Four more Leagues Cup games tonight
Check out the full schedule here or head to The Preview below.
A whole lot of penalty shootouts and a couple of upsets. Let’s talk it out.
Neither team deserved to win, but someone had to I guess. Santos Laguna won the penalty shootout and advance to the Round of 32, where they’ll face the winner of tonight’s FC Cincinnati-NYCFC game. Atlanta United are eliminated after a performance no one should feel good about.
Orlando found a way to make it through on penalties despite an early red from Kyle Smith. With the two points, the Lions took Group E2. Their prize? Well… it’s facing off against Cruz Azul. That’s not much of a reward, but it’s something. To be fair, Orlando are playing good ball right now. Typical Oscar Pareja stuff.
San Luis are eliminated.
The biggest result of the night came thanks to goals from Derrick Etienne Jr. and Kobe Franklin, as Toronto took down the reigning Concacaf Champions Cup champs. The Reds were spinning their wheels coming into this tournament and picked up results over Pachuca and New York Red Bulls. If it weren’t for Austin, this would be the most shocking group result of the competition.
Now, Toronto are on to face Inter Miami in the Round of 32. What’s one more big name to take down, right?
Pachuca will face off against Tigres.
Oh, by the way, Etienne Jr. is up to six goal contributions since arriving in Toronto via a trade with Atlanta United. Toronto aren’t even covering his full salary. He’s quietly been a productive signing.
The Union, after all their struggles this season, found a way to the top of a group featuring Charlotte and Cruz Azul thanks in part to Dániel Gazdag’s late equalizer. They’re on to face CF Montréal in the Round of 32. Maybe this competition is what they needed to wake themselves up?
Meanwhile, Cruz Azul, the second-place finishers in Group E4 despite being heavy favorites, will take on an increasingly competent Orlando City side.
Neither team needed a result to advance, but Juárez went ahead and won on penalties anyway. They won the group while St. Louis finished second. Juárez will face the winner of Léon and Colorado. St. Louis will take on a red-hot Portland team.
Cade Cowell (!) stepped up and saved the day for Chivas in stoppage time… well, nearly saved the day. With their loss on penalties, Chivas are eliminated from Leagues Cup after failing to finish above San Jose. The Galaxy took the group and will face Seattle. San Jose are up against Necaxa thanks to…
Well, this was one way for Seattle to approach it. The Sounders were safe as long as they didn’t lose by a ton of goals, so they went and only lost by a couple. They were never in actual danger, but this result ended up being the difference between facing the Galaxy in the Round of 32 and facing San Jose. Now they’ll have to slow down Riqui Puig and company.
Four games of varying importance for you tonight. Let’s talk it out.
FC Cincinnati vs. New York City FC
Watch: Apple TV - Free | Monday, 8 pm ET
Watchability Score: 30/50
Both of these teams are safe, but the winner takes the group. Winner gets Santos Laguna, loser gets D.C. United. The stakes are… frankly, the stakes are very low. But both of these teams are good at soccer, so this could be fun.
Houston Dynamo FC vs. Real Salt Lake
Watch: Apple TV - Free | Monday, 9 pm ET
Watchability Score: 35/50
Houston have their back against the wall after losing to Atlas. They need a win and they need to win by more than one goal. If they don’t win by more than one goal, they need to score at least two goals. Look, it’s complicated, but the odds of a three-way tie on points and goal differential is real here. RSL will want to go ahead and just take care of business here and not worry about untangling all of this.
Club Léon vs. Colorado Rapids
Watch: Apple TV - MLS Season Pass | Monday, 9 pm ET
Watchability Score: 38/50
This could be a fun one. Both Léon and the Rapids can commiserate together over getting trucked by Portland. Then once they’re done with that, they can both realize their backs are against the wall and they need to win to advance. Loser goes home. Winner gets to take on FC Juárez.
Toluca vs. Sporting KC
Watch: Apple TV - Free, UniMás, FS1 | Monday, 9 pm ET
Watchability Score: 20/50
Congrats! Both teams are through. The winner of this takes the group and gets to face… [checking]... whoever comes in second in the very messy Houston-RSL-Atlas group. The loser gets to face... [checking]... Columbus.
- Here’s who's still in, who's out and who's still fighting in Leagues Cup.
- Toronto FC sent a message with their upset of Pachuca.
- The Galaxy provided a “big moment” by eliminating Chivas
Good luck out there. Let the kids run the show.
