Credit: Columbus Crew
Leagues Cup: Win for Montreal, Columbus loses on penalties
The 2025 Leagues Cup began on Tuesday, starting with Montreal beating Leon 7-6 on penalties after drawing 1-1. Rogelio Funes Mori put Leon up in the 11th with Prince Owusu equalizing for Montreal in the 62nd minute. Leon failed to convert in the seventh round of penalties, while Montreal converted all seven of their penalties.
“Today was probably one of the best games of the season,” Montreal interim coach Marco Donadel said. “We are improving physically. The relationship between our players on the field is very good. Our goal was to try to stay alive in the competition after tonight and I think that we reached our goal.”
Columbus lost 4-2 on penalties to Toluca after drawing 2-2 at Lower.com Field. Diego Rossi put the Crew up from the penalty spot in the 11th and Max Arfsten doubled the lead in the 48th. Toluca’s Paulinho scored in the 71st and equalized in the 80th. Columbus failed to convert in the first and second rounds of penalties with Toluca not converting in round three.
“To be honest, I’m happy with the performance,” Columbus coach Wilfried Nancy said. “We had our moments, and they had also their moments. If we [were] a little bit cleaner, I think that it could have been better, but again, this is the situation for the moment.”
NYCFC lost 3-0 to Puebla at Sports Illustrated Stadium. Juan Fedorco opened the scoring for Puebla, Emiliano Gomez doubled the lead in the 38th, and Owen Gonzalez finished off the goals in the 88th minute.
“The way we started off the game always made it hard for us, conceding in the first few minutes,” NYCFC midfielder Justin Haak said. “We just need to focus on dealing with the intensity of the game. We know how these teams are going to come out and play and we can’t be starting games the way we did.”
Tigres beat Houston 4-1 at Shell Energy Stadium. Angel Correa opened the scoring for Tigres three minutes into stoppage time. The Dynamo’s Ondrej Lingr equalized in the 47th. Tigres retook the lead from a Diego Lainez goal in the 63rd, Correa scored again in the 70th, and Ozziel Herrera extended the lead seven minutes into stoppage time.
Mazatlan beat LAFC 11-10 on penalties after drawing 1-1 at BMO Stadium. LAFC’s David Martinez opened the scoring in the 29th and Fabio equalized for Mazatlan in the 31st minute. Mazatlan failed to convert in the second round of penalties and LAFC didn’t convert in rounds three and twelve.
Pachuca won 3-2 at San Diego. Victor Guzman put Pachuca up in the 23rd and Alexei Dominguez added goals three minutes into first-half stoppage time and the 67th. Emmanuel Boateng scored for San Diego in the 88th. San Diego’s Anders Dreyer saw red two minutes into stoppage time. Luca Bombino pulled a goal back for San Diego ten minutes into stoppage time.
“Our guys kept pushing for the game,” San Diego coach Mikey Varas said. “And something I’m really, really proud about is the character of the group, you know, down three zero to bring it back, three-two, score a goal, player down, and to get ourselves into some pretty dangerous situations where it could be three-three. You know, we could be sitting here. I think if we play five more minutes, we could be sitting here with a three, three result, but it wasn’t our day.”
Quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
Photo by the Columbus Crew
