Major League Soccer's reputation took a battering Tuesday when New England and Chivas USA were knocked out of the CONCACAF Champions League at the preliminary round stage.
An injury-riddled New England was trounced 4-0 at home by Trinidad's Joe Public in the second leg of their tie for a 6-1 aggregate in favor of the Caribbean team, while ten-man Chivas could only draw 1-1 in the second leg to lose 3-1 on aggregate to Panama's Tauro.
In Tuesday's other match, Montreal Impact of the United Soccer League _ the second tier of North American football _ drew 0-0 away at Nicaragua's Real Esteli to hang on for a 1-0 aggregate win and a place in the group stage.
Gregory Richardson scored a hat-trick and set up the other goal in Joe Public's 4-0 win.
They became the first Caribbean club to score three goals or more in a single match in CONCACAF competition against an American club, and the first Caribbean club to eliminate a U.S. entry.
The Revolution was without five key attacking players through injury: Taylor Twellman, Steve Ralston, Adam Cristman, Kheli Dube and Kenny Mansally.
Richardson scored first-half goals in the 17th and 45th minutes, netted his third goal with a left-footed drive at 81 and set up Roen Nelson's drive atop the penalty box area in the 48th minute.
Joe Public advanced to Group C where it will meet Mexico's Atlante, Olimpia of Honduras and Montreal in the home-and-away round-robin.
Montreal benefited from the fact that Real Esteli did not get a true home leg, as no ground in Nicaragua was up to FIFA standards, so Tuesday's second leg was played in Honduras.
The Impact had advanced to the qualifying round by beating out Vancouver Whitecaps of the USL First Division and Toronto of Major League Soccer in a Canadian championship.
Chivas, which lost 2-0 in the away leg, dominated the first half searching for a goal to get back in the contest, but had to wait until the 42nd minute when newly signed Mexican striker Roberto Nurse scored his first game for the club.
Chivas' chances of getting the aggregate equalizer suffered a serious blow in the 51st minute when defender Jonathan Bornstein picked up his second yellow card and was sent off.
Luis Moreno effectively ended the contest in the 63rd minute when he cut through the Chivas defense and scored with a shot across goal that went in off the post.
Tauro goes into Group D, where it will take on Mexican club Santos Laguna and Guatemalan side Municipal, along with the winner of the outstanding tie between Costa Rica's Alajuelense and Puerto Rico Islanders. The first leg finished 1-1 in Costa Rica, with the second leg scheduled for Wednesday.
