Photo: Herculez Gomez has two goals in five Liga MX matches this season for Santos Laguna.

On Tuesday night as Toronto FC arrives in Columbus on the eve of its midweek Major League Soccer match (Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. ET on GOLTV Canada), a game involving two Central American outfits some 2500 kilometres away will affect the Reds.

Group 1 action resumes in the CONCACAF Champions League on Tuesday with Santos Laguna hosting CD Aguila at 8 p.m. ET. It’s the second game in the group, with Toronto leading the way at present on the strength of a 5-1 drubbing meted out to Aguila on Agusut 1 at BMO Field.

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It is widely expected that the 2011/12 CCL finalist, Santos, will comfortably win this match. But any kind of an upset – a draw or a surprise Aguila victory – would bolster Toronto’s chances of reaching the quarterfinals of the CCL in back-to-back editions of the continental tournament.

Aguila visits Torreon with mixed results in its last three league matches following the Toronto visit. The Salvadoran champs bounced back with a 3-0 win over Juventud but have been kept off the score sheet in the last two games in a 1-0 loss and 0-0 draw consecutively.

Santos Laguna’s league form hasn’t been stellar either. The Warriors have only a draw in its last three games and five matches into the Apertura tournament of Liga MX, Santos sits in 10th place with two wins and a goal difference of negative two. Stocked with the likes of Mexican Olympic hero Oribe Peralta, Colombian hotshot Carlos Quintero and American Herculez Gomez – and that's only some of their attacking options – Santos should regain its fearful form.

Toronto hosts Santos Laguna on Tuesday, August 28 in a crucial second match of Group 1 for both teams.