Credit: Atlanta United
Leagues Cup: Inter Miami wins, Atlanta loses to Necaxa
The opening round of the Leagues Cup continued on Wednesday, with Inter Miami beating Atlas 2-1 in Fort Lauderdale. Telasco Segovia put Inter Miami up in the 57th with Jose Lozano equalizing for Atlas in the 80th. Marcelo Wigandt scored Miami’s winner six minutes into stoppage time.
Necaxa beat Atlanta 3-1 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, taking the lead from an own-goal in the 12th. Atlanta’s Alexey Miranchuk equalized in the 28th. Necaxa retook the lead from a Tomas Badaloni goal in the 77th. Badaloni scored again a minute into stoppage time.
“This has put us into a very difficult situation,” Atlanta coach Ronny Deila said. “We have to go on and win the next two matches, that will be the goal, and to develop ourselves. We need to get better, that is the only thing. There are so many positive things that I can say about [the team], but in the end, the whole situation turns very negative after the way the match played out.”
UNAM Pumas beat Orlando 4-3 on penalties at Inter&Co Stadium after drawing 1-1 in regulation. Rodrigo Schlegel put Orlando up in the 5th and Adalberto Carrasquilla equalized for UNAM Pumas in the 80th. Orlando fialed to covnert in the send and fourth rounds of penalties while UNAM Pumas didn’t convert in round one.
Minnesota beat Queretaro 4-1 at home, going ahead from a Bongokuhle Hlongwane goal in the 11th. Kelvin Yeboah doubled the United lead in the 20th. Queretaro’s Jhojan Julio pulled a goal back in the 67th. Anthony Markanich scored for Minnesota in the 79th. Queretaro’s Angel Zapata saw red in the 87th. Tani Oluwaseyi finished off the United goals a minute into stoppage time.
“There’s no margin of error,” Minnesota coach Eric Ramsey said. “We made it very clear to our players this week that it’s not possible for us to lose games at home. After winning tonight, we have a huge challenge against Club América but the players want that kind of challenge. For them, it’ll be a feeling of playing a final at this point in the tournament and that’s really important.”
Real Salt Lake beat Alex Zendejas’s Club America 3-1 on penalties after drawing 2-2 in regulation at Rio Tinto Stadium. Diego Luna opened the scoring for RSL in the 16th with Brian Rodriguez equalizing for Club America in the 42nd. William Agada returned Salt Lake’s lead two minutes into first-half stoppage time. Erick Sanchez leveled the score for Club America seven minutes into stoppage time. Club America failed to convert in the first, third, and fourth rounds of penalties with RSL not scoring in round four.
Portland shutout Atletico San Luis 4-0 at home, going ahead from a David Da Costa goal in the 1st. Kevin Kelsy doubled the lead in the 56th, Ariel Lassiter added a goal in the 73rd, and Felipe Mora finished off the scoring in the 78th minute.
In Champions League second round qualifying, Erik Palmer-Brown’s Panathinaikos drew 1-1 at home with Rangers on the night, exiting the tournament 3-1 on aggregate. Filip Djuricic put Panathinaikos up on the night in the 53rd with Rangers equalizing in the 60th minute. Panathinaikos moves to the Europa League third qualifying round.
Quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
Photo by Atlanta United
