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The Leagues Cup has reached the last-16 and the glamour ties are becoming more frequent as the tournament’s stakes continue to get bigger and bigger.
The competition has been one made up of fine margins, with five games in the round-of-32 being decided on penalties. But that doesn’t mean the goals have dried up since the rip-roaring group stage; the ball hit the back of the net fifty times in the opening round of the knockouts, much to the delight of neutral fans.
Nevertheless, as the games get bigger and bigger, we’ll hope caginess doesn’t start to creep in with Champions Cup and Club World Cup places on the line. Let’s dig into some of the top stories in the round-of-16.
Standout fixture
When you skim through the last-16 fixtures, one in particular leaps off the page as two of the best teams in MLS, the Columbus Crew and Inter Miami, will square off for a spot in the final-eight.
While Columbus skipped the group stage and went straight through to the knockouts as a reward for winning MLS Cup in 2023, their legs were far from cold in a 4-0 round-of-32 drubbing of Sporting Kansas City.
Meanwhile, Miami will head to central Ohio with a chip on their shoulder after easing past Toronto FC in a thrilling seven-goal encounter in Fort Lauderdale, a game in which Tata Martino’s side had only 10 men for more than an hour.
There is a great chance the winner of the competition could come from this matchup, and it promises to be a potential classic.
One potential favorite from the West
Like Columbus before them, Club América booked automatic passage to the knockout phase, but they had no problem getting back up to speed with a gritty 2-1 win over Liga MX rivals Atlas in San Diego, where América fans made up the bulk of the spectators inside SnapDragon Stadium.
With that home-field advantage, and advantage América takes with almost every-time they play abroad, a team comprised of assets such as Érick Sánchez and Henry Martín will be able to hang with, and even dominate anybody in the region.
The draw was kind to Las Águilas as well, and they will take on St. Louis City side who have struggled through most of the MLS campaign.
One potential favorite from the East
It may be low hanging fruit, but you can’t look past the Columbus Crew when it comes to a side with the potential go on and win the whole competition from here.
Wilfried Nancy’s side have proved that they are the best team in MLS over the last 18 months, and if they go on to hit the heights they look poised to hit this season, could go down as one of the best ever.
With impressive debuts, and debut goals from DeJuan Jones and Dylan Chambost in the round-of-16, the Crew appear to have become an even deeper side than they were when they cruised to an MLS Cup title last December. Depth, or the lack of Lionel Messi, has been the achilles heel of MLS sides when it comes to tournaments involving Liga MX sides in the past, but looks to be no worry for the crew.
With Nancy at the helm, Diego Rossi and Cucho Hernández leading the line, there might not be ramp suitable to stop the runaway truck that is the Columbus Crew.