Last Thursday marked a brilliant start, but the job is only halfway done.
Sporting Kansas City will take a 3-0 aggregate lead into Thursday’s decisive second leg of the Concacaf Champions League Round of 16 against Deportivo Toluca FC, slated for 9 p.m. CT at Estadio Nemesio Diez in Toluca, Mexico.
Krisztian Nemeth, Gerso Fernandes and Ilie Sanchez scored in a resounding first-leg victory at Children’s Mercy Park to put Manager Peter Vermes’ side in a favorable position ahead of leg two.
So how can Sporting win the series and advance to the quarterfinals? In short, a win, draw or loss by two or fewer goals would do the trick. A three-goal defeat in which Sporting scores at least once (4-1, 5-2, 6-3, etc.) would also see Vermes’ men advance on the away goals tiebreaker.
Toluca, meanwhile, have more work to do. Los Diablos Rojos would advance with a four-goal win, while a 3-0 victory would force penalty kicks.
Keep in mind: if Toluca win 3-0 on Thursday night to level the aggregate at 3-3, the match will go straight to penalty kicks. Thirty minutes of extra time will not be played.
To summarize…
- Sporting wins the series with: a win, a draw, a loss by two or fewer goals, or a three-goal loss in which they score (4-1, 5-2, 6-3, etc.)
- Toluca wins the series with: a win by four or more goals
- The series goes straight to penalty kicks if: Toluca wins 3-0
Thursday’s showdown will stream live in English on YahooSports.com and the Yahoo Sports app, while Univision Deportes will carry a Spanish-language telecast. Fans can also get in-game updates and exclusive offers from the new Sporting KC app, with local radio broadcasts airing on Sports Radio 810 WHB (English) and ESPN Deportes KC 1480 AM (Spanish).
