Leagues Cup roundup: Unbeaten Toluca knock out NYCFC
Paulinho scored his fourth goal of the tournament in the 39th minute and Toluca again came from behind to earn a 2-1 road victory over New York City FC on Matchday 3 of Leagues Cup opening-phase play on Tuesday.
Jesus Angulo recorded his second of the tournament in the 37th minute for Toluca (2-0-1, 8 points), which moved momentarily to the top of the standings on the Liga MX side. Four Mexican teams and four MLS teams will earn quarterfinal berths.
Alonso Martinez scored his second goal of the tournament for New York City FC (1-2-0, 3 points), which was eliminated with the defeat.
The Cityzens became the second straight Leagues Cup opponent to lose to Toluca after scoring first, and the third to drop points.
Crew 1, Club Leon 0
Max Arfsten scored early in the second half to give host Columbus a victory against already-eliminated Leon.
Patrick Schulte made four saves to keep his first tournament clean sheet to go with two so far during the MLS regular season.
That was enough to push the Crew (2-0-1, 7 points) for the moment to the top of the MLS side of the standings. But as of the final whistle, eight sides still had the chance to surpass Columbus in their final opening-phase matches.
Leon (0-2-1, 1 point) went their last 259 minutes of play without scoring after Rogelio Funes Mori's early strike in a 1-1 draw against CF Montreal on Matchday 1.
CF Pachuca 2, Houston Dynamo 1
Gaston Togni's 85th-minute winner lifted visiting Pachuca momentarily to second in the Liga MX standings.
Luis Quinones gave the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup winners the lead in the 24th minute as the Tuzos (2-0-1, 7 points) tried to prolong their bid for another continental honor.
Amine Bassi pulled Houston (0-3-0, 0 points) level from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute on a foul awarded by referee Adonis Carrasco following video review.
However, Togni's goal came only three minutes later. It was enough to secure victory against Dynamo, who have scored one goal or fewer in 10 of their past 11 matches in all competitions.
Puebla 2, CF Montreal 1
Ricardo Marin scored in the 73rd minute as visiting Puebla eventually seized on a lengthy numerical advantage to rally past Montreal and keep their knockout-phase hopes alive.
Emiliano Gomez added his second goal of the tournament for Puebla (2-1-0, 6 points) earlier in the second half after seeing his first-half penalty kick saved.
Montreal's Joel Waterman was sent off for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity on the foul that led to the penalty. However, Prince Owusu scored his second goal of the tournament early in the second half to briefly give CF Montreal (0-2-1, 2 points) the lead on a night when their elimination became official.
Both teams finished with 10 men when Raul Castillo received his second caution in second-half stoppage time.
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