Costa Rican giants Alajuelense face Montreal Impact tonight in the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League semi-final.
Time: 7pm PDT / 10pm EDT / 3am BST
Date: Tuesday 7th April 2015
Where: Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Montreal Impact hold a 2-0 first leg advantage over their Costa Rican opponents going into tonight’s game, but the match promises to be a hugely different affair from the first leg.
The tropical city of Alajuela is deep in the centre of the country, with a brutal humidity and year-round average temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius. Added to that, the Costa Rican crowds are some of the most vocal, hostile, and intimidating in the Americas, meaning Montreal will be walking into a melting pot of pressure.
In truth Montreal were much the better side in the first game, as two goals in the first 15 minutes from Ignacio Piatti and Victor Cabrera saw them assume a stranglehold that they never looked like letting go.
“We have a very offensive system and tomorrow the team is going out to threaten” Alajuelense defender Jhonny Acosta told CONCACAF.com. “We know that the first 25 minutes are very important for us, above all for the fans. We know that they push a lot. If we score quickly, perhaps we can manage the game a little more calmly in order to go searching for the second goal”.
No MLS side has ever won the CONCACAF Champions League and they’ve only had one finalist, with Real Salt Lake being beaten 3-2 by Monterrey in 2011’s final.
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You can see highlights from the first leg below: