Leagues Cup roundup: Paulinho, Toluca stay hot with win over CF Montreal
Paulinho scored on an acrobatic bicycle kick in the 26th minute to put Toluca ahead in a 2-1 victory over CF Montreal in their Matchday 2 clash in Phase One of the Leagues Cup on Friday night.
Jesus Angulo leveled for Toluca (1-0-1, 5 points) three minutes earlier in Harrison, N.J., after Efrain Morales' header from a corner kick gave Montreal (0-1-1, 2 points) the lead in the 20th minute.
Paulinho's third goal of the tournament then lifted Toluca to its second positive result after falling behind. In their Leagues Cup opener on Tuesday, the Diablos Rojos rallied from two down to a 2-2 draw at Columbus and earned an extra point via penalty shootout.
Montreal striker Prince Owusu received a red card after the final whistle and will be suspended for his side's Phase One finale against Puebla.
Morales' goal was his first playing for an MLS team. The 21-year-old center back joined Montreal from Atlanta United in a July 23 trade.
Columbus Crew 3, Puebla 1
Diego Rossi scored his second tournament goal and assisted another as the Columbus Crew won comfortably over visiting Puebla.
Malte Amundsen and Andres Herrera also scored for Columbus (1-0-1, 4 points) in a match where all the goals came before halftime.
The 18-year-old Taha Habroune had two assists for the Crew, who drew with Toluca 2-2 in their first match before losing the ensuing penalty shootout.
Esteban Lozano pulled a goal back in first-half stoppage time for Puebla (1-1-0, 3 points), which has allowed multiple goals in three of five matches across all competitions since the 2025 Liga MX Apertura began.
Mazatlan FC 2, Houston Dynamo 0
Fabio Gomes scored his second goal of the tournament after halftime as visiting Mazatlan boosted their chance of advancing to the knockout phase for a third consecutive tournament.
Facundo Almada also scored before the break for Mazatlan (1-0-1, 5 points), which reached the round of 32 in 2023 and the quarterfinals last year.
Ricardo Gutierrez made six saves to keep his second clean sheet since the apertura started, after he was the victorious goalkeeper in a penalty shootout following Mazatlan's 1-1 draw at LAFC to open the tournament.
Houston (0-2-0) has now lost seven of its last 10 in all competitions, with six of those defeats coming by multiple goals.
New York City FC 2, Club Leon 0
Alonso Martinez and Agustin Ojeda scored before halftime and New York City completed a dominant victory over Leon in Harrison, N.J.
Matt Freese saved a second-half penalty kick by James Rodriguez and made four total stops to keep a clean sheet and help NYCFC (1-1-0, 3 points) rebound after absorbing a 3-0 loss to Puebla in their opening match.
It was Freese's seventh clean sheet in all competitions and the Pigeons' eighth.
Leon (0-1-1, 1 point) is now scoreless in its last 169 minutes and has scored only three goals in five games since opening Liga MX Apertura play last month. They drew CF Montreal 1-1 in their opener before losing the ensuing penalty shootout.
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