Ochoa heroics and late surge send Club America to Final

MIAMI, Florida – Club America have advanced to the 2021 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Final thanks to a sparkling effort from GK Guillermo Ochoa and a pair of late goals for a 2-0 win over the Philadelphia Union in the semifinal second leg on Wednesday night at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania.

The result gives Las Aguilas a 4-0 victory on aggregate and a place in the SCCL final for the first time since the 2015-16 edition. Club America will seek their eighth Concacaf club title in next month’s single-match Final.

It was a very hard-fought first 45 minutes between the two sides, with Cory Burke and Jakob Glesnes coming closest to scoring for the Union, the former seeing his shot blocked by Pedro Aquino in the 34’ and the latter with a header in the 37’ that sailed over the crossbar.

The Union kept up the pressure to start the second half and earned a penalty kick in the 50’ when Kacper Przybylko was fouled in the Club America area. 

However, Jamiro Monteiro’s penalty was brilliantly saved by Ochoa, with the legendary Mexican shot-stopper pushing the attempt onto the crossbar and out to keep things scoreless.

Ochoa was not done and a few minutes later came up with another top-notch stop to deny a Przybylko header from just a few yards out.

Club America would then land the decisive blow in the 79’, with Nicolas Benedetti sweeping in a shot that took a slight deflection before rippling the net to make it 1-0.

Henry Martin then capped the victory with a goal in the waning seconds to complete the 2-0 scoreline in the match and 4-0 over the two legs.