Olimpia

Honduras's Olimpia fell 1-0 to the Canadian Montreal Impact, led by Thierry Henry, in the second leg of the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Champions League, but advanced to the semifinals thanks to their 2-1 victory in the first leg.

The Argentine coach Pedro Troglio's team secured their qualification with a victory in Montreal last March, before the competition was suspended due to the coronavirus. The away goals rule gave them the advantage.

Amar Sejdic from Germany scored the only goal of the match in the 57th minute at the Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida, which is hosting the rest of the tournament behind closed doors.

Olimpia, the first Central American team to reach the semifinals since 2015, will face the winner of Tuesday's quarterfinal match between New York City FC from the North American Soccer League (MLS) and the Tigres from Mexico, who have a 1-0 advantage from the first leg.

The Impact faced the match with several absentees in their usual lineup, including Argentine forward Maximiliano Urruti, who was in quarantine after returning to Canada following their elimination in the MLS playoffs.

"We deserved to win, but we didn't score the second goal," said Henry. "I am very proud of my team...We were missing players, we didn't train for 14 days, and today we won against a team that had not lost for a long time."

"Obviously, we are disappointed not to be in the next round, but I have nothing to say to my team," said the former French player, who finished his first season as the Canadian team's coach.

Henry himself had warned about the difficulty of defeating the Honduran team by two goals, as they finished as leaders in their group in the Apertura tournament and defeated Marathon on Saturday in the sweltering heat of San Pedro Sula.

"We did things better in 180 minutes. They were fresher because they didn't come from playing a derby...But in a different country, not playing as home as we should have in front of our people, we have to recognize these guys for putting Honduras among the top four teams in Concacaf after so many years," said Troglio. AFP