Preview | Cruz Azul vs. LAFC – Concacaf Champions Cup Quarterfinals – Leg Two

| Estadio Cuauhtémoc – Puebla, Mexico

With a spot within the Concacaf Champions Cup Semifinals on the road, LAFC travels to Puebla, Mexico, for the second leg of its Quarterfinal sequence in opposition to defending CCC champions Cruz Azul. 

LAFC holds a 3-0 lead on combination objectives within the two-sport, house-and-away sequence, and would advance to the CCC Semifinals for the third time in membership historical past with a win or a draw. LAFC would additionally advance if it loses the second leg by a rating of 0-1, 0-2, 1-2, 1-3, or 1-4.

If Cruz Azul had been to win Tuesday’s second leg 3-0—tying the sequence 3-3 on combination objectives—the Quarterfinal would instantly transfer to 2 15-minute durations of additional time to find out a winner, adopted by penalty kicks if mandatory. 

In sum: regardless of LAFC’s present three-purpose lead this sequence is much from over, particularly with 90 minutes to be performed in opposition to Cruz Azul, whose roster is wealthy with expertise and whose historical past is stuffed with trophies. The seven-time champions have performed extra matches, logged extra wins, and scored extra objectives than every other Mexican workforce on this competitors.

While assured in its personal high quality, LAFC is aware of the hazard that journeys to Mexico can convey. In this 12 months’s Round of 16, San Diego FC took a 3-2 lead into its second leg in opposition to Deportivo Toluca earlier than falling 4-0 and bowing out of the competitors. Another MLS aspect, FC Cincinnati, led Tigres 3-0 after the primary leg of their Round-of-16 sequence then received ambushed within the second leg, 5-1. 

In final 12 months’s Champions Cup Quarterfinals, LAFC constructed a 2-0 combination-objectives benefit over Inter Miami in the course of the second leg earlier than three unanswered Miami objectives despatched LAFC house. 

In LAFC’s favor: the Black & Gold has scored in 9 consecutive away matches in Concacaf Champions Cup, tying the longest such streak by an MLS membership within the trendy period (since 2008), alongside D.C. United (2009–2015).

The winner of this LAFC-Cruz Azul Quarterfinal will face the winner of the Toluca-Galaxy Quarterfinal.

Last week Toluca defeated the Galaxy 4-2 of their first leg in Mexico. The second leg is scheduled for Wednesday evening, April 15, in Carson, Calif.

Concacaf Champions Cup is a 27-workforce continental match that takes place from February by means of May and options the highest 27 groups in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. The winner of the CCC Final on May 30 earns a berth within the FIFA Club World Cup in 2029.

Goals from Son Heung-Min (30’) and David Martínez (39’, 58’) guided LAFC to a 3-0 win over Cruz Azul within the first leg final Tuesday, on a uncommon evening wherein roughly half of the followers at BMO Stadium had been carrying the guests’ colours—on this case the royal blue of Cruz Azul.

The clear sheet was the Black & Gold’s second in 5 matches on this competitors and its eighth clear sheet in 12 matches in all competitions this 12 months. In 5 CCC matches in 2026, LAFC has a document of 4W-0L-1D and has outscored opponents 13-3.

LAFC’s midfield and its again line had been excellent within the first leg, with midfielder Mathieu Choinière logging two assists, nevertheless it was the playmaking of Son and the Man-of-the-Match efficiency by Martinez, who capped two prolonged dribbling runs with world-class finishes, that dominated the evening.

Son has recorded seven purpose contributions in his 5 Concacaf Champions Cup appearances this 12 months (two objectives, 5 assists). 

The first leg additionally marked the return of Cruz Azul goalkeeper Kevin Mier, who gained the competitors’s Goalkeeper of the Year award final 12 months earlier than breaking his leg in Liga MX play in November. The 25-12 months-outdated saved two of the 5 pictures he confronted in opposition to LAFC within the first leg. LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris saved all 5 of Cruz Azul’s pictures on course.

After defeating Cruz Azul, LAFC traveled to Portland for a Saturday MLS match in opposition to the Timbers. LAFC head coach Marc Dos Santos made eight adjustments to his beginning eleven and gave teenage midfielders Jude Terry and Matt Evans their first profession begins, as a closely-rotated Black & Gold aspect fell 2-1 on a late Portland purpose on the 90+6’ mark.

That evening, Cruz Azul performed Club América to a 1-1 attract a renewal of the emotional Clásico Joven rivalry between the 2 Liga MX giants. Cruz Azul head coach Nicolás Larcamón made 4 adjustments to the lineup that began in opposition to LAFC, inserting striker Nicolas Ibañez, winger Carlos Rotondi, defender Gonzalo Piovi, and goalkeeper Andrés Gudiño into his eleven. Former LAFC fullback Omar Campos scored for La Máchina on the 45+3’ mark to tie the match, however Cruz Azul couldn’t discover the winner. 

Former LAFC winger Brian Rodriguez (who tallied eight MLS objectives for the Black & Gold from 2019 to 2022) almost scored twice for América however was denied by acrobatic saves from Gudiño.

Ibañez, the star striker acquired from Tigres earlier this 12 months, left the sport within the thirty eighth minute with a decrease physique damage.

With a capability of 51,726, Estadio Cuauhtémoc is the fourth-largest soccer stadium in Mexico. Built throughout preparations for the 1968 Summer Olympics, the stadium is called after the Mexican brewery Cuauhtémoc-Moctezuma, and has hosted matches within the 1970 FIFA World Cup and the 1986 FIFA World Cup. 

Estadio Cuauhtémoc is the longtime house of Liga MX aspect Club Puebla. Cruz Azul moved its house matches there in January attributable to scheduled renovations at its normal house in Mexico City, Estadio Azteca, which is 80 miles away. 

It scores a purpose. So-called “away goals” are the tiebreaker on this competitors, which on this case signifies that if LAFC had been to attain in Puebla on Tuesday evening and lose the second leg 4-1, the Black & Gold would advance regardless that the sequence could be tied on combination objectives, 4-4. 

In different phrases, if LAFC scores a single purpose in regulation time, Cruz Azul would want to attain 5 objectives to maneuver on to the Semifinals. That’s a tall order in opposition to an LAFC workforce that has conceded 5 objectives all 12 months over 12 whole matches.

A mix of altitude, attacking high quality, and Concacaf craziness strikes. This competitors—all the confederation, actually—has grow to be infamous for its unlikely outcomes, offbeat narratives, and inconsistent taking part in environments. Estadio Cuauhtémoc is situated about 7,200 ft above sea stage—2,000 ft increased than the loftiest MLS stadium (Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Colorado). Foreign guests have been recognized to wrestle at that elevation over 90 minutes.

“You didn’t see any wild celebrations because we know that this is only halftime,” Dos Santos stated after LAFC’s win within the first leg. “We know how things can turn. I can tell you how Cincinnati felt before playing against Tigres, or how San Diego felt after beating Toluca. There is a second leg to be played in Mexico, and we haven’t forgotten that.”