Montreal Impact, consider yourselves warned.
Club America buried Herediano with an early avalanche of goals, scoring five goals in the first 32 minutes en route to a 6-0 victory in the two teams' Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League semifinal second leg. The scoreline was more than enough to overturn the 3-0 deficit America sustained in the first leg of the series in Costa Rica, sending the five-time champions through to their first continental final since winning it all in 2006, 6-3 on aggregate.
The remarkable turnaround means the Impact will now face a trip to Mexico City to play America in the first leg of the CCL final on April 22 before returning to Montreal for the second leg of the series on April 29. Montreal have already become the first Canadian team to reach the final in any era, and will also look to become the first MLS team to win the tournament in its current format (since 2008). An America win in the final would put then one above rivals Cruz Azul on top of the all-time charts.
America forward Dario Benedetto, making his first CCL appearances of the campaign, was the undoubted Man of the Match on the evening. The 24-year-old had a hand in the first goal of the game, just four minutes into the proceedings, and went on to score the next four.
The speedy, skillful Darwin Quintero was Benedetto's most frequent partner in crime and opened the scoring after he fed the Argentine, whose shot was blocked by Herediano goalkeeper Daniel Cambronero only to fall right back to Quintero for the easy finish.
The pair switched roles in the 8th minute, as Benedetto scored the goal of the game. He collected a feed from Quintero just outside the visitors' area, spun 180 degrees, and finished with a fierce shot that kissed off the inside of the post.
Herediano did muster some early chances, most notably a sequence off a throw-in with the game still scoreless that saw Yendrick Ruiz's initial effort saved by Hugo Gonzalez before Cristhian Lagos missed on the follow-up. Gonzalez also had to be alert in the 12th minute, turning away a flicked-on effort from Keyner Brown.
Benedetto was only getting started, though, and picked up his second of the match in the 19th minute after after Quintero took advantage of some poor Herediano defending to latch onto a long ball and slip a pass through to his strike partner for a simple finish. The 24-year-old former Tijuana attacker would complete his hat trick six minutes later when he put away the rebound after Cambronero denied Oribe Peralta on a corner kick.
The frustration proved too much for Herediano, who lost defender Edder Nelson to a red card after clattering into Benedetto from behind in the 27th minute. Benedetto responded with his fourth goal of the contest in the 32nd minute, as he was left with a simple finish after a cutback from Miguel Samudio that effectively ended the series after little more than a half-hour.
America would continue to rack up the chances in the second half, most notably when Peralta's goal was called offside in the the 58th minute after some nifty footwork from Rubens Sambueza.
Mexico U-20 international Alejandro Diaz would cap off the rout in the 85th minute, finishing off an America counter for his first professional goal.
