Toronto FC will be without Torsten Frings for their CONCACAF Champions League semi-final first-leg with Santos Laguna on Wednesday
Frings is expected to miss four weeks with his hamstring injury Reuters

When and Where: The CONCACAF Champions League Semi-Final kicks-off from BMO Field in Toronto at 8 p.m. ET. A live stream will be available, with a free registration, at CONCACAFTV. You can also watch live coverage on the Fox Soccer Channel.

Preview: After their shock elimination of MLS champions Los Angeles Galaxy in the last round, Toronto face an either tougher prospect when they go up against Santos Laguna in the first-leg of their CONCACAF Champions League semi-final on Wednesday night.

The Mexican side dismantled the Seattle Sounders 7-3 on aggregate in the quarter-finals and even a fully-fit Toronto FC would be significant underdogs.

But having lost by far their most influential player, former Germany international Torsten Frings, to a hamstring injury in their opening MLS game of the season, Toronto are being written-off from all quarters.

After going down 3-1 to Seattle in that first MLS match, Toronto have since emphasized how big a player Frings is for them by slumping to a 3-0 loss at home to the San Jose Earthquakes.

And Frings' injury has been compounded with the loss of first-choice goalkeeper Stefan Frei to a broken leg suffered in training on Friday.

But despite everything seemingly going against them heading into the match with Santos, Toronto's stand-in captain Julian de Guzman says that he is confident that the team can come together to succeed.

It's definitely a lot different without Frings and Stefan injured, De Guzman told MLSsoccer.com, according to CONCACAF.com. The most important thing for us is to remain as a team. We have that togetherness and I think the unity counts for a lot in moments like this. If we can hold each other up, I think we're bound to survive these tough moments.

Santos, though, currently top the Clausura table in Mexico and will be spearheaded by U.S. international striker Herculez Gomez. The Los Angeles-native struck twice in Santos' 6-1 annihilation of Seattle in the second-leg of their quarter final.

Team News: Milos Kocic will continue in goal in place of the injured Frei and will be looking to keep a clean sheet of conceding three against San Jose. Toronto will be looking for leadership from their Canadian international Julian de Guzman.

Santos will be without vice-captain Juan Pablo Rodriguez through suspension, while fellow midfielder Daniel Luduena has not made the trip to Canada.

Prediction: For Toronto, their achievement in becoming the first Canadian side to reach the CONCACAF Champions League semi-finals is a highly-credible achievement. But all signs point to that being as far as the Red will progress in the competition.

Toronto boss Aron Winter is likely to try and keep things tight and compact at BMO Field in order to stay in contention before heading to Mexico next week.

That could be a forlorn hope, though, with Sanos currently in a rich vein of form and keen to put another MLS side to the sword.

Toronto FC 1-2 Santos Laguna

Germany Mexico Los Angeles Germany