Karel Espino scored in the 89th minute to lift Guatemalan club Comunicaciones to a 1-0 win over the Colorado Rapids in their first match of the CONCACAF Champions League on Thursday night in Guatemala City.
The contest was the opener of a two-game, total-goal series. The second leg is scheduled for Wednesday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, the Rapids’ home stadium in Commerce City, Colo.
Espino broke the scoreless tie with a right-footed shot from outside the box assisted by Jose Contreras’ free kick. The shot beat Colorado goalkeeper William Yarbrough in the top left corner.
The Rapids failed to get a shot on goal, while Yarbrough only needed to make one save prior to allowing Espino’s game-winner.
CD Motagua 0, Seattle Sounders 0
Neither team could manage a goal in the first leg of a CONCACAF Champions League series at Tegucigalpa, Honduras, though the hosts came close.
Motagua’s Marcelo Santos hit the crossbar on a shot from the penalty area off a 13th-minute corner kick.
Obed Vargas, a 16-year-old midfielder, made his second career start for the Sounders and played the full game.
The second leg of the series is scheduled for Feb. 24 in Seattle, with Motagua entering with a slight edge as the away-goals tiebreaker is in use.
–Field Level Media
