres off the board.
What a tremendous save by @OrlandoCitySC's Pedro Gallese pic.twitter.com/1T7E7ENhHZ
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) March 8, 2023
Water covers 71% of the Earth and @OrlandoCitySC's Gallese covers the rest! pic.twitter.com/fBBZpb6Umy
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) March 8, 2023
This game also had some Concacaf craziness when star striker André-Pierre Gignac was shown a red card right before halftime. Gignac had shoved Orlando’s Rodrigo Schlegel, however a VAR review determined Gignac would only get a yellow card for his offense.
The best news about all this: we get to do it all again Wednesday night!
Wednesday CCL schedule (all times ET):
- 6 p.m. — Tauro (Panama) vs. Léon (Mexico), FS2, TUDN
- 8 p.m. — Olimpia (Honduras) vs. Atlas (Mexico), FS2, TUDN
- 10 p.m. — Vancouver Whitecaps (Canada) vs. Real España (Honduras), TUDN
