Wednesday's soccer news has PSV drawing at Rangers and Royal Antwerp beating AEK Athens in Champions League play-off round qualifying first-legs.
First-leg draw for PSV, win for Royal Antwerp in the Champions League, Open Cup semifinal previews
Wednesday’s soccer news starts with the UEFA Champions League play-off round first-legs and PSV drawing 2-2 at Rangers in the League Path. Sergino Dest subbed out in the 80th minute for PSV, who fell behind in the 45th. Ibrahim Sangare equalized for PSV in the 61st but Rangers retook the lead in the 76th. PSV’s Luuk de Jong equalized in the 80th minute. Ricardo Pepi and Malik Tillman were on the bench for PSV.
In the Champions Path, Sam Vines subbed on in the 56th minute of Royal Antwerp’s 1-0 home win over AEK Athens. Vincent Janssen scored in the 16th and Royal Antwerp played a man down from the 50th after a red card to Jelle Bataille.
In the Copa Libertadores quarterfinal first-legs, Johnny Cardoso’s Internacional won 1-0 at Bolivar. Enner Valencia scored in the 16th minute and goalkeeper Sergio Rochet made five saves.
Moving to tonight’s US Open Cup semifinals, Cincinnati hosts Inter Miami and Real Salt Lake is at Houston. Two things are obvious about Inter Miami, very little that happened this season prior to the Leagues Cup still matters and after Saturday’s trophy this is a team that finds ways. In another knockout scenario on the road, Inter Miami has that immediate experience. Meanwhile, Cincinnati exited Leagues Cup on penalties in the round of 32 to eventual runners-up Nashville and lost 3-0 at Columbus in MLS on Sunday.
On the other side of the bracket, Houston lost to Charlotte in Leagues Cup round of 16 on August 7 and returned to MLS with a 5-0 home win over Portland on Sunday. Real Salt Lake also exited in the round of 16 on August 8, but that 4-0 loss at LAFC is the last game they’ve played.
