16-15! Club León and Vancouver Whitecaps Make MLS History

WhatsApp Image 2023-07-22 at 12.57.37 AM

When four straight penalty kick takers missed their shots in the third and fourth rounds of kicks for Club León and Vancouver Whitecaps FC, that seemed like it would be the oddest thing to happen.

Then the goalkeepers got to kick in the 11th round of kicks (both made them).

Then the teams combined for 15 straight penalty kicks until Vancouver’s Luís Martins hit the right post with his shot to bring the 19-round penalty kick session to an end.

The lengthy shootout (38 kicks) is now a Leagues Cup record but it actually shatters the MLS record for most attempted kicks in a shootout.

On two separate occasions, MLS teams have been involved in 22-kick penalty shootouts. The first occurred in the 2015 MLS Cup playoffs (Portland Timbers beat Sporting KC 7-6). The second instance happened in the 2018 U.S. Open Cup 4th Round (Chicago Fire defeated the Columbus Crew 10-9)