Four clubs from Liga MX and three from Major League Soccer advanced on Friday to the Leagues Cup round of 16.
Toluca, RSL, Nashville, Minnesota, Club America, Monterrey, and Tigres advance in Leagues Cup
The 2023 Leagues Cup round of 32 continued on Friday night, starting with Toluca beating Sporting Kansas City 4-1. An own-goal put Toluca up in the 29th with Pedro Raul doubling the lead in the 32nd. Robert Morales extended the lead in the 54th and Juan Dominguez made it 4-0 Toluca in the 63rd. Sporting KC’s William Agada scored in the 88th minute.
Coming out of this, there are a couple of good things,” Sporting Kansas City coach Peter Vermes said. “There are some players that have been out for a while and are now back in. We have a couple weeks of training now that we can really overload these guys in the training aspect and get ready for our first game when we return back into the regular season. That’s going to be one of the more important aspects. That one, the guys are fit and the other is that we have availability of a majority of our players because we’re going to need all of them for the final push.”
Real Salt Lake came back to beat Leon 3-1 at America First Field after falling behind to an Ivan Moreno goal in the 8th minute. RSL’s Daniel Musovski equalized in the 69th and scored again in the 71st. Cristian Arango scored Salt Lake’s third goal in the 81st minute.
Nashville advanced 5-4 on penalties at FC Cincinnati after drawing 1-1 in regulation. Anibal Godoy put Nashville up in the 64th with Cincinnati’s Brandon Vazquez equalizing from the penalty spot in the 85th minute. Cincinnati failed to convert in the 3rd round of penalties with Nashville going five for five.
“I think we enjoyed our experience in this competition,” FC Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “We’ve seen some really good opponents that we’re unfamiliar with, and however this progresses, you start to see some teams that maybe you’re more familiar with a year or two from now.”
Columbus and Minnesota drew 3-3 in regulation at Lower.com Field with Minnesota advancing 4-3 on penalties. Bongokuhle Hlongwane scored for United in the 17th with the Crew’s Maite Amundsen equalizing in the 42nd. Alexandru Matan put Columbus up in the 51st with Hlongwane equalizing in the 54th. The Crew retook the lead from an 83rd minute Christian Ramirez goal, but Hassani Dotson leveled the score for Minnesota in the 90th minute. Columbus failed to convert in rounds 4,5, and 6 with Minnesota failing to convert in the 4th and 5th rounds.
Club America shutout Chicago 1-0 at SeatGeek Stadium, with a 64th minute own-goal the difference. America goalkeeper Luis Malagon recorded the shutout with the Fire finishing without a shot on goal. Alenjandro Zendejas subbed out in the 88th minute for Club America, who finished a man down when Richard Sanchez saw red four minutes into stoppage time.
“I’m extremely proud of the team the way they competed in this tournament,” Chicago coach Frank Klopas said. “Finishing first, obviously, we were excited to play América because I think, you know, when you play teams like this, you become, also, better and it’s very important to test yourself against a team like that. I felt that we held our own, I felt we created better chances in the second half. And I think that I think our fans could be proud.”
Monterrey beat Portland 1-0 at Providence Park on a Maximiliano Meza goal a minute into first-half stoppage time. The Timbers finished a man down with a red card to Yimmi Chara ten minutes into stoppage time. Esteban Andrada kept the clean sheet for Monterrey with four saves.
Tigres advanced 5-3 on penalties after drawing 1-1 at Vancouver. Pedro Vite put the Whitecaps up in the 9th and Andre-Pierre Gignac equalized for Tigres in the 53rd minute. Tigres went five for five on penalties with Vancouver failing to convert in the 4th round.
