With the group stage of the 2014-2015 CONCACAF Champions League now over, the quarterfinals for the competition have been set. The Montreal Impact finished fourth overall and will be facing Mexican outfit Club Pachuca who finished fifth. The Impact finished the group stage with ten points while Club Pachuca finished with nine points.
Club Pachuca finished top of their group with three victories and one loss. The other teams in their group were Municipal from Guatemala and Real España from Honduras. The team from the Mexican state of Hidalgo also finished the group scoring seventeen goals and conceding eight, and finishing with a +9 goal differential.
Impact to Face Pachuca in CCL Quaterfinals
The Impact also finished first in their group ahead of New York Red Bulls of MLS and C.D. FAS of El Salvador. Montreal finished the group with three wins and one draw. The Impact were able to score six goals while conceding three during their group stage run.
The Impact will be in for a difficult test again the Mexican team as they have won the CONCACAF Champions League four times, most recently in 2009-2010 against Cruz Azul. The Mexican team currently sits in sixth place in the Liga MX Apertura 2014 season with six wins, two draws, and five defeats.
The Impact struggled mightily during the course of the MLS season and will finish in dead last in the league. The lack of off-season moves as well as injuries hurt the club throughout the season. However victory over Toronto FC in the Canadian Championship paved the road for more competitive games in the CONCACAF Champions League, something the Impact have taken to heart, and helped propel them into the quarterfinals of the competition.
The struggling Impact defence will need to find a way to shut down Argentinian striker Ariel Nahuelpán who has eight goals and tied for the second leading goal scorer in Liga MX. The Impact will also be without star striker Marco Di Vaio due to the fact he is retiring at the end of the MLS season. Montreal will both be looking to bulk up their defensive line and perhaps look for a solid replacement for Di Vaio in the MLS offseason if they want to be serious about progressing in the tournament.
The provisional dates for the first leg of the quarterfinal will take place at the 30,000 seat Estadio Hidalgo in Pachuca between February 24-26, 2015. The return leg will be played in the Olympic Stadium in Montreal sometime between March 3-5, 2015.
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