MLS

After a thrilling 3-2 Tigres win in Monterrey pulled the Liga MX club level with Toronto FC on aggregate in the Concacaf Champions League quarterfinals, the defending MLS Cup champions advanced to the semifinals over the Liga MX Apertura Champions on away goals.

Toronto FC needed a lucky Tigres own goal, some Sebastian Giovinco magic (he scored a free kick, as per usual) and a little more luck to withstand a late Tigres rally in order to advance, but advance they did. 

The New York Red Bulls struck a blow for MLS pride in the early Concacaf Champions League match Tuesday when they beat Liga MX's Club Tijuana 3-1, 5-1 on aggregate, to advance to the semifinals.

The Red Bulls cut Tijuana with intricate movement in the final third, which is not a thing one normally associates with Major League Soccer. It's a brave new world.

While the U.S. president continues to fight for a wall between the countries, Mexico and the U.S. (plus Canada) continue to grow closer through soccer. A week after the joint 2026 World Cup bid reshuffled its leadership for a more united front between all three countries, Liga MX and MLS announced an unprecedented partnership on Tuesday, highlighted by the Campeones Cup, a new annual competition pitting the best team from each league against each other. 

With 102 appearances, 18 goals and as a veteran of two World Cups, history is on Giovani dos Santos’ side. However, his play on the field over the last year and a half makes his inclusion in Mexico’s 2018 World Cup squad, by Juan Carlos Osorio’s own stated standards, a real doubt.

When Dos Santos arrived in MLS in 2016, his initial return of 14 goals, 12 assists and a place in the MLS Best XI seemed to fully justify a Designated Player salary of $5.5 million per year. 

NBA Twitter created a whole new way to watch basketball in America. Major League Soccer appears to want to do the same thing with its new MLS Twitter deal, announced Friday, which will include the broadcast of at least 24 live matches this season. 

Eighteen years. That’s how long it’s been since the L.A. Galaxy defeated Honduran side CD Olimpia 3-2 in the final of the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup, becoming only the second and, to date, final MLS side to win the region’s continental championship. 

When D.C. United won the tournament in 1998 with the likes of Roy Lassiter, Jeff Agoos, Eddie Pope and Marco Etcheverry running circles around León and Toluca, there wasn’t the reward of a FIFA Club World Cup. 

Clint Dempsey (of course it was Clint Dempsey) scored the only goal in a 1-0 Seattle Sounders victory over Chivas Guadalajara in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League that capped a remarkable two-day stretch that saw the three remaining MLS clubs all beat their Liga MX opponents. That, for those who don't normally follow the CONCACAF Champions League, is noteworthy and even remarkable.

Anyway, here's the goal:

Jonathan Osorio had one of the worst misses you can imagine. He atoned for it with one of the sweetest finishes imaginable to lead Toronto FC to a 2-1 comeback win over Tigres UANL on Wednesday in Toronto. The second leg of Tigres vs. Toronto in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals will be Tuesday back in Mexico.

Tigres took a lead in the 52nd minute through Eduardo Vargas but the Reds nearly responded immediately, only for Osorio to sky his wide-open shot from six yards out. It was a shocking miss and one that could haunt a player for the rest of the match.