One of the best parts about Leagues Cup? How unpredictable the tournament can be.
Now we’re rolling into the knockout rounds, starting with the Round of 32 on Wednesday. And I want to highlight some teams who might continue surprising folks.
Some might call them the underdog, others the dark horse. I look at it more like “don’t sleep on them.”
If you're looking for favorites, Sacha Kljestan has the full breakdown.
The Portland Timbers probably aren’t going to win MLS Cup this year. They’re probably not going to win the Supporters’ Shield either.
But can they go on a Leagues Cup run? Absolutely. They have the momentum, they have the attackers. The only worrying part is sometimes the defense, but they've raised their level this tournament.
The key will be Portland’s front four of Evander, Felipe Mora and Jonathan Rodríguez… Santi Moreno or Antony too. They're elite right now. They’ve got enough firepower to cause the big teams problems.
Phil Neville’s side visits St. Louis CITY SC in the Round of 32 – that’s a winnable game. The danger is they’d probably face defending LIGA MX champions Club América in the Round of 16. I’m not counting them out, though.
On paper, you’d think Cruz Azul are heavily favored against Orlando City as the bigger name and better team. They’ve looked dangerous until the 18-yard box and are possessing the ball well.
But Giorgos Giakoumakis isn’t having a great tournament and Orlando know him well from his Atlanta United days. Oscar Pareja also knows how to limit these types of teams, how to frustrate them.
Personnel-wise, I really like that midfield partnership with Wilder Cartagena and César Araújo. They win the ball back, they can build out and start attacks. They found form a few weeks before Leagues Cup and have kept going into this tournament. Everything flows from that foundation.
The other big change is Martín Ojeda moving into the No. 10 role and Facundo Torres going out wide right. He’s great when cutting in and is starting to produce again. Then Ramiro Enrique… every year Orlando seem to find someone who turns into that goal-scorer. His movement and all-around play as a No. 9 is exactly what they need. Six goals in six games!
Earlier in the tournament, when Minnesota United hosted Necaxa, we all focused on Dayne St. Clair’s performance. He made 16 saves and some were brilliant. The Canadian international was outstanding.
But what happened is we overlooked Necaxa’s attacking performance. They created chance after chance. Sometimes it’s just one of those days where you can’t score and the goalkeeper stands on his head.
Then against Seattle, Necaxa were lethal on the counter-attack and in transition moments. If they can maintain that level and ruthlessness, they’re going to cause teams problems.
Necaxa face the San Jose Earthquakes in the Round of 32, and I expect them to win. Can they knock off another MLS team in the Round of 16? They’d face LAFC or Austin FC next.
I might be a prisoner of the moment, but I want to shout out Toronto FC.
John Herdman's trying to instill building out the back and they've shot themselves in the foot a bunch over the last month or so. But they got those patterns of play right against Pachuca – they had one of the best teams in Mexico running around in circles, could have scored even more goals and were undoubtedly the better team.
After that Pachuca match, I thought to myself: If this could be their standard, if they could put this together consistently, we've got a real team here. We all know the quality Federico Bernardeschi and Lorenzo Insigne bring. Derrick Etienne Jr. has found his home, too. I really like Deybi Flores as a ball-winner and Jonathan Osorio has embraced the captaincy.
My only pause with Toronto is their quadrant of the bracket. They’ve got Inter Miami first and then likely Columbus Crew. That’s probably too difficult to roll through.
