Oduro helps Montreal in Champions League final

Dominic Oduro is on the brink of making history with Montreal Impact after helping the Major League Soccer side to a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the Concacaf Champions League final against Club America.

Impact were not expected to make a major impact on the continental competition, but have put themselves in a strong position after securing a valuable draw in the away leg.

The two sides will meet again in Canada on April 29 before a capacity crowd of 59,020 to settle the championship for teams from North and Central America, and the Caribbean.

Impact qualified for the continental tournament after winning the 2014 Canadian Championship, and topped their group—ahead of New York Red Bulls and C.D. FAS—before advancing past Pachuca and Alajuelense in the knockout rounds.

America were fully expected to come out on top in the first leg of the final. The Mexican giants are the second-most successful side in the tournament’s history, having won the title five times in four different decades.

In Impact, they encountered a side enduring a poor start to the MLS season—Oduro’s side currently sit bottom of the Eastern Conference—and must have been expecting victory.

However, it took an 89th-minute equaliser from Oribe Peralta to avoid defeat, after Frank Klopas’s outfit had taken the lead through Ignacio Piatti inside the first half.

Oduro was influential in the goal. He tore down the right flank before providing the cross which Dilly Duka left for designated-player Piatti to fire home.

The Ghanaian was close to making another key impact towards the end of the first half when he was brought down by Osvaldo Martinez. The America defender appeared to be the last man, but only received a yellow card, much to the chagrin of the Impact players.

If Impact can emerge victorious from the second leg, they will be the first-ever Canadian side to lift the continental crown and the first MLS outfit to claim the trophy since the competition expanded and changed its name and format in 2008.

Oduro has featured four times in Major League Soccer for Impact so far this season, and will be hoping he can help the club climb up the Eastern Conference.