By Emor Villa
What a way to start Leagues Cup 2025. The first match of the tournament goes to penalty kicks with a win for the Mexican side, Toluca. Given the Leagues Cup rules of no ties, two points go to the winner and one for the loser as the full time ended 2-2 and los Diablos Rojos won the penalty shootout 4-2.
Double merit for los Diablos Rojos after a great comeback from the “Dos a Cero” on the scoreboard. Columbus had the advantage and dominated the match in the early going, but that changed in the 71st minute and Toluca managed to tie just nine minutes later.
Columbus scored on an early penalty after Luan Garcia kicked Dániel Gazdag’s leg instead of the ball inside the box. The kick was taken by Diego Rossi who scored his seventh Leagues Cup goal. Minutes later, Toluca came close to having their own penalty but it was blown away for the VAR after a four minutes review.
Columbus scored again in the start of the second half. Only three minutes after the restart, Jacen Russell-Rowe assisted Max Arfsten as he made a nice double drible in the box to score and give the Crew a 2-0 lead in the 48th minute.
Toluca would respond thanks to the player of the match, Paulinho. First he scored off a rebound in the 71st minute and later scored his second with an awesome header in the 80 minute.
Columbus had a chance to win it late, but Diego Rossi went from early hero to villain after missing a penalty kick in the 87th and later started the penalty shootout with yet another miss. Luis García, the Toluca keeper did a great job saving two more shots in the shootout.
PLAYERS OF THE MATCH:
- Toluca:
- Portuguese forward, Paulinho, was fantastic netting two goals in his first career Leagues Cup appearance
- Columbus:
- USMNT forward Max Arfsten was all over the field and he scored his first Leagues Cup goal in his 7th career appearance
GAME NOTES:
- Paulinho continues his scorching hot run for Toluca. Since his arrival on July 6, 2024, he has now scored 31 goals in 43 matches
- Paulinho notched his 6th brace with Toluca, he's also turned two of those into hat tricks in his short time with los Diablos Rojos
- Toluca goalkeeper Luis García didn't have the best start to the match, but he sure knew how to close. He made a great save against Diego Rossi to get to the penalty shootout and then gave his club the win with multiple saves.
- Diego Rossi tied for second-most goals in Leagues Cup 2024 and it didn't take him long to score his first of 2025 in the 11th minute.
- Some of the crew young stars, Max Arfsten and Jacen Russell-Rowe, both had solid showings with a goal and assist respectively
- Toluca remains undefeated in Phase One matches at Leagues Cup, and Columbus will now be looking for wins against Puebla and León to advance to the knockout stage
CARDS/INJURY REPORT:
- Yellow Cards:
- Toluca: Marcel Ruiz, Jesús Angulo, Alexis Vega, Franco Romero, Jesús Gallardo, Federico Pereira
- Columbus: Sean Zawadski, Jacen Russell-Rowe
LOOKING AHEAD:
- Toluca will face CF Montréal on Friday at 9 p.m. at Sports Illustrated Stadium in New Jersey
- Columbus will host Puebla on Friday at 7 p.m. at Lower.com Field
