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Liga MX EMBARRASES MLS in Concacaf Champions Cup with two blowout wins

By Reuters March 13, 2024
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Liga MX’s dominance in Mexico strikes again.
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Pachuca 6, Union 0

Salomon Rondon's hat trick powered the hosts to a rout of Philadelphia in Pachuca, Mexico, sending Pachuca to a 6-0 aggregate victory.

Following a scoreless draw last week in Chester, Pa., Rondon opened the scoring with a seventh-minute penalty kick. He doubled the lead in first-half stoppage time when he exchanged quick passes with Erick Sanchez and fired home a left-footed shot from 12 yards out.

He completed his hat trick in the 53rd minute when he fired in a right-footed shot off a cross from Miguel Rodriguez.

Goals from Nelson Deossa (57th minute), Oussama Idrissi (63rd) and Alan Bautista (85th) completed the blowout.

Pachuca advance to oppose either Costa Rica's Herediano or Suriname's Robinhood in the quarterfinals.

Tigres UANL 4, Orlando City 2

Goals from Marcelo Flores and Andre-Pierre Gignac in the first 20 minutes set the hosts on their way to a victory over the Lions in San Nicolas de los Garza, Mexico.

The teams played a scoreless first leg last week in Florida before Tigres controlled the second leg on Tuesday.

Flores put Tigres on top in the 13th minute, and Gignac doubled the lead with a penalty kick in the 20th minute.

Orlando City halved the deficit when Facundo Torres scored on a 24th-minute penalty shot, but an own goal from Lions goalkeeper Pedro Gallese in the 68th minute damaged the visitors' hopes.

Tigres' Sebastian Cordova and Orlando City's Martin Ojeda (first minute of second-half stoppage time) added late goals.

Columbus Crew 1, Houston Dynamo 1

Cucho Hernandez's 40th-minute goal put Columbus in a comfortable position, and the Crew advanced in the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinals after a 1-1 draw with the visiting Houston Dynamo on Tuesday.

The Crew wound up winning the two-leg, total-goal series 2-1. Columbus, the reigning MLS Cup champion, moves on to face Tigres UANL.

Griffin Dorsey converted a 90th-minute penalty kick for the Dynamo, who would have advanced on the away-goals tiebreaker if they had managed another goal.

Late in the first half, Columbus' Christian Ramirez sent a long pass to Hernandez on the left flank. Hernandez cut inside in the 18-yard box, then sent a shot between the legs of a Houston defender and past goalie Steve Clark at the near post.

Near the end of regulation, the Crew's Steven Moreira was whistled for a handball in the penalty area. Dorsey then fired a right-footed shot into the upper left corner.

--Field Level Media

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