Tomas Chancalay recorded a brace to lead the New England Revolution to a 4-0 victory over Alajuelense in the first leg of a CONCACAF Champions Cup round-of-16 series on Wednesday night in Foxborough, Mass.
Chancalay scored in the 41st minute before putting home a penalty kick in the 50th as New England took a commanding advantage in the two-match, total-goal series. The teams will meet again on March 14 in Alajuela, Costa Rica.
Nick Lima and Esmir Bajraktarevic also scored for the Revolution. Henrich Ravas made three saves to tally the clean sheet.
Lima scored in the 28th minute and Bajraktarevic followed Chancalay’s brace with a goal in the 55th. Alajuelense started to put the pressure on late in the second half to try and trim their deficit for the series finale, but they could never break through.
Michael Barrantes’ deep shot in the 84th minute was saved by Ravas, and Johan Venegas sent an attempt wide right four minutes later before Barrantes was wide left just before the start of stoppage time.
Crew 1, Dynamo 0
A cross by Columbus’ Alexandru Matan in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time ricocheted off Houston’s Adalberto Carrasquilla and crept inside the far post to give the visiting Crew a first-leg victory.
Aidan Morris played the free kick short to Matan on the left side. Matan’s seemingly innocuous pass then ended up in the net.
Columbus wound up with an 18-10 edge in shot attempts and a 5-4 advantage in shots on target.
The teams will play the series’ second leg on Tuesday in Columbus. The winner will advance to face either Orlando City or Mexico’s Tigres UANL in the quarterfinals.
–Field Level Media
