LAFC met the final boss on Tuesday night in the CONCACAF Champions League final: Tigres UANL, the best team in North America over the last decade with five Liga MX titles but one whose own journeys in the CCL had ended in final heartbreak in three of the last four years.
Major League Soccer's Los Angeles FC and Mexican side Tigres will meet in the final of the CONCACAF Champions League on Tuesday in Orlando, Fla., after both sides were victorious in their semifinal matches on Saturday night.
Carlos Vela scored goals in the 46th and 47th minutes to rally his LAFC to a 3-1 win over Mexican side Club América.
La acción de no rendir bien en un partido de fútbol importante tiene varios nombres en Latinoamérica. “Arrugar,” “ahogarse,” “ser pecho frío” e incluso se alude a algunos términos escatológicos. En México, sin embargo, la palabra de moda es “cruzazulear”. Tanta es su popularidad que varios proponen darle un lugar en el diccionario de la RAE.
Sí, "cruzazulearla" es un derivado del club Cruz Azul, equipo que en los últimos 20 años parece destinado a fracasar estrepitosamente, aun cuando las condiciones le son favorables.
No one can argue that 2020 has been an awful year that we all want to put behind us. But before we look ahead 2021, we have to take a minute to appreciate how sports have provided something resembling normality in recent months.
Considering the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been incredibly lucky to have soccer leagues playing regularly since June.
Cruz Azul’s return to the pitch on Wednesday evening against LAFC in the CONCACAF Champions League was unlike anything you’ll ever see again.
They could score four against Cruz Azul, but Pumas couldn’t find the one they ultimately needed for 82 minutes in Sunday’s Liga MX final. Emmanuel Gigliotti gave León the 2-1 aggregate lead at the Nou Camp in the 12th-minute, and the home side continued to generate the better chances until Yairo Moreno put them out of sight at the end.
Emmanuel Gigliotti, who definitely should’ve been sent off about 30 minutes earlier, scored a late equalizer for 10-man León to salvage a 1-1 draw against Pumas in the first leg of the Liga MX Guard1anes 2020 final on Thursday night. The even score sets up what should be an incredible second leg on Sunday night in León.
Few leagues in the world entertain as much as Liga MX and Thursday’s first leg was no different.
Basketball has five- and seven-game series. American football is always a single game. Baseball does everything from one-game playoffs to seven-game series. Then there’s soccer, which can’t really make up its mind: Is one leg or two legs a better format for knockout playoffs? If the current Liga MX and MLS playoff formats are anything to go by, it’s not an easy choice.
I’ll be honest, I had little to no intention of watching tonight’s Liga MX semifinal second leg between Cruz Azul and Pumas. La Máquina had won the first leg 4-0, and although Cruz Azul comes with the factory warning of Cruz Azul-ing, I’d like to think I had better things to do on a Sunday night.
I don't. Sources told me Juan Dinenno had pulled one back for Pumas in the fourth minute, so the gin went in the juice and I turned on TUDN.
Cruz Azul took a giant step toward reaching the Liga MX Apertura finals with a stunning 4-0 victory over Pumas UNAM on Thursday night, scoring three goals in the opening 13 minutes. Pumas are left with a mountain to climb in the second leg on Sunday, not to mention the psychological blow of conceding one of the goals of the season in Mexico to one Rafael Baca.