Game Recaps

That did not go as planned for Toronto FC. Having just knocked mighty Club America out of the Concacaf Champions League, the reigning MLS champions surely figured to have an easier time of it against Chivas Guadalajara in the final. Chivas are having a terrible season domestically, but for some reason have been kryptonite for MLS clubs in the CCL.

They were again, handing Sebastian Giovinco and friends a 2-1 defeat in Toronto and taking a solid lead back to Mexico for the second leg.

Rodolfo Pizarro opened the scoring just a few minutes in the game.

West Ham have really struggled this Premier League season. Back in the summer, it seemed as though the Hammers were getting serious with the signings of Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez and Marko Arnautovic.

However, things have not been as smooth as they expected at London Stadium.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic did it again. In his first MLS start, the big Swede scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory for the LA Galaxy over Bastian Schweinsteiger and the Chicago Fire on Saturday in the Windy City.

Zlatan scored in first-half stoppage time, using his head again to nod home a cross from Ashley Cole for the game’s only goal.

Cole  Zlatan  #CHIvLA

Manchester City’s season took a blow with defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday. Combined with the second-half collapse to rival Manchester United last weekend, things were about as dismal as they could be for a team with a 13-point lead in the Premier League. But a 3-1 win for Manchester City vs Tottenham on Saturday at Wembley Stadium showed Pep Guardiola’s side is still the best in England.

Barcelona had a slight giant setback in the Champions League on Tuesday but the Blaugrana keep rolling in LaLiga. Luis Suarez scored for Barcelona vs Valencia in a 2-1 victory on Saturday at Camp Nou, with the home side setting a LaLiga record for 39 straight matches without defeat.

Oh sure, the little Champions League was kinda entertaining this week, what with Roma beating Barcelona and Real Madrid holding off Juventus. But the 6-5 FC Salzburg comeback against Lazio in the Europa League on Thursday made all the drama from Tuesday and Wednesday look like child’s play. 

After a really funny Santiago Garcia own goal and three red cards (Fernando Gonzalez, Pablo Barientos and Rubens Sambueza), Necaxa are officially Clausura Copa MX champions.

Toluca's Garcia is going to feel pretty badly about himself for a while after this own goal, but we're sure he'll get over it eventually. At least he kept the entertainment value at a high level. It was the only goal of the match.

While the dirty brainwashed masses were enraptured by the spectacle of Juventus-Real Madrid, the real soccer fans, the true connoisseurs, were focused on Sevilla-Bayern Munich.

If we’ve just witnessed Gianluigi Buffon’s final UEFA Champions League game, it was somewhat fitting given the plethora of fresh hells this competition has provided him with over the years. For half an hour, it looked like the footballing gods were finally smiling upon Italy’s favorite son — Juventus had miraculously turned around a three-goal deficit at the Bernabeu, and Buffon had recorded five vital saves to make it happen.

Toronto FC are in the final of the Concacaf Champions League, where they will face Chivas Guadalajara, after fighting Club America to a 1-1 draw at Estadio Azteca to brush past the Mexican powerhouse 4-1 on aggregate.

Despite an early injury to Jozy Altidore that caused the striker to leave the game, Toronto struck first via Jonathan Osorio.