For a second straight year, Orlando City SC have been eliminated by Tigres UANL in the Concacaf Champions Cup, with Tigres claiming a 4-2 win in the second leg of the Round-of-16 series at Estadio Universitario Tuesday night.
After the teams played to a 0-0 draw in the first leg at Inter&Co Stadium last week, Tigres advance to the quarterfinals to face the Columbus Crew. The defending MLS Cup champions ousted Houston Dynamo FC earlier in the evening.
A year ago, Tigres advanced past Orlando in the Round of 16 on away goals after the teams played to a 1-1 draw on aggregate.
The hosts broke the scoreless stalemate in the 13th minute when Marcelo Flores slipped a low, bouncing shot inside the far post. André-Pierre Gignac doubled the advantage seven minutes later from the penalty spot after Dagur Thorhallsson barged Flores over from behind in the box.
Gignac was then called for a PK of his own for a push on Robin Jansson, and Facundo Torres emphatically put his penalty away to pull Orlando City within a goal four minutes later.
Needing a second away goal to win the series, Duncan McGuire was brought on in the 58th minute for midfielder Felipe Martins as Oscar Pareja switched to two forwards.
But it was Tigres who got the decisive goal, albeit a debatable one. Pedro Gallese slapped Fernando Gorriarán’s powerful header off the crossbar before the ball caromed back into the goalkeeper, who turned to grab it off the line but not before referees decided it had already crossed, giving Tigres a two-goal cushion.
There was no question about Sebastían Córdova’s strike from distance, though. The 81st-minute blast put the game out of reach.
Orlando struck for a penalty kick in the first minute of second-half stoppage time, but it was just cosmetic for the Lions, who suffer CCC heartbreak to Tigres yet again.
Goals
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: After conceding twice in the opening 20 minutes, Orlando City appeared to be in for a long night in Nuevo Léon. But the Lions pulled a goal back and had Tigres on their heels for stretches of the second half. Once Gorriarán’s header was judged to have crossed the line, though, any hope of a comeback was dashed.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: Was it over the line or not? Debatable, for sure.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: Marcelo Flores set the tempo with the opening goal in the 13th minute and then drew the penalty that Gignac put away.
Next Up
- TIG: Saturday, March 16 vs. Mazatlán FC (9 pm ET) | Liga MX Clausura
- ORL: Sunday, March 17 at Atlanta United (7 pm ET | Apple TV - Free) | MLS regular season
