Monterrey will be playing in the quarter-finals of the Leagues Cup against LAFC this Friday and they are, along with Querétaro, the only Liga MX teams qualified for the next round of the tournament.
✅ Round of 32
✅ Round of 16
Quarterfinals pic.twitter.com/5mphS4X2LR— Leagues Cup (@LeaguesCup) August 9, 2023
Rayados have had a fantastic tournament thus far, defeating the likes of Real Salt Lake and Seattle Sounders in the group stage, as well as Portland and Liga MX rival, Tigres in the Round of 32 and Round of 16 respectively. They are yet to lose or draw.
¡QUÉ MOMENTO!¡LA PANDILLA VA CON TODO!
¡ARRIBA EL MONTERREY Y SU GENTE!️ pic.twitter.com/wJHLDoj2It— Rayados (@Rayados) August 9, 2023
Now, as they prepare to face off against the MLS champion in the Rose Bowl for a spot in next Tuesday’s semi-final ties, a potential continuation through the tournament would become an accomplishment second to none of practically every Mexican club that participated, but it would also cause a great logistical and travel ordeal difficult to ignore.
As of this point in the tournament, the Rayados’ journey in the Leagues Cup has had the Liga MX club travel from Monterrey all the way to Salt Lake City, Seattle, Portland, Houston and now Los Angeles — resulting in over 5,285 miles travelled in the span of just two weeks. Crazy.
Los viajes acumulados de @Rayados en la @LeaguesCup:
✈️MTY a Salt Lake City - 2000 KM
✈️SLC a Seattle - 1125 KM
✈️Seattle a Portland - 230 KM
✈️Portland a Houston - 2950 KM
✈️Houston a Los Angeles - 1380 KMSon aprox 7,685 KM viajados en 14 días, para cinco partidos. pic.twitter.com/Vbtnod0VwW
— Eric Gomez (@EricGomez86) August 9, 2023
Nos vamos rumbo a California. @VivaAerobus
¡Sigamos Rayando la @LeaguesCup! pic.twitter.com/ftjZqNvb2o— Rayados (@Rayados) August 9, 2023
Yes, bouncing city-to-city and having to accommodate to the logistics of fast-paced tournaments is part of the game and the profession. However, when you are to play in such a late-stage of a tournament (with the thousands of traveling miles accumulated) and your rival has travelled zero miles as they have advanced to the same stage, the playing field becomes uneven.
This is happening because LAFC began the tournament in the Round of 32 (group stage BYE for being the current MLS champion) and since that tie, the club has played every game in BMO Stadium, having the luxury to prepare, rest and play in each of their knockout ties at home. That’s the Leagues Cup for you.
2⃣ @LeaguesCup matches... 1⃣1⃣ goals.
Don't miss our quarterfinal match against @Rayados.— LAFC (@LAFC) August 10, 2023
Monterrey will have to brush off the jet lag and fight for a spot in the next round. Though, if they succeed, the logistical traveling disaster class will only continue and quite frankly, only get worse for La Pandilla.
If Rayados defeat LAFC this Friday, the Liga MX club will have travel even farther to either Minnesota (1,500 miles) or Nashville (1,800 miles) to play in the semi-final tie of their side of the bracket. This means that they could very well have travelled over 7,000 miles in under 20 days and before even reaching a potential final. Absurd numbers.
— Adriano (@AdrianoBanano) August 9, 2023
The Leagues Cup has been a fun and exciting tournament to watch and an ambitious proposal for soccer fans of both MLS and Liga MX. Nevertheless, if the tournament does happen to be played again next year, we hope the organizers aim to fix and learn from the logistical mistakes made in the first edition.
They can start by taking it easy on the jet fuel.
