Cup Final Night In North America - One Night & Three Cup Finals
This past Wednesday was a special one in the eyes of North American soccer fans as three finals were played in one night. The night kicked off at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio as the Columbus Crew hosted Club America for a shot at the Campeones Cup title. Then, things moved up to the northwest as the Vancouver Whitecaps hosted Toronto FC for a chance to go back-to-back-to-back as Canadian Championship winners! Finally, the night finished up in the city of Los Angeles as the dominant force of LAFC hosted Sporting Kansas City for the legendary U.S. Open Cup.
Let’s start with the Columbus Crew as they were looking for revenge against Liga MX opposition in this Campeones Cup matchup against Club America. The Crew lost the CONCACAF Champions Cup Final to Pachuca back in June as well as taking down LAFC in the Leagues Cup Final in August. Columbus have all eyes on a MLS Cup title, but adding another trophy on the way doesn’t hurt the legacy of this squad. Unfortunately, the Crew were not able to get the job done and wound up losing on penalty kicks to America. Columbus didn’t go down without a fight as they were able to finish regulation tied 1-1. America went up in the 68th minute as Victor Davila was able to hit Columbus on a counter to send the visitors up 1-0. Only 9 minutes later, the Crew answered as centerback Malte Amundsen hit home a goal off of a corner kick. Unfortunately, when soccer games get down to penalty kicks… an aspect of luck comes into play. The Crew were a bit unlucky, even with a bit of goalkeeper controversy, and America won the shootout 5-4. I don’t think that this loss hurts the legacy of this group, but it was something that could have elevated this group even more. Ultimately this is a one off friendly against a Liga MX opponent for a chance at an intercontinental trophy. The Crew are still in a great spot to be favorites to win MLS Cup this winter, and luckily for them now all focus can be on Major League Soccer action.
From an American vs Mexican matchup to the most northern country in this part of the world, the Canadian Championship Final was fiery. Sadly, the fire and fight between the Whitecaps and Toronto FC was only seen in person by roughly 12,000 fans. Even with the low fan turnout, you could tell both of these clubs wanted this title and a chance to play in CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2025. The Whitecaps won this competition in 2022 and 2023, taking down Toronto FC in last season’s final. The Whitecaps repeated once again as they took down Toronto in penalty kicks and won this title for the third time under Vanni Sartini. This game has more fouls, fights, and energy than “pretty soccer”. Things got chippy in this one and we even got to see Toronto’s Richie Laryea get dragged down in the box for a PK opportunity in regulation. Whitecaps’s goalkeeper Isaac Boehmer stepped up big time and saved the PK attempt by Federico Bernardeschi. That wouldn’t be the last time Boehmer came up clutch in the matchup as he also recorded a save in the PK shootout against Kosi Thompson. A huge performance from the young Canadian keeper secured this win for the Whitecaps and added their 4th trophy to their trophy cabinet in their MLS era.
The final matchup of the night came down to LAFC hosting four time U.S. Open Cup champions Sporting Kansas City. The MLS matchday before this game, Sporting Kansas City were eliminated from MLS Cup Playoff contention so they truly had nothing to lose in this game. LAFC were the ones coming in with a ton of pressure after losing the Leagues Cup Final to Columbus this season as well as losing three other finals in 2023. LAFC started the scoring in this one as World Cup champion Olivier Giroud put his new club up 1-0 in the 53rd minute. Sporting Kansas City answered back quickly as Erik Thommy put away a goal past Hugo Lloris and into the top corner only 7 minutes later. Regulation ended in this 1-1 draw as Sporting Kansas City got through the onslaught of 90 minutes of LAFC. That quickly changed in extra time as Omar Campos and the age-less Kei Kamara put two away to secure the victory for Los Angeles. With the victory, LAFC have now won every domestic trophy possible; a MLS Cup, two Supporters’ Shields, and now a U.S. Open Cup.
In a night of cup finals we saw two MLS clubs raise trophies, another MLS club secure a 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup spot, and many fans out there had a ton of fun! I think this should be something organized by the USSF, Canadian Soccer Federation, and CONCACAF for a night of champions every year!
