Last Friday night, in the final quarterfinal match of the Leagues Cup 2023, soccer fans watched an exhilarating comeback win by a Mexican club over the reigning Major League Soccer champion, Los Angeles Football Club
LAFC took a 2-0 lead into the half with goals from Denis Bouanga (2nd minute) and Mateusz Bogusz (42nd minute). But in the second half, CF Monterrey pulled off the exciting comeback with foals from Sergio Canales (68th minute), a Sergi Palencia own goal (80th minute) and Funes Mori 88th minute).
Rayados advanced to the tournament semifinals with the win and is the only Mexican team still alive.
But this isn’t the first time we’ve seen an exciting come-from-behind win by a Mexican team over an MLS team. Below are the biggest comebacks by a LIGA MX club over an MLS club.
CLUB SANTOS VS. CF MONTREAL (2009)
- First leg: Montreal 2-0 Club Santos Laguna
- Second leg: Club Santos Laguna 5-2 Montreal
With two stoppage time goals from Colombian Carlos Darwin Quintero, Santos Laguna won the second leg 5-2 and completed the comeback with a 5-4 aggregate win to advance to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions League.
PACHUCA VS. FC DALLAS (2017)
- First leg: FC Dallas 2-1 Pachuca
- Second leg: Pachuca 3-1 FC Dallas
FC Dallas managed to take a 2-1 lead into the second leg of this CONCACAF Champions League semifinal. But in the second leg, Los Tuxos manached to tie on aggregate and then in the 60th minute, Hirving 'El Chucky' Lozano scored to give his team a 3-1 win and a 4-3 lead in aggregate that sent Club Pachuca straight to the final of the tournament .
PUMAS VS. NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION (2022)
- First leg: New England Revolution 3-0 Pumas
- Second leg: Pumas 3-0 New England Revolution
Pumas dug itself into a hole dropping the first leg 3-0 at Gillette Stadium for the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal. But they got to return home to Ciudad Universitaria for the second leg and managed to wipe away that deficit with a 3-0 win. With the clubs drawn 3-3 on aggregate, they went to a penalty shootout. Pumas bested the Revolution 4-3 to advance to the next round.
This year’s CF Monterrey vs. LAFC match will go down as one of the most exciting LIGA MX vs. MLS matches in both leagues’ history.
