Club America wins Campeones, LAFC wins the Open Cup
Alex Zendejas’s Club America won the Campeones Cup on Wednesday, drawing 1-1 at Columbus and lifting the title 5-4 on penalties. Zendejas subbed out in the 61st minute. Victor Davila opened the scoring for Club America in the 68th and the Crew’s Malte Amundsen equalized in the 77th minute. Both teams failed to convert in the second and sixth rounds of penalties, with Columbus not scoring in round seven.
Moving to the Canadian Championship final, Vancouver and Toronto drew 0-0 at BC Place with the Whitecaps winning 4-2 on penalties. Both teams didn’t convert in the second round of penalties, with Toronto also failing to convert in round three.
In the US Open Cup final, LAFC beat Sporting Kansas City 3-1 in extra time after finishing 1-1 in regulation at BMO Stadium. Olivier Giroud opened the scoring for LAFC in the 53rd and Sporting KC’s Erik Thommy equalized in the 60th. LAFC’s Olar Campos scored in the 102nd and Kei Kamara doubled the lead in the 109th minute.
“There’s a winner and a loser every final,” LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo said. “Before every final it’s a coin toss if teams are of equal quality, healthy, fresh and have similar players on the field. There’s only two outcomes so that’s how you have to see these, sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t. There are things you can do before, during and with your subbing that can put odds in your favor. The first-half was very controlled, high tempo and we knew that would open things up later and that’s exactly what happened.”
On Thursday, Tannter Tessmann subbed on in the 68th for Lyon’s 2-0 home shutout of Olympiacos. Ryan Cherki opened the scoring for Lyon in the 65th and Said Benrahma doubled the lead in the 71st minute. Timmy Chandler was on the bench for Eintracht’s 3-3 home draw with Viktoria Plzen. Hugo Ekitike put Eintracht up in the 38th with Viktoria Plzen equalizing in the 41st. Eintracht’s Junior Dina Ebimbe scored in the 62nd and Rasmus Kristensen doubled their lead in the 67th. Viktoria Plzen pulled a goal back in the 86th and equalized two minutes into stoppage time.
Moving to La Liga, Johnny Cardoso’s Real Betis drew 1-1 at Las Palmas. Trailing from the 9th, Giovani Lo Celso equalized for Real Betis three minutes into first-half stoppage time. Luca de la Torre wasn’t in the squad for Celta Vigo’s 1-0 home loss to Atletico Madrid. Celta Vigo fell behind in the 90th minute.
Kristoffer Lund subbed out in the 63rd minute for Palermo’s 5-0 loss at Napoli in the second round of the Coppa Italia. Napoli went ahead in the 7th and added goals in the 12th and 42nd. Palermo’s Aljosa Vasic saw red in the 58th. Napoli scored in the 70th and 77th minutes.
Quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
