CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy will continue their 2015-16 CONCACAF Champions League campaign this Tuesday when they take on storied Guatemalan club Comunicaciones.
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Unlike fellow Group D opponents and relative unknown Central FC of Trinidad and Tobago, there will be no surprises when the Guatemalan giants arrive at StubHub Center to take on the Galaxy.
The most successful club in all of Guatemala, Los Cremas (The Creams) have was won a record 30 Liga Nacional de Guatemala titles, eight Copa de Guatemala tiles as well as one CONCACAF Champions Cup during their 65-year history. In recent years, Comunicaciones has asserted their dominance over the league with a title in at least one of the two tournaments played since 2012.
Since the change in format to the CONCACAF Champions League in 2008, Comunicaciones has only reached the quarterfinal stage once in 2009-10 when they fell to eventual champions Pachuca.
Despite the lack of success in the group stage, Los Cremas have proven to be a thorn in the side of top teams having beaten Monterrey (2011-12) and Club America (2014-15) at home in recent years. Playing away from home has been a different story for the Guatemalans as the squad has only earned three wins away from Guatemala since the tournament format change. Each of those wins coming against Caribbean sides.
This year’s Comunicaciones squad will provide stiff competition for the Galaxy for the top spot in Group D. Led by Uruguayan manager Wily Olivera, Los Cremas boast 11 players who played for Guatemala at the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Despite their strong roster, Comunicaciones began the 2015 Clausura on a downswing with a 1-4-0 record in their first five games. Los Cremas notched their first win of the campaign on Saturday with a 1-0 victory over Antigua GFC at their home stadium of Estadio Cementos Progreso in Guatemala City.
The star of Olivera’s side is Panamanian international forward Rolando Blackburn. A regular for Panama, the 25-year-old scored an impressive 24 goals in 40 appearances since joining the club from Chorrillo FC (Panama) in 2014. As for whom gets to start up top beside Blackburn, Olivera will likely have to choose between his new Argentine signing Emiliano Lopez and Mexican striker Agustin Herrera.
Comunicaciones’ forwards aren’t the only ones that LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena and company will have to keep an eye on on Tuesday, however. In the midfield, playmaker Enrique Miranda and Guatemalan internationals Kendel Herrarte and Carlos MejĂa will look to lead the Guatemalans to another big CONCACAF Champions League victory.
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at www.LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com.
